WITHOUT TRUCKS, AUSTRALIA STOPS

Without trucks Australia stops — and without diesel the trucks stop.

The truckies are the lifeblood of this country, and so is the fuel that keeps the food and the supplies moving. Everything else we argue about assumes those wheels keep turning.

Australia is more exposed to a diesel disruption than almost anyone. We have to become self-reliant on producing our own fuel, and start converting the fleets away from imported diesel.

I read a piece out of New Zealand arguing that less than thirty days of reserves is plenty. I beg to differ. Something this critical to our way of life — and, in a bad month, to our survival — should be as close to self-sufficient as is humanly possible.

Fuel security should be named the number one national security risk and treated as the number one priority by every party in this parliament. It is not, and that tells you how seriously the current lot take the question.

The article that prompted this →

Australia produces around 400,000 barrels of oil a day and exports most of it — then imports about nine litres in ten of the refined fuel it burns, holds the thinnest reserve in the developed world, and carries the lot on ships it does not own. The fix is not reopening the old refineries. It is cutting the demand that can be cut, and making the rest here.

Australia’s Transport Fuel Problem — and How to Fix It →
The True Cost of “Cheap” Imported Fuel →

Our policy work on it: Energy Independence & Australian Productivity · Fuel Security.