Australia's treasurer, Jim Chalmers, has directed the competition regulator to closely monitor service stations and fuel suppliers after a temporary cut to the fuel excise ended at midnight on Monday, warning that any unexplained price rises would face scrutiny. The excise had been halved following the outbreak of conflict in the Middle East and was later adjusted to save around 16 cents per litre at the wholesale level, but that relief has now lapsed, meaning petrol prices are expected to rise at the pump within days.

Chalmers said the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) would watch retailers "like a hawk" and that penalties for petrol stations found to be overcharging customers had been significantly increased, with multimillion-dollar fines possible for breaches. Separately, the government also confirmed changes to its news bargaining incentive legislation, bringing LinkedIn into scope alongside Google, Meta and TikTok despite lobbying from Microsoft, and raising the charge rate for non-compliant platforms from 2.25% to 2.5% of Australian digital advertising revenue.