“With fuel rising on Friday by $11 a barrel to a new record of $139 a barrel, the implications for the Australian economy, by reason of not having an alternate fuel program up and running, are immense and could be devastating.

“If you are currently paying between $1.45 and $1.70 per litre and the Australian dollar devalued back to around USD 50c, the price of fuel would be in the vicinity of $2.60 to $3 per litre.

“The disturbances we currently see in Europe will, unfortunately, be visited on us but the extent will be greater because of the greater distances and the greater reliance on transportation of goods in Australia.

"I commend the development of hybrid cars, however, this will require the complete recapitalisation of the Australian car fleet and this may have some serious implications on debt. As a transitional arrangement, it is a good move but must go hand in hand with alternate fuel sources such as: ethanol, which can be used in the current car fleet; coal to liquid; gas to liquid and the development of shale oil.

“Fuel is a crucial cost in the production and transport of so many items in Australia, such as food, so fuel must remain affordable for Australia to maintain its' current standard of living. It is unlikely we will be developing an electric-fuel hybrid tractor so there must be the capacity for the production of alternate fuels such as bio-diesel or a regulated and quarantined domestic source of diesel must be provided if we wish to keep food prices from following the same trajectory as fuel prices.

“Whether it is the capacity to plant a wheat crop so you have affordable bread or the ability to transport livestock to market so you have affordable meat or the ability to use high horse power farm machinery to produce affordable vegetables; all these issues require an affordable fuel.

“Also associated with the production of fuel is the production of fertiliser so the agricultural economy is heavily weighted towards an association with fuel prices. The Australian standard of living is also strongly associated with affordable groceries, so this is not just an issue for the farm but an issue for the shopping trolley and the person who has to pay for the contents inside. If you have to rely on imported groceries, then you have lost one of your most fundamental national safety blankets, which is food sovereignty. A fuel inspired recession would certainly be devastating to an urban service based economy in Australia.

“As Australians we need to keep down the transport component of the vast majority of consumer goods so we need capital city interconnectivity by high speed, high volume rail.

“All these issues are at threat because we haven’t had our eye clearly on the fuel crisis. The latest example of this was the Australia 2020 Summit which failed to properly understand the crisis, which is not so much years away but only a couple of months away. The summit would have been far more worthwhile if fuel was the only issue on the agenda as it will have a far more dramatic effect of the standard of living and the future lives of Australians than, let’s say, a republic.

"In summary, all things are connected, but we must maintain the capacity to provide affordable groceries to the Australian people."

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