Port Augusta Diesel Eases 12 Cents While Broken Hill Servos Lift Past 257
Right, so if you're running the outback corridor this week, the price you cop at the bowser has less to do with the servo you pull into and more to do with which side of the border you happened to run low on.
I had a squiz at the numbers at 8:15am AEST on 5th Sep 2026, and Port Augusta diesel has come down 12 cents to an average of 242.2 across its eight servos. Head east along the Barrier Highway and Broken Hill has gone the other way entirely, up 26.3 cents to 257.2 across seven sites. Same stretch of road, same trucks rolling through, 15 cents apart. Fair dinkum, that's the biggest gap between those two towns I've seen in a while.
Why the outback moves in big jumps
In the suburbs you get used to prices creeping. A cent here, two there, then a decent drop when the cycle resets. Out west it doesn't work like that. A town with seven or eight servos gets its fuel trucked in on a schedule, and when the new load lands at a higher wholesale rate the whole town moves at once. That's how Broken Hill can sit flat for a fortnight and then lift 26 cents in a day.
So if you're doing that run, fill in Port Augusta while it's sitting at 242. The next real option is a long way down the road and it's asking 15 cents more. On an 80 litre tank that's about twelve bucks, near enough to a counter meal at the pub.
New South Wales isn't doing anyone favours right now
Statewide, NSW diesel has climbed 8 cents overnight to average 254.8 across 1,246 servos. South Australia is up too, but only 5.9 cents to 257.7, and Victoria has barely budged at 2.8 cents. Queensland actually went backwards by a fraction. So the pressure this week is very much a NSW story.
Shopping around still works though, even with the market heading up. In Bomaderry the cheapest servo is holding 229.9 while the dearest in the same suburb wants 250.9. That's a 21 cent spread inside one postcode. You'd be mad not to check before you pull in.
East Wagga Wagga is the opposite. All three servos are sitting on 239.5, dead level, not a tenth of a cent between them. Nothing to gain from driving around there, so grab whichever one is on your side of the road and get on with it. Same story in Fairfield out in Western Sydney, where four servos are all within a cent and a half of 240.
Oberon up in the Central Tablelands is worth a mention at 237.9 for the cheapest of its four servos, a shade under 17 cents better than the state average. If you're heading over the mountains anyway, that's a sensible spot to top up.
Charlton and Ballarat are the ones to watch
Charlton out on the Darling Downs has eased 10.8 cents to 249.8, which keeps up the softening across that part of Queensland. Ballarat has its cheapest diesel at 237.3 against a town average of 244.4, so there's seven cents sitting there for anyone who bothers to look.
For the petrol crowd, Victoria unleaded is still climbing hard. St Albans is up 14.8 cents to 220.1 and Sale has lifted 12.9 to 224.7. If you're in Melbourne's west and you've been putting off a fill, that ship has probably sailed for this cycle. Have a squiz at the price trends before you commit either way.
What I reckon
Diesel buyers have copped a rough few days, no sugar coating it. But the spreads are still there and they're still worth chasing. A 21 cent gap in Bomaderry, or 15 cents between Port Augusta and Broken Hill, is real money rather than rounding.
If you want to see what your own area is doing, the diesel prices page tracks the lot, and you can drill into any suburb from there.
Look, end of the day, a bit of planning means more cash in your pocket for the important stuff. Can't argue with that.
