 | Australia, The Place To Be: Part 3a | The Oil Drum: Australia/New Zealand | The Bullroarer - Monday 26 November 2007 |  |
55 comments on Australian Election: Peak Oil Policy Responses
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55 comments on Australian Election: Peak Oil Policy Responses
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It is dissapointing and also predictable that the COALition doesn't cannot even bring itslef to say the words "PEAK OIL" in its response. Much of the response was fluff, with empty promises to review things. What I find intersting is that they say we have a biennial review of energy security as recomended in 2004. Well what did the review in 2006 throw up? Nothing to worry about apparently except for the fact that we had $75 oil?
Also taking a holistic (homogenous) approach to energy is naiive and deluded. Please Mr Howard, tell me how nuclear power is going to run my car? At least Howard has grudgingly alluded to high oil prices as being part of the economic storm clouds on the horizon. I think John Howard and Peter Costello are actually very well informed about peak oil and are actaully hoping to be lose thsi election so they won't have to face the consequences. They will be able to thow a lost of it at a Rudd government when it fianlly hits the fan in the next few years.
And Mr Rudd, Is $500M spent to produce an Aus produced hybrid a smart investment of energy when we have a perfectly good car fleet which could deliver the same efficieny as your hybrid experiment with a little good driver educataion and driving pattern modification.
Even the Greens are a bit soft on the PO issue. Their website mentions not a word of Peak Oil and Christine Milnes report is slanted towards Climate Change as being the far more important issue. While there is genuine understanding of Peak oil in the report, CC is clearly the more ideologically pure moral argument for using less fossil fuels. The economic impacts of PO are of little concern to the Greens who don't give a toss about those of us who dwell in consumer land and believe we deserve every misfortune that befalls us.
The only pollie in Australia who I have any confidence in is Andrew McNamara but I fear that he will become the token voice that can be conveniently buried in Qld.
Take only what you need, give everything you can.
Although its not highlighted in the policies on their website, the Democrats are well aware of Peak Oil. See http://sa.democrats.org.au/html/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=ar..., http://www.democrats.org.au/articles/index.htm?article_id=139, http://www.news.com.au/adelaidenow/story/0,22606,21571863-5006301,00.html for more info on their position.
Its a pity that everyone's basically written off the Democrats as a spent force. From what I've seen, they have a far more realistic grasp of Peak Oil issues than any of the other parties.
Anyway, in mid October I contacted both the Coalition and Labor via the feedback mechanisms on their websites, asking about their renewable energy policies and their planning (if any) for peak oil.
I didn't receive a response from the Coalition, but Labor sent me the following:-
Labor believes Australia's abundance of clean energy resources such as wave, wind, solar and geothermal are crucial to meeting the challenge of climate change. A strong and well-supported renewable energy sector will help reduce Australia's greenhouse gas emissions, grow jobs and support
an innovative clean energy export industry.
The Howard Government has announced a clean energy target which piggybacks on existing State Labor Government schemes and takes credit for growth in the renewables sector generated by State Labor Governments.
Labor is committed to genuine long-term support for renewable energy, and believes a suite of clean energy sources will play an important role in Australia's future energy mix.
Labor has already announced a comprehensive portfolio of policies to support clean energy. Labor will:
* Substantially increase the Mandatory Renewable Energy Target;
* Introduce an effective emissions trading scheme by 2010 that makes clean energy sources more economically competitive;
* Offer rebates for rooftop solar power panels;
* Offer rebates for solar hot water systems;
* Offer low-interest loans of up to $10,000 for homeowners to purchase measures including rooftop solar power panels and solar hot water systems;
* Establish the $50 million Australian Solar Institute;
* Provide $50 million to develop geothermal 'hot rocks' energy; and
* Establish a $500 million Green Car Innovation Fund designed to tackle climate change by driving the manufacture of low emission vehicles in Australia.
These measures will provide significant support to Australia's clean energy sector, and are central to Labor's comprehensive action agenda for tackling climate change.
In regards to your concerns about 'peak oil', Federal Labor believes that better information is required regarding future oil supplies to inform prudent planning.
For that reason Labor endorsed the first recommendation of the report of the Senate Rural and Regional Affairs and Transport Committee: Australia's future oil supply and alternative transport fuels.
That Report recognised that there are concerns that we will soon reach 'peak oil' and recommended that Geoscience Australia, ABARE and Treasury to assess the official estimates of future oil supply and the 'peak oil' arguments and report to the Government on the probabilities and risks
involved, comparing early mitigation scenarios with business as usual.
