April 1, 2026 – The worsening fuel crisis is forcing Australian sole traders to rethink how they work, with many turning down jobs, absorbing higher costs and cutting back travel as margins tighten.
New data from sole accounting platform Hnry shows Australian sole traders have reduced their work-related travel by 23.6 per cent in just four weeks, while the average cost per trip increased by 9.4 per cent, with the situation described as ‘cooked’. Hnry Australia Managing Director Karan Anand says the impact is even more pronounced among tradies, where fuel is a non-negotiable cost of doing business.
“Their business travel has dropped by nearly 40per cent in just one month, but their per-trip fuel costs have still increased,” he says.
Josiah Bernier, a sole trader painter/decorator from Cairns, says the fuel crisis is worse than Covid.
“It escalated so quickly and came out of nowhere, so there was no time to prepare,” he says. “I’ve started to leave my tools on site and use an electric scooter to get to and from the job in an effort to reduce my fuel consumption. I’ve turned down work if it’s too far away, and I’m only doing smaller local jobs unless the client is prepared to cover that cost.
“The additional fuel cost comes in around $20 to $30 a day, which can quickly add up for a bigger job, so I won’t take on jobs that are further afield unless the client is willing to pay for my additional out-of-pocket fuel cost. I’ve stopped quoting on jobs more than 30 minutes away, as I can spend a lot of time travelling around for jobs I may not secure, so it’s just not worth it. Honestly, life’s hard enough as it is, to now add in the extra fuel cost, it feels like it’s becoming unmanageable.”
While he welcomes the Government’s fuel excise tax relief, he worries about the longer-term economic impact.
“As a father of five, I am concerned about the amount of debt the country is taking on and what that means for the future,” he says. “With a population of almost 28 million, once you take out the elderly and those too young to work, that doesn’t leave many taxpayers to pay down our near $1 trillion of gross government debt. I wonder if this short-term fix is worth the long-term pain for the younger generation.”
Anand says many sole traders are being forced to absorb rising costs rather than pass them on, or turn down work that requires lengthy travel, particularly in competitive or price-sensitive sectors.
“There’s a limit to what you can charge before customers walk away, so a lot of people are wearing the cost themselves. Sole traders don’t have big buffers, procurement teams or company fuel cards – it’s just them, making decisions in real time and with fuel prices rising this rapidly, it doesn’t just hit their wallet, it changes their behaviour,” he says.
Hnry’s expense analysis tracked more than 10,000 users across New Zealand and Australia who recorded a fuel or mileage expense in both the second week of February and the second week of March 2026.
The cost of fuel in Cairns, Queensland’s far northern outpost, 1800 klms north of Brisbane is the canary in the coal mine for ongoing commerce and viability of the tourist sector. Diesel prices range from $3.00 to $3.30 per litre and petrol from $2.60 per litre.
Today’s closure of the iconic Raptis Seafoods, Australia’s largest wild-caught prawning operation will send shock waves across the Far North with the loss of 200 jobs in Queensland and South Australia.
Based at Karumba in the Gulf of Carpentaria for 60 years, Raptis’ cold stores and fishing boats (above) provided essential infrastructure for the region’s prawn industry.
The receivers advertised the business for sale but no buyers came forward. Seafood distribution networks across the state south to the Gold Coast and Adelaide will be in disarray.
Born from an Adelaide fish-and-chip shop opened in the 1950s by Greek migrants Arthur Raptis Sr and his wife Anna, the business quickly grew into a wild-caught seafood empire spanning Queensland and South Australia.
