Key senators fail to back Australian FuelWatch scheme
Updated
Australia's federal opposition is calling on the government to concede its FuelWatch scheme is dead after two key Senators announced they will oppose it.
The scheme would have required petrol stations to give official notice of their planned prices a day ahead - a move the government had argued would help consumers shop for the best price and bring overall costs down.
But it's being opposed by two independent Senators, who say it could put small owners out of business.
Ben Worsley reports from Parliament House the government needs all 7 crossbench votes in the Senate for Fuelwatch to pass.
Family First Senator Steve Fielding and the Independent, Nick Xenaphon, say they'll oppose the price monitoring scheme.
"This won't give the benefits to consumers it's meant to when you consider that four government departments have said that this could actually put prices up," Senator Xenaphone says.
The Liberal Nationals Senator, Barnaby Joyce, says it's time the Prime Minister conceded defeat.
"He has to put his hand and say that fuelwatch is dead. really we're just picking over the bones and he's just making a fool of himself hanging around it."
The Liberals say Fuelwatch was a political stunt, doomed from the start.
The opposition to the Fuelwatch scheme has been attacked by Australia's national motoring association, the NRMA.
And Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has defended the scheme, and called on its opponents in the Liberal Party to back it:
"What the Liberals have done federally is decided to side with big oil companies against consumers it's the Liberals who decide what happens in the Senate and they have decided that they will back big oil companies rather than give more information to consumers."
