NEARLY five years after he was appointed as Kevin Rudd's full-time fuel "cop", support for the nation's Petrol Commissioner is running on empty.
As frustrated commuters suffer increasing pain at the pump, Joe Dimasi cannot point to a single major achievement since assuming the role and has lost the backing of key motoring groups.
Amazingly, Mr Dimasi still insists he isn't actually the Petrol Commissioner, years after an official press release declared him just that. And now, even the Prime Minister's office is trying to rewrite history.
Asked whether the Government considers Mr Dimasi to be the Petrol Commissioner, Mr Rudd's office issued a statement that avoided using the title, instead calling him "Commissioner to the ACCC with special responsibility for fuel related issues."
There was no such fudging on October 1, 2008, when the Government triumphantly declared the appointment of Mr Dimasi as "ACCC Petrol Commissioner".
In opposition, Mr Rudd proposed the role would be a "full-time petrol cop on the beat" because "Labor believes the federal government has a duty to do everything in its power to ensure that motorists aren't paying one cent more on petrol than is necessary".
Motoring groups across the country and the overarching Australian Automobile Association expressed bemusement over Mr Dimasi's backing away from the title and from problems in the petrol market.
"It's been a waste of time ... political window-dressing," said AAA executive director Andrew McKellar.
