{"id":110170,"date":"2026-04-11T09:30:00","date_gmt":"2026-04-10T23:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/en.econostrum.info\/au\/?p=110170"},"modified":"2026-04-11T02:38:44","modified_gmt":"2026-04-10T16:38:44","slug":"aussie-businesses-to-brink","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/en.econostrum.info\/au\/aussie-businesses-to-brink\/","title":{"rendered":"Rising Fuel Costs Are Pushing Aussie Businesses to the Brink"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Australia\u2019s small businesses are facing one of their toughest challenges in years. With the ongoing global fuel crisis and skyrocketing energy prices, many restaurants, cafes, and pubs are being hit with fuel levy surcharges from their suppliers. These additional charges, which could rise up to $350 per week, are putting immense pressure on businesses that are already struggling to stay afloat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">The Surge in Fuel Levies<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Take Kelsie Gaffey, the owner of Gracie\u2019s Wine Room in Melbourne. She\u2019s been dealing with emergency fuel surcharges from five of her food suppliers, which range from $2.29 to $5.50 per delivery. While this currently adds $40 to $50 per week to her costs, Gaffey is worried that if all of her 30-35 suppliers follow suit, it could be a $350 hit every week.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201c<em>Without that leverage, small businesses could face significant additional fees, potentially up to tens of thousands a year,<\/em>\u201d she says. But, she admits, this won\u2019t be sustainable long term. Small venues like hers just can\u2019t keep absorbing extra charges without it affecting the business in the future.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Aussie business facing $50 weekly surcharge as fuel crisis hits hospitality venues: \u2018Could increase to $350&#39; &#8211; Yahoo Finance Australia <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/mhGuzfLOzJ\">https:\/\/t.co\/mhGuzfLOzJ<\/a><\/p>&mdash; Jason Birch (@JasonBirch0916) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/JasonBirch0916\/status\/2041402209209106716?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">April 7, 2026<\/a><\/blockquote><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Small Businesses at Breaking Point<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Many Australian hospitality businesses are in the same boat. While some have already raised their prices to cover the increased costs, others are introducing surcharges directly onto customers\u2019 bills. Wes Lambert, CEO of the Australian Restaurant and Cafe Association (ARCA), has stated that the hospitality sector is operating on razor-thin margins. For many, absorbing these extra charges is simply not possible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>One business owner wrote on social media, \u201c<em>A few of my suppliers have upped their minimum spends, ranging from $50 to $100 more than usual and as a small bar that makes such a difference for us.<\/em>\u201d Another added, \u201c<em>We\u2019ve had a freight company do an additional 30 per cent fuel levy for local and 50 per cent for regional,<\/em>\u201d reports<a href=\"https:\/\/au.finance.yahoo.com\/news\/aussie-business-facing-50-weekly-surcharge-as-fuel-crisis-hits-hospitality-venues-could-increase-to-350-041608715.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"> Yahoo Finance.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">The Bigger Picture: Small Business Struggles<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Beyond the fuel crisis, small businesses are facing a perfect storm of rising costs,<a href=\"https:\/\/en.econostrum.info\/au\/interest-rates-18-year-high\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"> interest rate hikes<\/a>, and global instability. Patrick Coghlan, CEO of CreditorWatch, points out that insolvencies are already near record highs, and global energy disruptions could push them even higher.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The hospitality sector alone has seen a closure rate of 10.4% over the past year, double the economy-wide average. For small businesses, the situation is growing dire, with many struggling to stay afloat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">The RBA\u2019s New Rules and the Potential Consequences<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>On top of everything, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rba.gov.au\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA)<\/a> announced that it will ban surcharges on credit and debit cards starting in October. While the goal is to make the payment process easier for consumers, small businesses are concerned about the extra fees they may face without the ability to charge surcharges.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Gaffey worries that small businesses may be forced to raise menu prices to offset these new costs. \u201c<em>While consumers won\u2019t see a surcharge on their bill, they might end up paying more for the same products,<\/em>\u201d she says.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Aussie businesses are facing rising costs and surcharges due to the fuel crisis. Here&#8217;s how small venues are struggling to keep afloat amidst the chaos.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":109480,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[44],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-110170","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","generate-columns","tablet-grid-50","mobile-grid-100","grid-parent","grid-33","no-featured-image-padding"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/en.econostrum.info\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/110170","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/en.econostrum.info\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/en.econostrum.info\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/en.econostrum.info\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/14"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/en.econostrum.info\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=110170"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/en.econostrum.info\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/110170\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":110171,"href":"https:\/\/en.econostrum.info\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/110170\/revisions\/110171"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/en.econostrum.info\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/109480"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/en.econostrum.info\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=110170"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/en.econostrum.info\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=110170"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/en.econostrum.info\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=110170"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}