Spectator Australia · Constantin Eckner · Tuesday 14 April 2026
Germany's temporary fuel price relief has been absorbed by market pricing, leaving motorists no better off and the treasury worse. The pattern mirrors identical failed interventions in Australia, the UK, and elsewhere.
Howard did it. Rudd did it. Albanese did it. Now Scholz has done it. Every government on earth reaches for the fuel excise cut like a drunk reaching for the lamp post — not for illumination, but for support. The subsidy goes in, the oil companies adjust their margins, and six months later the motorist is back where he started but the treasury's lighter. You don't need a PhD from Heidelberg to spot the pattern, mate — you just need to have been alive for any of the last four times.