A copy of the Senate report, released on 7 February 2007, is available online at: www.aph.gov.au/Senate/committee/rrat_ctte/oil_supply/report/index.htm
A Rudd Labor Government would carry out this assessment, allowing it to properly plan to secure our future fuel supplies.
In addition, a Rudd Labor Government will include projections of future liquid fuel supply and demand in a regular National Energy Security Assessment to better inform industry and the community of the nation's future energy outlook.
At a national level Australia is facing a profound shift in the source of our liquid fuels. Unless significant new oil fields are found, Australian domestic oil production could represent as little as 20 per cent of our consumption by 2015. Importing such large amounts of oil could leave Australia's economy heavily exposed to international oil supply disruptions.
A Rudd Labor Government will encourage increased domestic oil exploration, the development of gas-to-liquids projects that can convert some of our vast gas resources into liquid fuels and coal to liquids technologies that can produce synthetic diesel. Coal to liquids technologies can include
the capture and storage of carbon to minimise the emission of greenhouse gases in the production of fuels.
Labor will also support the research and development of new bio fuel technologies, including the production of ethanol from cellulose.
Labor considers energy security crucial to continued prosperity. Having a diverse range of liquid fuels will help secure our economic future.
In the context of climate change we must ensure that Australia has not only secure sources of energy but also sustainable sources. Federal Labor is absolutely committed to combating climate change while meeting Australia's long-term energy needs.
A Rudd Labor Government will immediately ratify the Kyoto Protocol and set a target to reduce Australia's greenhouse emissions by 60 per cent on 2000 levels by 2050.
In addition, Labor will introduce an effective emissions trading scheme by 2010 and implement a National Clean Coal Initiative with a $500 million investment to drive the development of technologies that dramatically reduce emissions from the use of fossil fuels.
Once again, thank you for making me aware of your concerns about energy security.
Regards
ALP Campaign Information Services
thanks for that great info commuter.
i agree that the democrats are well aware of peak oil and have good policy on the issue. Just a pity that their office could not manage a reply to the survey.
Also great to see your response from Labor. That’s encouraging that they’ve committed to the key action from the Senate report to formally get Geoscience Australia and ABARE and Treasury to reassess the situation. ABARE can make believe anything they like, but the data is so convincing now that the combined work of those three bodies would have trouble completely dodging the issue. They may have a little more freedom to act with an election out of the way and a new Government?
i'm just concerned about Labor hoping to get liquids from coal and sequester it. you might in some limited cases pay a one third energy penalty to sequester C02 used for electricity generation. and you can convert coal to liquids at great expense, also losing one third of the energy content of the coal along the way. but i just cannot see it happening that you would do both and lose two thirds of the energy content along the way. if we're going to do Coal-to-liquids in a world constrained for energy, capital and engineers, we won't be sequestering the CO2 it generates.
Cheers
Phil.
Great info commuter and I'm glad you recieved a response. I have sent emails to Garrett, Rudd and Ferguson earlier this year and have yet to hear anything. At least in this response they do separate energy generally from liquid fuels. The GTL and CTL fantasy seems to be alive and well though. Wonder how that will fly in Kyoto?
Take only what you need, give everything you can.
Maybe someone should send them Andrew McNamaras report from Queensland. How much more information do they need?
Take only what you need, give everything you can.
I think keeping electricity in your house is far more important than trying to maintain the car culture that got us here in the first place.
John Howard's got this one right.
Actually electricity will one day run your car (or other form of transport, unless you walk or ride a bike).
Its just that nuclear power isn't the best option for generating this electricity...
This is an assumption on your part. There is no evidence that electricity or anything else will power cars in the future to the extent we have now.
I went and saw my local Coalition MP - he did not know what "Peak Oil" was - he'd never heard of it. I explained it, his eyes widened as the implication sunk in.
The Coalition response was totally pathetic, that Labor didn't reply is worrying. I will vote Greens - they really do have their head around this issue as well as others.
Peak Oil will kick Australia's economy in the guts - mining, tourism and transport. We need to start investing in a Solar-Electric near future.
I briefed my Coalition MP on peak oil also and it was quite clear that he was not at all familiar with peak oil. Having immersed ourselves in peak oil on the net, we assume that everybody has heard of it but that is a long way from reality.
We have a lot of work to do to raise the awareness of our politician before we can expect them to make good policy.
cheers
Phil.