“The current oil crisis will go from bad to worse until we have the courage to come forward with policies that alleviate the crisis.
"Transport via trucks on roads will have to be replaced with efficient rail connections which take the shortest distance between capital cities and this will mean routes that go via the inland. There will have to be the development of a biofuel industry and Australia, with its large capacity to grow sugar cane, is in a key position to do so. There will have to be the return of the Sites and Franchise Acts to reinstall vigorous competition at the retail level for fuel or prevention of the vertical integration that is currently becoming more and more evident.
"Australia has to now start developing its shale oil reserve of 466 billion barrels (Standing Committee on Economics, 20/09/2006) and a section of these reserves must be quarantined for the exclusive use of the Australian people to keep our fuel sovereignty whilst we develop alternatives. China has approximately 3 trillion barrels of shale oil reserves and the US has approximately 2 trillion barrels of shale oil reserves.
“There will have to be a decisive move towards the development of more hybrid and efficient engines. This would be a part of a suite of issues which a competent and effective Government would engage in as part of the process of reducing the transport costs of fuel that feed into all items of the family budget, as well as maintaining the Australian citizen's capacity to afford to drive a car.
"When I bought this issue up in my First Speech in 2005 the idea was scoffed at because the belief was that the increase in oil prices was a minor glitch and the Australian Bureau of Agriculture and Resource Economics had stated the price of oil would fall back to approximately $40 a barrel.
"I said it would go through $100 a barrel and, unfortunately, I was right. Now the price is well on its way to $200 a barrel and there is no reason it will stop until it reaches the point where people can no longer afford to buy it. That is an extremely worrying circumstance for all Australians.
"There is a very simple question that all Australians must ask themselves - when I can no longer afford to put an oil based fuel in my motor vehicle, what will I put in as an alternative? Unfortunately, as I am currently driving along the Ipswich Motorway, I cannot see any car yards selling hydrogen cars. So, we must be able to deal with a product that drives the internal combustion engines that surround me in this current Brisbane parking lot.
“Mr Rudd, by just throwing up his hands and saying it is beyond his control, without offering any alternative policy programmes to effectively manage the issue, shows he lacks the critical expertise which is required on this decisive issue."
Ends