Australia’s frontier mentality in denial over energy

Petrol sales fell for the first time ever last year as price-shocked Australians traded in their four-wheel-drive vehicles for less thirsty cars, took fewer trips and gave public transport another go.

‘Drivers have clearly altered their behaviour,’ said Craig James, an economist at the CommSec brokerage.

What has not changed, however, is the country’s energy policy.
Coal is to power 90 per cent of its electricity generation, and the official target for renewable energy sources is stagnating at 2 per cent of the mix.

Furthermore, Prime Minister John Howard’s conservative government plans to do little to crimp an oil-import bill expected to rise above 10 billion Australian dollars (7.5 billion US dollars) this year as Australia looks to imports for about half its oil needs.

‘The reality is that the older fuels, of which we have large supplies, are going to contribute the bulk of our energy needs,’ Howard said when assuring the country’s 120,000 coal miners that their jobs were safe. ‘The energy advantage provided by our resources is something that Australia must not throw away.’

Australians, who pump out more greenhouses gases per capita than even the Americans, who lead the world on nation-by-nation production, maintain a sentimental attachment to the time before environmentalism.
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