FuelWatch in Hansard

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I just got the Hansard transcripts from my Senate testimony on FuelWatch. My favourite bit over the fold:

 Senator ABETZ—The government is prepared for worse, I think—Fuelwatch to grocery watch. But one final question from me is: in your submission to us you say that drivers have imperfect information regarding which petrol outlets have the cheapest price at any given time. Of course, I would agree with you on that, but would you agree that consumers—instead of drivers we say consumers—have imperfect information regarding the price of bread, coffee, rentals, every other good or service that a consumer may wish to purchase and that, in the Australian economy, nobody has perfect knowledge?

Prof. Gans—That is not necessarily the case. With regard to petrol, people have pretty much given up trying to work out what petrol price they are going to end up paying, but with regard to coffee, my closest coffee outlet is $2.20, down the road 100 metres away $2.90, across the other way also $2.90, around the corner $3.10. Do you know why I know that? The prices stay the same. There is a big difference between petrol and all these other things. In fact, the closest analogy to petrol is damned interest rates, which keep changing all the time, because we do not have what they have in the United States—the 30-year fixed interest loan. That is where I would be looking. But petrol is different because it is changing all the time.

Senator ABETZ—If your concern is prices changing all the time, you would agree with me that the stock market would be guilty of that as well. Prices vary by the hour, by the minute.

Prof. Gans—Right.

Senator ABETZ—You would also agree with me that if you have surfed the net for airfares that if you were to ask, for example, on Webjet or something, the price of a seat, you can ask at midday and it might be cheaper than if you ask at four o’clock in the afternoon, and then it will be cheaper again if you ask at 8 pm.

Prof. Gans—But there is something you get with airline prices that we do not get with petrol and that is I can log onto the Net and I can log on to Tiger, Qantas, Virgin and get quotes from all of them, and pick the cheapest, right then and there. Now, it may be cheaper later on in the afternoon or in two months time or what have you, but at right then and then I can compare these guys and work out what the cheapest flight is for me. I cannot do that right now with petrol.

4 Responses to “FuelWatch in Hansard”
  1. King’s criticism of Harding was robust. But Harding shouldn’t have titled his submission “Foolwatch” with all that that implies. If you’re going to dish it out, you’ve got expect to cop it as well.

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