Pom in Oz with Derek Goforth: Lack of clear communication adds fuel to people’s confusion and frustration

For the life of me, I cannot work out what is going on with fuel in Western Australia right now. Then again, maybe it’s just me. After all, I’m also told the jobs market is booming, the health system is being fixed and everything is tracking exactly as planned, despite record ambulance ramping and budget blowouts that seem to grow by the week. So perhaps confusion is simply part of the experience these days. Still, when it comes to fuel, the disconnect feels particularly hard to ignore. Maybe there’s an economic lever being pulled behind the scenes that the rest of us just aren’t meant to understand. But from where I’m standing, and from what most everyday people are seeing, none of it adds up. We are being told there is no crisis. At the same time, bowsers are running dry in parts of regional WA. Farmers are being forced to pause seeding, not because of weather, but because they cannot get the diesel they need. And for everyone else, diesel pushing past $3 a litre is quickly becoming the norm, not the exception. So again, maybe I’m missing something. We are told there are no shortages, yet people cannot access fuel. We are told supply is steady, yet distribution is clearly not. We are told help is being provided, yet there is still nothing tangible easing the pressure at the pump. That is where the confusion turns into frustration. Because when you actually line it all up, the messaging still does not match reality. In Parliament, the line remains that there are no direct impacts to supply. At the same time, there is acknowledgement of distribution issues across the State. More recently, there has been a shift in tone, with local representatives saying they understand the pressure people are under. And that is all well and good. But understanding does not fill a fuel tank. Understanding does not get a farmer back into the paddock. Understanding does not bring diesel back under $3/litre. And it certainly does not stop the flow-on effect, with higher transport costs now pushing food prices up yet again. So which is it? No supply issue. But distribution problems. But real-world shortages. And now rising costs across the board. Those things might be carefully worded to coexist, but to everyday West Australians, they still sound like contradictions. Then there is the practical advice. We are told to shop around. To use FuelWatch. To plan better. And yes, FuelWatch tells us where prices will be for the next 24 hours. But it does not cap those prices. It does not bring them down. It simply locks in how expensive fuel will be that day. If you want cheaper fuel, you can go looking for it. Drive further. Burn more to save a little. That is not relief. That is just making the best of a bad situation. And this is where the frustration really sets in. Because now, even with the situation clearly escalating, even with empty bowsers and stalled seeding programs and rising grocery bills, we are still only hearing words. Acknowledgement. Understanding. Carefully managed statements. But no direct financial relief. No immediate measures to bring prices down. No clear plan for what happens next. West Australians are practical people. We understand that global markets play a role. We understand that not everything can be controlled locally. But we also expect honesty, clarity, and when things go wrong, action. At the moment, what many of us are hearing is one thing, while experiencing another. And that leaves a lot of people in the same position. Paying more. Waiting longer. Hearing more. Getting nothing. And still trying to work out what is actually going on. Derek Goforth is an expat and father of three living and working in Geraldton