By Rory Scott

Edited for online by Claire Boughey

A two-year trial of fuel price monitoring is set to roll out in Queensland as a direct response to record high fuel prices around the state.

Under the trial, petrol stations will be required to report their fuel prices in real time.

The state opposition has previously called for real-time fuel price reporting and promised to introduce the measure if it won the 2020 state election.

The Palaszczuk government said a working group would be established, including the RACQ, to oversee the trial.

RACQ spokesperson Lucinda Ross said the proposed system was the only way Queensland motorists would have transparency about the cheapest fuel prices and be able to shop around.

“That can save drivers, our research shows, hundreds of dollars each year which is fantastic and is what we want to see,” she said.

Ms Ross said the Queensland system would differ from the one in New South Wales as motorists would have access to every fuel station’s price in real time.

“We need to be seeing every price at every service station every 15 minutes which is the great news and why we are so happy we’ve had the state government say that it’s going to conduct this two-year trial,” she said.

Australasian Convenience and Petroleum Marketers Association CEO Mark McKenzie said last week the central problem in the industry was competition.

“We don’t have enough independent operators out there,” he said.

Mr McKenzie said mandatory transparency of fuel prices was not a solution to the problem in Queensland.

“Just saying ‘well I want compulsory fuel price reporting’ isn’t going to solve the problem, it’s just going to make the problem more visible,” he said.

“In New South Wales it had a small improvement in the fuel price in terms of competition. In the Northern Territory prices actually went up.”

He said the most efficient way to shop around for cheap fuel prices was using apps such as Motor Mouth and Gas Buddy.