Pressure points
Pressure points * Fuel & Cost of living
In regional Australia, the car is not a choice.
It is the infrastructure.
When fuel prices rise, regional households cannot switch to public transport, shorten their commute, or absorb the cost easily.
This dashboard makes visible what that pressure looks like across the nine local government areas of the Murray region,
and how differently it lands depending on where you live.
Scenario overview – select a scenario in the dashboard to explore its impact across petrol and diesel
AVERAGE COMMUTE DISTANCE - MURRAY REGION
WEEKLY HOUSEHOLD FUEL COST - BASELINE
WEEKLY HOUSEHOLD FUEL COST - SEVERE SCENARIO
23.78KM
$57/WK
$74/WK
Weighted average across Murray region, road network distance (IFDTWP; ABS, 2021). Ranges from under 21km in Albury to over 40km in Balranald.
What the average Murray region household spends on fuel each week at pre-crisis prices. Ranges from $48 in Albury to $98 in Balranald.
What the average Murray region household would spend at +50c/L. A $16 weekly increase, out of the same budget as groceries, utilities and school costs.
Interactive dashboard
Explore fuel cost impact by lga and scenario
The dashboard has two parts. The fuel impact model on the left shows annual and weekly fuel costs per household by LGA under three price scenarios. Select Baseline, Moderate or Severe to explore how a price shock lands differently across the region. The fuel price chart on the right shows how petrol and diesel prices at five Murray catchment locations have moved since February 2026, including the conflict-driven spike in March and the partial recovery since.
Note: a temporary 32¢/L fuel excise cut came into effect on 1 April 2026, reducing observed prices significantly through April to June. The cut was partially restored to 16¢/L from 1 July, with full excise restoration from 3 August 2026.
WHAT THIS TELLS US
Three things this data makes visible
Where you live determines how hard the pressure lands
Annual figures obscure the weekly reality
Diesel tells a different and harder story
Fuel cost impact is not uniform across the Murray region. At baseline prices, a Balranald household spends around $5,100 a year on fuel, more than double the $2,500 an Albury household spends. That gap is not explained by income. Balranald and Albury median household incomes are broadly similar. The difference is distance. Balranald households drive further to work, to services, and to each other, and they have no alternative. Distance is not a lifestyle variable here. It is a structural condition
The cost of a fuel price shock is most honestly expressed as a weekly household figure, not an annual one. At baseline, the average Murray region household spends $58 a week on fuel. At the Severe scenario that becomes $74, an additional $16 a week coming out of the same budget as groceries, utilities and school expenses. Murray region petrol exceeded 260¢/L and diesel exceeded 325¢/L in March 2026. Those prices were real. The weekly pressure was real.
Fuel cost exposure is a signal about structural economic vulnerability, not just for individual households, but for the region as a whole. At the Severe scenario, the total annual fuel cost burden across the Murray region reaches $45 million. That is $45 million extracted from local household budgets and redirected to fuel. It is money not spent in local businesses, not saved, not invested. Understanding which communities are most exposed, and by how much, is the starting point for more targeted planning responses,