Easter holidaymakers abandon road trips amid fuel shortage panic

Easter holidaymakers are abandoning regional NSW caravan parks as petrol prices soar, leaving tourism operators with few bookings in what should be their busiest time of year.

Caravan park operators told the Herald calls for cancellations are far outstripping bookings, especially in transit towns on rural highways that rely on grey nomads and families road-tripping around the state.

On Wednesday afternoon 32 petrol stations across the state had no fuel at all, down from 51 on Tuesday. The number of petrol stations out of diesel rose to 187, up from 164. Of those, 109 are in Sydney.

Diesel was well over $3 a litre across Greater Sydney – the most expensive was Ampol in Thirroul, where diesel cost $3.46 a litre.

The most expensive unleaded was at $2.99 a litre in Brooklyn, by the Hawkesbury River.

At Murrurundi Caravan Park, just north of Scone in the upper Hunter, Don Kemble should be gearing up for one of the year’s busiest periods with the Easter holidays, the Murrurundi Festival and the Warbirds Over Scone air show this weekend. Instead, he’s been fielding call after call from customers cancelling their trips, anxious about the cost and worried they won’t be able to fill up in the regional town.

Kemble has tried his best to explain to cancelling holidaymakers that there is still plenty of fuel in his town, but the “perceived shortage” is enough to slash his Easter trade almost in half.

“If they all decide it’s too uncertain and they’ll stay home for the winter, our regions will really suffer – our peak is April to July when all the grey nomads are travelling from Melbourne to Sydney and to Queensland.”

Three hours west, it’s the same story at Gilgandra Caravan Park. Operator Peter Mellor had two people book in when at this time of year there would usually be 20.

He’s now offering 15 per cent discounts to encourage people to book, but as a transit town on a regional highway, there’s only one way Mellor’s business can survive in the future.

“Fuel prices dropping as soon as possible is the only thing that will save places like us,” he said. “We’re at the mercy of the orange man on the other side of the world.”

Even if regional towns have enough fuel supply, the fear of being stuck with no way to fill up the tank and the rising costs are enough of a concern to keep some grey nomads parked at home, The Grey Nomads blogger Cindy Gough said.

If there are any winners here, it will be tourism operators in and around metropolitan areas, who could benefit from families cancelling overseas holidays or longer domestic road trips. The local hospitality industry could do particularly well, Tourism and Transport Forum’s chief executive Margy Osmond said.

Premier Chris Minns ruled out any stimulus packages for regional small business. Instead, the government has created an emergency operations centre in Parramatta, where staff from government agencies including NSW Fair Trading, Transport for NSW and NSW Police will track fuel availability and forecast areas of potential shortages in agriculture, freight, construction and mining.

Energy Minister Penny Sharpe has also triggered extraordinary powers to compel the major fuel companies to provide much-needed information on sales and supply, including how the companies are directing extra fuel released by the federal government to the regions.

Minns said: “We want to make sure that all sectors of the state and all parts of the economy have access to it, particularly independent petrol stations, where we’re seeing a consistent lack of access to petrol. They can see it in the barrels. They can see it on their internal marketplace database, but they’re unable to purchase it. We want to understand why.”

Despite the record price hikes, Minns ruled out any extreme measures to combat demand. The premier is yet to declare an energy supply emergency, which would trigger fuel rationing powers.

“I’m not going to be in a situation where we’re bringing back homeschooling or lockdowns or any of these kind of preposterous interventions,” Minns said. “This is not that kind of emergency and I don’t think that hyperventilating about emergency measures is going to help the process.”

On Wednesday, the head of Australia’s largest taxi company, A2B, whose brands include 13cabs and Silver Service, wrote to Transport Minister John Graham asking for the $1.20 passenger levy – collected to fund industry assistance – to be redirected to drivers.

Unlike rideshare apps such as Uber and Didi, which have hiked fares to compensate drivers, taxi meter rates are set by state governments and reviewed annually, and NSW is yet to adjust its rate.

Opposition Leader Kellie Sloane wrote to the federal government on Wednesday asking for a temporary reduction in the fuel excise.

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