An alliance of Australia's regional industries has launched a new campaign to refute misinformed activist campaigns designed to cap or cut the Fuel Tax Credit.
The Fuel Tax Credit supports millions of jobs across farming, mining, tourism, building, freight, seafood, forestry and a range of other essential sectors.
Regional industries are usually content to keep quiet and support Australia's national resilience day in, day out.
The Hands Off Our Fuel campaign sends a clear message that enough is enough.
Attacks on the Fuel Tax Credit are an attack on regional jobs, communities and industries.
Australian businesses are already being hit with rising costs, and the activist-driven push to cap or cut Fuel Tax Credits - based on the lie that they are a subsidy - would add another cost to businesses already under pressure.
And those cost increases would not stop there; they would flow through to the things Australians rely on every day, including food, freight, housing, regional jobs and local services.
Fuel Tax Credits are not a subsidy; they simply refund a road tax on fuel that is not used on roads.
Across Australia, regional businesses rely on off-road fuel to do essential work and create jobs.
Fuel Tax Credits make sure those businesses are not paying a road tax on fuel that is never used on roads.
Some groups are trying to claim this as a handout, when it's just about being fair to the businesses that keep Australia going.
You can't keep piling on more taxes at a time when Australia relies on a strong economy and strong regional businesses which support jobs and regional communities and the industries that keep the country moving.
Fuel tax credits are fair - and changing them puts at risk the industries on which Australia depends.
CEO QUOTES:
Australian Grape & Wine CEO Lee McLean:
Australia's grape and wine sector is facing some of the toughest conditions in living memory. Growers are receiving historically low prices for their grapes, wineries are battling rising costs and many regional businesses are under immense financial pressure.
Fuel Tax Credits are not a subsidy – they simply ensure businesses are not paying a road user charge on fuel that is never used on public roads.
Removing or reducing them would increase costs at exactly the wrong time and place further pressure on the regional communities that depend on the grape and wine sector for jobs and economic activity.
Master Builders Australia CEO Denita Wawn:
Additional costs in the supply chain affect end users downstream including builders.
Increases impacting the cost of materials can add to cost of new home building, which is already up 50 per cent since before the pandemic.
Minerals Council of Australia CEO Tania Constable:
You can't keep piling on more taxes at a time when Australia relies on a strong economy and a strong mining sector.
Mining supports jobs, regional communities and the industries that keep the country moving.
Enough is enough. Fuel tax credits are fair - and changing them puts at risk the industries Australia depends on.
PDF version available here.
