The ACT Legislative Assembly has passed the Government's Fuel Legislation Amendment Bill 2026, to further strengthen preparedness, transparency and consumer protections in response to global fuel disruptions.
The Bill provides the Government with targeted powers, when required, to access timely, accurate information about fuel availability, helping inform decisions that protect households, businesses and essential services.
The improved access to fuel supply data will allow the Government to better understand real fuel availability in the ACT, respond proportionately to changing conditions, and safeguard commercially sensitive information.
The Bill amends the Fuels Rationing Act 2019 to allow the Minister for Climate Change, Environment, Energy and Water to require fuel sellers to provide information about fuel supply, including stock levels and expected deliveries.
Penalties were introduced for failing to provide this information, alongside strengthened enforcement powers.
Strong protections are included to safeguard commercial confidentiality, making it an offence to use or disclose protected information outside the purposes of the legislation.
Consumer protections have also been strengthened through amendments to the Fair Trading (Fuel Prices) Act 1993, increasing the maximum penalty for fuel price mismatching from 20 to 50 penalty units. These measures reinforce transparency and fairness during periods of market stress.
The approach is consistent with measures proposed or adopted in other jurisdictions, including Western Australia, Tasmania and Victoria, in responding to the 2026 Energy Crisis and associated fuel supply disruptions.
The Bill does not activate fuel rationing. Any future decision to introduce restrictions would be carefully assessed and informed by the accurate data provided under this amendment.
At this stage, there are no plans to introduce fuel rationing. Fuel supply remains reliable across the ACT, with any isolated service station outages being resolved quickly as deliveries arrive.
The Government continues to work closely with the Australian Government and other states and territories to monitor fuel supply and demand nationally.
Canberrans are encouraged to continue to purchase fuel as they normally would. Buying more fuel than needed can place unnecessary pressure on local service stations and lead to avoidable local shortages.
