why import parity pricing?

[retspeej]

Why on earth does Australia have import parity pricing on LPG? I understand this was introduced (for petrol and diesel) decades ago to encourage oil exploration.
Australia has a surplus of propane and butane, so this is now not making sense. If this was scrapped, and LPG became much cheaper, then subsidies for LPG installation could be scrapped too.

[Gilbertd]

How do the prices over there compare? We have no subsidies for conversions and only a minimal discount of the road tax that everyone has to pay. To give you an idea of how the prices differ, prices here are roughly (as there are variations between different filling stations) £1.30 a litre for petrol, £1.35 for diesel and LPG varies from 0.62p to 0.78p per litre. Petrol and diesel prices don't vary by much, usually no more than 5p either way but there is quite a range of prices charged for LPG. I've got 6 local suppliers and they vary from 64p to 76p, in some parts of he country prices are generally lower, in others, higher.

[retspeej]

How do the prices over there compare? We have no subsidies for conversions and only a minimal discount of the road tax that everyone has to pay. To give you an idea of how the prices differ, prices here are roughly (as there are variations between different filling stations) £1.30 a litre for petrol, £1.35 for diesel and LPG varies from 0.62p to 0.78p per litre. Petrol and diesel prices don't vary by much, usually no more than 5p either way but there is quite a range of prices charged for LPG. I've got 6 local suppliers and they vary from 64p to 76p, in some parts of he country prices are generally lower, in others, higher.

For comparison, LPG has been 95 cents a litre for two months, because it is tied to Saudi price. Equivalent to 51 UK pence. Also makes it 2/3 of petrol price. It goes as low as half the price of petrol because of this
artificial cycle in prices.
The installation subsidy is 1000 AUD for old cars and 2000 AUD for new cars.