A high tax on petrol helps to discourage excessive consumption, while generating revenue to cover the direct costs motoring causes for governments as well as contributing towards all the other costs governments face. Nor is there anything outrageous about the indexation of petrol excise. Governments' tax revenue needs to keep pace with inflation and the real growth in the economy. With most taxes this happens automatically because they're levied as a percentage of income or price. But excises are levied as flat amounts.
Indexation does no more than preserve their real value.
Because tax changes do so little to account for the rise in the price of petrol, Howard could give up hundreds of millions in tax revenue to bring about a change in the price that motorists hardly noticed. It would be soon forgotten, either as the OPEC cartel continues pushing oil prices a lot higher or as the cartel comes apart and oil prices fall back to where they were. Governments are under unending populist pressure to cut taxes with one hand, but increase their spending with the other. But someone has to worry about balancing the Budget and when Howard is battling the wilfully innumerate, he deserves more support than he gets from the more sensible among us. But politicians are nothing if not inconsistent.