Fuel discount for NSW seniors at United Petroleum stations

Kevin Sinclair, the president of Dubbo Community Men's Shed, said the four-cent discount only benefited seniors who had a United petrol station in their hometown - which rules out much of the west.

The discount is offered at participating United service stations for those who hold a NSW Government-issued NSW Seniors Card or Seniors Savers Card. The government said it was a measure being offered to seniors to take the sting off the cost of living.

Though there has been discussion in the community that the fuel discount replaces the NSW Government's $250 Regional Seniors travel card, the government says this is not the case.

Mr Sinclair said: "I think [the discount is] very city, coastal orientated. It's not of any benefit to anyone well out in the outback parts of the state [where there are no United Petroleum stations]."

"West of Narromine and Nyngan there could be some, but when you go further south and further north in the western part of the state, there's nothing," Mr Sinclair told the Daily Liberal.

"There's nothing in Mudgee, so if [people] have to drive to Orange or Dubbo to fill up to get the four cents a litre they'd be far worse off. How are they going to get the advantage in Mudgee if there's no United Petroleum station there?"

Indeed, the United Petroleum website shows there is no United service station in Mudgee. There is one participating outlet in Dubbo, two in Orange, and one in Tomingley.

Mr Sinclair said the discount was "no help whatsoever" to people outside these areas, and he would much rather see the NSW Government's Regional Seniors travel card reinstated.

"With the $250 travel card [seniors] could also use it on the train, in a taxi - you don't have to use it just on petrol. It's just ridiculous [that's it not still being offered] in my opinion," he said.

Between him and his wife, they had $500 to use for travel under the regional travel card, which Mr Sinclair said was "a big help".

"It would have been a help for all elderly people ... they don't have to have a motor vehicle to get the benefits from it because they could use it in a lot of different ways," he said.

"So the old $250 travel card is far more beneficial to all the senior people of Australia."

He said he probably won't make much use of the four-cent discount at United - even though there is an outlet in Dubbo - as he already accesses the same discount at Coles- and Woolworths-operated petrol stations.

"If you go and spend your money at Coles and Woolies in the grocery shop and you take your receipt, you get the four-cent discount [at their petrol stations]," Mr Sinclair said.

"Coles and Woolies are doing more for the people of the country than the current government are doing."

Mr Sinclair said reinstating the Regional Seniors travel card should be "seriously considered by the current government".

The NSW Government denies it has done a deal with United Petroleum to replace the Regional Seniors travel card.

They said they halted new applications for the travel card because it was not funded in the forward estimates.

They reportedly halted the card "while mitigation options were investigated".

Minister for Seniors, Jodie Harrison, said: "Reasonable people would agree raising awareness and celebrating the savings available under the NSW Seniors Card falls within my remit as Minister for Seniors, without interpreting it as a hidden budget announcement."

"As a government, we have been up front with the people of NSW. The coalition passed us the largest debt ever handed from one government to another, and there will be difficult decisions in this upcoming budget. We will continue to be honest with the people of NSW and communicate those decisions in the September Budget," Ms Harrison said.