You may recall a media release out of my office a couple of weeks ago regarding the correlation between the country’s trade deficit and the importation of oil and other petroleum products.

Well, with the Budget upon us once again, I would like to take this opportunity to reiterate just how significant this relationship actually is.

A break down of the deficit figures clearly indicates 61.8% of the total below the line dollars are attributable to the trading of oil and petroleum products. 61.8%! Now I’m no Minister for Trade, and it’s unlikely I ever will be, but one need not be a trade expert to understand that our deficit would be dramatically reduced by decreasing the importation of oil and fuel.

How could this be done you say? Quite easily if, as a nation, including government and industry, we embraced ethanol and biofuels.

A 10% mandate was the target the Nationals set several years ago and we have worked hard to reach it. However, we’ve been lucky if we hit 1%. Our country and its people have the capacity, the resources and the ‘ingredients’ to deliver such an outcome. There is no need for us to rely so heavily on the Middle Eastern countries, unstable as they are, for this vital commodity.

So, to all those economists and financial gurus who will, no doubt, spend the next week or so poring over budget papers I say, think outside the box. There are alternatives so let’s use some initiative and some backbone and get ethanol into our nation’s service stations.