Alice has 2nd highest fuel prices in country was the headline of an ABC article on Monday. Fuel in the Alice costs $1.48 a litre. I assume this is unleaded though diesel would be sold far more frequently than in most other centres.
The Australian average regional price according to the Australian Institute of Petroleum was $1.31 week ending 21st November. (It looks like this page is updated each week so click on the picture for the figures I am comparing).
I live in remote Western Australia. The average regional WA price for diesel in this time period was 135.6 cents a litre.
In Broome fuel is apparently $1.49 a litre.
Out bush in remote WA I am paying $2.00 a litre for diesel.
Let’s briefly put this into a remote health/Indigenous Health context.
The expenditure on health for those in remote and very remote areas is higher than all other areas. But as I demonstrated, fuel costs by themselves can be a third higher. This impacts as an example on what tradies charge to maintain and repair infrastructure, the cost of attending a motor vehicle accident and freighting out medical supplies.
I do wonder what the direct spend on staff and equipment per population in remote areas to that in other parts of Australia would be. My feeling that stripping out the costs (essential to provide a service, but not the service itself) would see less paid on direct patient care for a population group with a higher amount of illness in whatever disease you want to look at.
References:
Australian Institute of Petroleum website accessed 28 Nov 2011
AIHW Expenditures on health for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples 2004-05
