As diesel prices pass $3.00 per litre in the Snowy Monaro, one of the region’s leading transport figures says the current fuel crisis could cause more economic harm to the agricultural and trucking industries than Covid-19.

Lynley Miners, owner/operator of Miners Livestock Transport at Adaminaby, believes the sharp rise in fuel prices could spell significant issues for the country’s transport carriers.

“I think this disaster is probably going to be worse than the Covid-19 disaster as far as economically for the country,” Mr Miners said.

“It’s a day by a day proposition. I’m just going to keep pushing the buttons every day to work out what it costs me.

“Not much trade comes by rail or other sources these days.”

Mr Miners, who regularly transports livestock to Wagga Wagga and further afield, said a 700km round trip once cost $650. It is now more than $1000 a round-trip.

He said livestock carriers are only able to absorb the rise in diesel costs by passing the charge on to the customer.

“Anybody in the transport industry who is not able to pass their field costs on, they won’t be around very long at all,” Mr Miners said.

“Well, there’s a lot of uncertainty anyway, that’s for sure.”

Mr Miners did say the current strong cattle prices should help producers balance the additional costs of having their stock transported.

“We have to recoup our costs. It puts an extra buck per head on for transporting,” he said.

Fuel prices, like elsewhere in the country, are continuing to rise in the Snowy Monaro. Diesel prices have surpassed $3 per litre in Cooma, Bombala and Jindabyne.

Locals have welcomed a statewide compliance blitz to strengthen fuel price transparency and protect motorists from misleading pricing has been fast-tracked by the state government.

At a time when families are feeling every dollar, the government is stepping in to ensure fuel retailers do the right thing and that motorists are not misled when filling up.

When it comes to the cost-of-living, the government says transparency, accountability and fairness matter.

FuelCheck is the NSW government’s real-time fuel price transparency tool and provides motorists with instant access to prices from around 2400 service stations across the state. It puts power back in the hands of consumers by exposing price hikes, ending guesswork at the bowser and driving greater competition across the market.