What is the new fuel excise relief rate announced by the Australian Government?

The Australian Government has extended the fuel excise relief for one month from 1 July to 2 August, but halved the discount rate to $0.16 per litre.

What is the expected budget cost of the new one-month fuel excise extension?

The Australian Government expects the scaled-back, one-month extension to cost the federal budget approximately $400 million.

How does this policy change affect the heavy vehicle road user charge?

The Australian Government has set the heavy vehicle road user charge at a discounted rate of $0.16 per litre for the month of July. This replaces the total waiver of the charge that was provided during the previous three-month relief period.

What is the timeline for the extension and when will standard fuel excise rates return?

The discounted fuel excise rate of $0.16 per litre will remain in effect from 1 July until 2 August. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese indicated that while the policy tapers support toward standard settings, further extensions are possible if international conflicts create new global economic shocks.

Image for illustrative purposes only. Not a real photo.

Government extends fuel excise relief for July

Q: How did the currency markets react to the Australian Government announcement?

Following the announcement by the Australian Government, the Australian dollar remained largely unchanged against the US dollar at approximately US$0.66.

Written by Brie CarterPublished Jun 21, 2026, 10:00 PM

The federal government has halved the fuel excise reduction to $0.16 per litre for the month of July.
There is no direct stock market impact, as this is a government fiscal policy decision rather than a corporate announcement.
Officials are tapering support as global oil prices stabilise following recent US-Iran diplomatic developments.

The Australian federal government has announced a one-month extension to its fuel excise relief, reducing the rate to $0.16 per litre from July 1 to Aug. 2.

This new measure halves the previous $0.32 per litre discount that remained in effect between April and June to help combat rising cost-of-living pressures.

“The 16 cents a litre extension to the fuel tax cut that we’ve announced today will reduce the cost of a 65L tank of fuel by around $11,” said Prime Minister Anthony Albanese.

The government also applied a corresponding $0.16 per litre discount to the heavy vehicle road user charge, which had previously been reduced to zero for the prior three-month period.

Prime Minister Albanese indicated that further extensions remain possible if fresh international conflicts cause additional global economic shocks, though he is currently focused on providing market certainty.

Following the announcement, the Australian dollar remained largely unchanged against the US dollar at approximately US$0.66.

The government implemented the original fuel excise cuts at a total budget cost of $2.9 billion to shield motorists from record-high pump prices driven by the US-Iran conflict.

State and territory governments contributed 5.7% of the funding for the initial three-month relief period and are expected to discuss further support during the upcoming National Cabinet meeting.