May 2007

Caravanners hit back
Bowser blues as fuel prices hit new highs

Story and Photos by DENNIS AMOR

CARAVANNERS are reeling as fuel prices continue to soar to record highs.

Many say they are cutting back on their travels in the face of rising fuel costs, which are expected to climb even higher after a surge in crude oil prices. Caravanners were paying up to 159.9c a litre at the pumps ... with the prospect of higher prices to come.

Greg Bilsen: The whole thing stinks

"The federal government should step in and do something about this rip-off," Queensland caravanner Greg Bilsen told Caravanning News. "The whole thing stinks."

Other caravanners said a visit to the bowser has become an horrendous experience, with some Northern Territory garages on the Stuart Highway charging more than $2 a litre for diesel.

Steven Harrington, of Victoria, complained to Caravanning News: "How can they justify it when fuel in some countries is a fraction of the price we have to pay in Australia. Diesel prices particularly seem to be out of control."

Tourism in some rural areas is reportedly suffering badly as travellers opt for shorter drives and city holidays. Many outback caravan parks report a fall in bookings as caravanners and motorhomers bush camp or take holidays nearer to home.

At Berry Springs in the Northern Territory, Tumbling Waters Holiday Park owner Darren Campbell said grey nomads would now be looking at many ways to save money, and fewer nights spent in caravan parks, such as his 120-site park 62km south of Darwin, might be one option.

A joint report by Tourism Research Australia and Tourism Western Australia has already revealed that nearly 30 percent of "winter drifters" were more likely than other travellers to say that rising fuel prices would impact their usage of caravan parks "a lot".

"It used to cost less than $100 to fill up my tanks. Now, less than a couple of years later, I have to cough up around $150. It's indecent the way prices have risen," NSW grey nomad Phil Males said. "Everything you buy is costing more ... where will it all end? We just can't afford to stay at costly caravan parks or travel the distances we once enjoyed," he added.

Other travellers complained to Caravanning News that fuel sometimes rose by up to 20c in 24 hours.

But Federal Minister for Competition Policy and Consumer Affairs Chris Bowen accepted that nobody could explain the fluctuations. "The oil companies can't explain it. They say it is world oil prices," he said.

Meanwhile, Canberra said the proposed FuelWatch scheme would be the first in a suite of initiatives aimed at making fuel costs more transparent.

Assistant Treasurer and Consumer Affairs Minister Chris Bowen told ABC1's Inside Business program that the scheme was "just one step, we're not just concentrating on the retail sector".

Under the scheme, to be introduced in December, petrol station operators will tell the ACCC what the next day's prices will be. The regulator would tell consumers what to expect and prices would be locked in at the bowser for 24 hours.

But Queensland caravanner Gerald Simons was not convinced it would help. "We have heard it all before, all kinds of initiatives which supposedly helps ... but still the price of fuel continues to spiral upwards," he complained.

Victorian Caravan Parks Association president Ray Edwards feared the worst was yet to come. "I think we would have to get to the $2 mark before we start experiencing problems," he said.

Caravanning Queensland chief executive officer Ron Chapman said that traditionally fuel price rises sometimes had a short-term effect with some people choosing to not travel so far. "But they will still travel for the same total duration," he said.

"By way of example, someone from say Melbourne may have originally planned to go as far as Cairns but instead only go as far as Yeppoon."

He pointed out that many travellers would take the attitude that the increase in fuel prices would probably add another $200 onto a three-month trip - the average for a Melbourne to Cairns tour ... so why sit at home and vegetate for the sake of another $200 to enjoy life.

"That is what past periods of fuel price hikes has shown. However, until the end of the 'season' in September we will not know the true effect, if any, for this year," Mr Chapman added.

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