As fuel prices in Hobart showed that it currently carries the most expensive petrol in Australia, Tasmanian opposition leaders scored Premier David Bartlett for his failure in arresting the upward surge of pump prices.

The Royal Automobile Club of Tasmania (RACT) has reported on Friday that the present level of fuel prices reflects at least 13 cents more in existing Melbourne levels as the organisation noted that market prices were in contradiction to the Tasmanian fuel prices.

RACT said that refined fuel prices in Singapore were actually reduced by $6 per barrel in August yet the levels in effect in the state remained surprisingly unchanged.

Liberal MP Rene Hidding said that the Premier's pledges during a fuel summit two years ago proved to be empty words, recalling that Mr Bartlett "had committed to public sector savings of money on car pooling from the high fuel prices and also to look at an urban transport study."

Mr Hidding lamented that none of those promises came into fruition and labelled the state government's efforts on fuel price handling as a complete failure, urging the Premier at the same time that an investigation must be undertaken by his office.

The opposition MP also challenged Mr Bartlett to speak up and proved that his earlier posturing were not mere grandstanding antics as he stressed that "we want to hear from him and prove to us whether he's got any leadership to do anything about it."