A gas station had drivers queuing around the block after cutting its fuel to less than a dollar a litre, a price not seen in almost 20 years.
The APCO service station lowered the price of unleaded fuel from $1.55 to 99 cents in Cranbourne West, southeast of Melbourne, between 10am and 11am on Wednesday.
The move came after Libertarian Senate candidate Jordan Ditloff paid for the gas tax to show how much cheaper life would be without a gas tax.
Motorists were also spared the excise tax on unleaded gasoline mixed with ethanol and diesel, which also reduced the sales price by about a third.
Ditloff told Daily Mail Australia he was surprised how grateful people were to get even a single tank of cheaper fuel.
“People were really grateful,” he said.
‘(Victorian Libertarian MP) David Limbrick and I felt like Santa Claus because people were so grateful and excited.
‘I dare say it’s probably the warmest reception a politician has had in Cranbourne for a long time.
“This showed what a big difference it would make if fuel excise duties were abolished.”
A service station slashed the price of fuel by about a third for an hour as part of a political stunt by the Libertarian Party in Victoria.
Ditloff said the popularity of the trick revealed the financial difficulties many were facing.
“People are really struggling with the cost of living,” he said.
“They were waiting 20 minutes before the promotion started, so there was a line around the corner basically from when it started until it ended.
‘We had quite a few young families there, quite a few people who were under a lot of pressure and said they were going through a lot of difficulties.
‘We ended up doing it for a little over an hour just so that everyone in line wasn’t in line watching the price go up.
Some opportunistic motorists even showed up with gas cans to load up on the cheap fuel on offer, but Ditloff said he didn’t care.
“They said they happened to have the cans with them and asked if it was okay to fill them,” he said.
‘And I said yes, they could. I thought “That’s cheeky but I’ll pay for it, I love that.”
Victorian Libertarian Senate candidate Jordan Ditloff paid nearly $6,000 to subsidize gas.
“That’s a pretty libertarian thing.”
Motorists did not even have to fill their own tanks, as the libertarian volunteers did it for them.
“We did something similar to what happens at an American gas station where our volunteers filled up the cars,” Mr. Ditloff said.
“There were some people worried because they thought they would have to pay more or lose the discount if someone else filled it out.”
In the end, 238 motorists took advantage of the discount to refuel 10,500 liters of different fuels.
The amount of tax paid by Libertarians on that amount was $5,800, which Ditloff said came from fundraising he had done for his Senate campaign.
The fuel excise tax is a sales tax levied by the federal government on gasoline and diesel purchased at the depot and is indexed for inflation twice a year.
In March 2023, the Morrison government halved the fuel excise duty, from 44 cents to 22 cents, in a pre-election sweetener that lasted until September of that year, when the Albanian government refused to maintain the cut. taxes.