The current liquid fuels crisis is just a symptom of a larger malaise.There are three overall problems.(1)Excessive population relative to resources.This is global and will eventually be subject to a Malthusian solution.
(2)There is an overall energy crisis as our sources,in the main, are not renewable and are causing (3) Environmental damage which translates into decreasing food production and the real wild card,climate change.
The current boom mentality in the political,business and media mainstream in Australia means that no effective action to address any of the issues is being taken and probably won't be until the situation deteriorates to the point of no return.
There is a lot which can be done.Nuclear power is one of the stop gap solutions although probably not so important in Australia because of our wealth in renewable energy sources.We are exporting large quantities of natural gas which is a good stopgap fuel in the transport sector.
I could go on for pages about the insanity of what we are currently doing.I think that the situation is going to have to get a lot worse before there is any realistic possibility of it getting better,given human nature and the abysmal quality of our leadership.