Graeme Samuel says "ACCC can't meet public's expectations." Shouldn't have power over pricing. IF THEY DON'T CONTROL THEM WHO DOES, IT'S A TOOTHLESS TIGER!

Graeme Samuel never wanted power to control petrol pricing.

AUSTRALIA'S consumer watchdog has warned its price monitoring scheme for petrol has raised expectations it cannot meet because it lacks any power over bowser prices.

Outgoing Australian Competition and Consumer Commission chairman Graeme Samuel told the National Press Club in Canberra the regulator was in a “dangerous” position because governments knew its independent status lent weight to their policies.

“It has been seen as the one independent body that can add some credibility to the sort of work that sometimes our politicians may want us to undertake,” he said, citing the commission's ongoing monitoring of petrol prices and airport car parking charges as examples.

“It's an action which on the one hand creates some more transparency and, on the other hand, what it does is it creates an expectation that the ACCC is about to do something,” he said.

“Now I think it's quite clear that the ACCC doesn't have the power to do anything in relation to airport car parking charges.

Samuel says, "It doesn't have the power and nor should it necessarily have the power to do anything in relation to petrol prices."

YOU DIDN'T EXPECT ME TO UPSET THE BIG END OF TOWN DID YOU!