Valley motorists ripped off

PETROL prices in the Grafton area have defied gravity by staying around 146 cents a litre while Sydney prices have fallen 10 cents, according to competition expert Frank Zumbo.

Associate Professor Zumbo, of the Australian School of Business at the University of NSW, said oil companies and major petrol retailers continued to play games with Clarence Valley motorists by keeping retail prices inflated in the lead-up to the school holidays.

"The rip-off at the pumps continues despite the wholesale price across Australia having fallen on average about 10 cents a litre during the past few weeks," he said.

Prof Zumbo produced a table comparing the Sydney and national average prices of fuel.

Those two prices varied by only .1 or .2 cents a litre from mid October to December 9.

It also showed them falling from about 139.4 cents a litre to about 129.5 cents.

At the same time, a table he produced showed prices hovering around 146 cents a litre over the entire period.

They rose from mid October to early November.

"Retail prices should have fallen in line with the falls in the retail price," he said.

"There's simply no excuse for the failure of retail prices to fall.

"The falls in the wholesale price have been occurring for several weeks, meaning there has been sufficient time for the retail prices to have come down in Grafton."

He urged the Federal Government to toughen up competition laws.