Media - Nick Xenophon - Independent Senator for South Australia

Independent Senator for South Australia Nick Xenophon says the decision by the ACCC to block the merger of Caltex and 300 Mobil service stations is a victory for consumers and will stop the further concentration of the petrol market.

"The petrol market is already too heavily dominated by a few key players and this merger would have made a bad situation worse," Nick said.

"I commend the ACCC for acting in the public interest."

"The fewer players there are in the petrol market, the more motorists pay at the pump, and if you value competition, our regulators must do whatever they can to keep a variety of companies operating in this sector."

Senator Xenophon has previously lobbied against the merger on behalf of independent fuel retailers who claimed the deal would drive many of them out of business.

"Independent retailers keep petrol prices low. By blocking this merger, the ACCC has put a cap on the market power of Caltex and that can only be a good thing," Nick said.

Senator Xenophon, with the assistance of consumer law expert, Associate Professor Frank Zumbo, has tabled The Richmond Amendment, a Private Senator's Bill designed to strengthen Australia's anti-merger law and to address the issue of creeping acquisitions.

"Clearly, the Caltex acquisition of Mobil service stations represents a very real and substantial threat to oil industry competition in major Australian wholesale and retail markets and the ACCC is doing the right thing in deciding to oppose the acquisition," Professor Zumbo said.