Brisbane runs the longest cycle of the big five cities
Brisbane has the longest discount cycle of Australia's five biggest cities — about six and a half weeks between peaks on average across 2025, on ACCC figures, against roughly five in Sydney and one in Perth. Regular cycles have mostly not run here since late February 2026, per the ACCC, so treat that as background rather than a timetable. The peak-to-trough swing is typically 20-30¢/L, with a sharp single-day jump followed by a slow daily grind down. Cycle timing is set by which major brand decides to break ranks and drop first — when 7-Eleven or Coles Express moves, the rest of the metro follows within 48 hours.
QLD has real-time price transparency
Since 2018 Queensland has required every fuel retailer to report price changes to the government within 30 minutes, the same standard NSW set with FuelCheck. That feed is what PetrolPulse ingests — prices on this page are within minutes of the bowser across all ~1,800 stations in the state, with the bulk of them in the Brisbane / Gold Coast / Sunshine Coast corridor.
Where Brisbane's cheap fuel lives
Logan, Ipswich, and the outer southern suburbs consistently run cheaper than the inner ring. The big-box discounters (Costco at North Lakes, 7-Eleven and United across the metro) typically set the floor on cheap days. The river divides more than geography: northside suburbs around Chermside and Aspley sit closer to the metro median, while inner-south and Fortitude Valley servos usually carry a premium because of property costs and lower competitive density.
Written and reviewed by Mark Schreuder, founder of PetrolPulse