Brisbane Tops Capital Cities for Fuel Prices for Third Year Running

Brisbane drivers have continued to pay more for fuel than motorists in any other capital city in Australia for three consecutive years. The state's peak motoring body, RACQ, has released its latest annual report, revealing the river city recorded the highest average capital city unleaded fuel prices in 2025. It found Brisbane's average for regular unleaded was 185.2 cents per litre (cpl), compared with the cheapest city over the last three years, Adelaide, where drivers paid an average of 173.8 cpl. RACQ's principal economic and affordability specialist Ian Jeffreys told ABC Radio Brisbane it had been "pretty much the same conversation" for the last few years. "We are dealing with sort of like a legacy market," he said. However, Dr Jeffreys said the average price of petrol last year was down 9.3 cpl from the record highs of 2024. So, where are the best areas to fill up? The report also analysed fuel prices across the city to identify the cheapest and most expensive places to fill up. It found Kuraby, on Brisbane's southside, was the city's cheapest suburb for fuel in 2025, with an average of 162.8 cpl. Clayfield, a 25-minute drive away from Kuraby, recorded Brisbane's highest average of 200cpl. "Motorists could save significantly by shopping around, with some suburb-to-suburb price differences reaching nearly 40cpl," Dr Jeffreys said. The Queensland capital also had the second highest diesel price in the country, averaging 189.6 cpl. It was an improvement from 2024's average of 193.6 cpl. Why is Brisbane so expensive? Dr Jeffreys said there were several reasons why Brisbane remained so expensive. "Our price cycles are longer; the jumps are higher; the cheap phases are shorter." "When we look at the cheaper cities, the price cycles tend to be shorter and flatter." Dr Jeffreys said another reason was that, unlike other cities, the state's capital had fewer independent service stations. "In Brisbane we have about 20 per cent of the market [that are] small chains or the independents," Dr Jeffreys said "The other capitals, they have far more of those sites." Dr Jeffreys said it was those smaller chains that offered the lower prices. "Some of them in Brisbane are now starting to buck the price cycle and stay low regardless," he said. Dr Jeffreys said new independent sites were being developed in Brisbane, but not fast enough. "It's an expensive task getting a new petrol station into the market, and we're just not seeing enough of these sites quickly enough to have a big difference on the average," he said. Following the report's release, RACQ has called for market regulation to stamp out unfair and unjustified price hikes. "I think we have got to the situation in Brisbane where we do need to consider some sort of intervention and some government regulation," Dr Jeffreys said. "We are in discussions with the Queensland government, and we're working on the modelling," he said. "Queensland's capital has consistently been one of the most expensive and unpredictable cities for fuel in the country, and it's clear the current market isn't working in the best interests of motorists."