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Truckies get relief at bowser in federal budget

Treasurer Josh Frydenberg has delivered a lifeline to many truckies around Australia in the federal budget tonight by announcing a 22 cents per litre reduction in fuel excise tax for the next six months.

Frydenberg said the 50 per cent tax cut comes into effect at midnight tonight, and he expects the prices to start to “flow through to the bowsers” in the next two weeks.

With prices soaring north of $2.20 per litre in recent weeks, many truckies had their backs to the wall.

“Australians will save 22 cents a litre every time they fill up,” the federal treasurer said.

But Frydenberg also stressed that the fuel excise reduction would not come at the expense of road funding, a concern of many industry experts.

He said the government will also continue to invest in key freight corridors and infrastructure projects that better connect agricultural and mining regions to ports, airports and other transport hubs, including:

  • $880m in additional funding through the Roads of Strategic Importance initiative to improve road safety, enhance productivity and boost the resilience of our freight network, bringing the Government’s total commitment to $5.8 billion since 2018.
  • $678m to seal another 1000km of road and deliver further upgrades along Outback Way; and
  • $385.4m through the Northern Australia Roads Program Extension for upgrades to major freight corridors across our north.

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