The Coalition has today seen to the defeat of Fuelwatch and the Government's attempt to enable motorists to find the cheapest petrol prices with certainty.
Malcolm Turnbull will from here on carry the millstone around his neck of having sided with vested interests and the oil companies over Australian motorists.
The Coalition had the chance to stand up and be counted alongside their Western Australian colleagues - who first introduced Fuelwatch in 2001 and continue to support it under the Premiership of Colin Barnett.
This was an important opportunity to inject such much needed transparency into the retail petrol market.
By voting down Fuelwatch, the Coalition has ensured that the oil companies and major petrol retailers alone hold vital pricing information, to the exclusion, and to the detriment of Australian motorists.
The Coalition has also failed to acknowledge that Fuelwatch was a specific response to what the ACCC has labelled 'tacit collusion' in the retail petrol market.
Access to this pricing information is vital and Fuelwatch would have given motorists the power to find the cheapest petrol prices in their suburb or city.
For example, across Sydney today, the difference between the cheapest and most expensive unleaded petrol is 46 cents a litre.
Now with the information provided by Fuelwatch, motorists in Sydney could have saved up to $27.60 for a 60-litre tank of petrol.
Fuelwatch's defeat in the Senate today sees these types of price saving opportunities lost.
The Government acknowledges the support of the Greens and Senator Fielding in the Senate.