Madilyn Lostroh, owner of Mal's Haulage in Ipswich, Queensland, experienced a startling reality when one of her drivers discovered his truck's diesel tank had been partially emptied overnight. This incident marked the first time her company had been targeted by fuel thieves in nearly a decade of operation.
Desperation Drives Fuel Theft
"It's a bit of a reality check on just how dire the situation is, or how desperate people are at the minute," says Lostroh, 35, who runs the haulage business with her husband. "You have to have been there to know the yard is there – that's the other worrying bit about it."
Lostroh's experience reflects a broader trend across Australia's trucking industry, where anecdotal reports of fuel theft have increased significantly following the energy shock caused by the war in the Middle East and subsequent soaring retail prices.
Record Diesel Prices
Diesel wholesale prices reached a new record of 320 cents per liter on Wednesday morning, according to Australian Institute of Petroleum data, with retail prices averaging about 319 cents per liter nationwide. This represents a 20-cent leap in wholesale prices, putting immense pressure on transport businesses and individual consumers alike.
Average unleaded prices at service stations also rose in some cities on Wednesday for the first time since late March, despite a brief reprieve following the federal government's cut to fuel excise.
Industry Response
Alex Randall, operations coordinator at heavy haulage coordinator Loadshift, confirmed receiving multiple anecdotal reports of fuel theft. "When diesel's over $3 a litre, and servos are rationing or running dry, fuel becomes something worth stealing," he explained.
Randall noted that drivers are now facing dual challenges: "Our drivers are already planning routes around which servos might have stock. Now they've got to worry about what happens to the fuel sitting in their own yard overnight."
Police Data Shows Mixed Picture
Despite widespread anecdotal evidence, police data reveals a complex and inconsistent picture across Australian states:
- Queensland: Police reported less than 1% change in reported fuel thefts from January to March compared to the same period last year, despite investigating several recent reports in the Cairns region.
- Victoria: Police noted no significant increase in fuel siphoning reports, though fuel drive-offs have increased coinciding with new online reporting systems for retailers.
- New South Wales: Police found no obvious increase in fuel theft since January.
- Australian Capital Territory: Reported a moderate increase in service station fuel drive-offs, with 67 incidents in March compared to 51 in February and 50 in January.
- Tasmania: Police noted 24 fuel drive-offs reported last week compared to only three in the first week of February, plus investigation of a significant diesel theft from a storage trailer near Hobart.
- South Australia: Reported 131 alleged fuel theft offences in the week ending April 5, slightly down from 141 the previous week.
Economic Pressure Mounts
Lostroh, who chose not to report the isolated siphoning incident, expressed concern about broader economic pressures. "Some people may not be able to put food on the table as well as they could before," she said. "The Reserve Bank is not being kind to us at the same time; there's not much relief anywhere, and people are getting desperate."
Police across multiple jurisdictions emphasized their ongoing engagement with fuel retailers to prevent theft, though data collection methods vary significantly between states, making national trends difficult to assess accurately.
Western Australia police noted they investigate fuel theft as general stealing offences, while Northern Territory police did not respond to requests for comment before publication.
