Page 957 - Week 03 - Tuesday, 29 March 2011
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Department of Defence predicted an end of surplus oil production by 2012 and significant shortfall in output by 2015.
These are serious, well-informed studies that we cannot overlook. They have been backed up recently by candid, behind-the-scenes information released by WikiLeaks in the form of diplomatic cables. They suggest that governments downplay the issue of peak oil in line with their longing for more business-as-usual behaviour.
Looking at the world’s economies, we must be worried about the impacts of peak oil. The convenor of the UK Industry Taskforce on Peak Oil and Energy Security said recently:
We are asleep at the wheel here: choosing to ignore a threat to the global economy that is quite as bad as the credit crunch, quite possibly worse.
I think that his statement may be significant. The Greens know that we cannot remain asleep at the wheel and drive to disaster. We have a responsibility to take action on this issue and that is what I am talking about today. As a first response, the Greens ask that the government acknowledge the issue of peak oil and assess the way it will impact the territory. This is going to include issues such as mobility, food supply, costs and government services.
The ACT government must develop a plan to respond to the challenges of peak oil and ensure that the ACT will be well prepared for and resilient as peak oil arrives. It will need to coordinate an approach between the various government portfolios.
The government can start by looking at other jurisdictions in Australia who are taking the responsible route and planning for peak oil. The Sunshine Coast peak oil strategy, for example, recognises that peak oil presents major threats to the region. It provides a framework for implementing actions to tackle the issue. There are similar frameworks being actioned by other progressive councils in Australia. These plans include ways to ensure that councils continue to deliver the necessary services to their citizens.
We need the same thing. What is the government’s service contingency strategy? How will our hospitals keep on working? How will our public transport keep on working? How will our education system keep on working in the face of seriously constrained petrol supplies?
As a second action, the government must address transport issues in the ACT. Our city has been crowned the king of cars. We have high car use and it appears that we continue to plan and in fact develop for high car use. The government needs to do a serious rethink of the millions of dollars it spends on infrastructure for cars. It needs to make our public transport system first class and integrate this effectively with opportunities for cycling and walking.
We often talk about this in the context of climate change, but a shift to these transport modes is inevitable due to peak oil. There will simply be less ability to run petrol-based cars and we will need to make as many trips as possible through quality, high frequency public transport or other sustainable transport modes.
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