"The elephant in the corner of room during this election debate, which is fuel prices, has awoken and is now starting to have a wander around the family house.
"The price of Tapas crude has broken through $100 a barrel and the price of the Australian dollar is starting to fall. In simple terms, what this means is the price of fuel now has the potential to go through the roof. The ramifications for our nation, which is the size of the USA (without Alaska) but has a population roughly equivalent to the Netherlands, which relies so heavily on road transport, will be enormous.
"It is absolutely essential that we start to mitigate the pressures on the economy from an imported oil based product and move to a domestic bio-renewable product as well as remove road based heavy haulage and replace it with a more fuel efficient transport mechanism, which is rail. It is essential this be acknowledged in the political debate of the current election.
"Australia has the capacity to produce ethanol from sugar in the short term. Australia has the capacity to produce bio diesel. Australia has asked the oil companies to come on board and support this development and the oil companies have done little more than make a partial effort towards a very 'mega' target. Of course, why would they try and replace their stock on hand in oil fields around the world, the value of which is going through the roof, with a cheaper bio renewable product they don’t produce?
"I believe the effect to the price of fuel immediately after the election will be substantial. The oil companies are keeping their heads down so as not to make themselves a political issue, realising they have immense capacity to move price after the election debate and once election promises have passed.
"We must be able to replace some of the product we use for fuel now with a cheaper alternative which does not require the complete replacement of the entire Australian motor vehicle fleet.
"Pure physics and logistics will always lead to a far more efficient transfer of goods around our nation by one locomotive pulling 60 carriages rather than 80 prime movers driving past on a regional road near you or parked next to you in the traffic tomorrow morning.
"The Australian balance of payment, which currently is predominantly due to the importation of fuel, could well become a cancerous growth on the future prosperity of Australia if we do not deal with the cost of imported fuel and the cost of transport which is factored into the price of virtually every good you purchase.
"Ethanol, bio-diesel and inland rail are visions for the future of this nation that are essential as part of safeguarding our economic security."