KRudd and co are looking to fire up exploration already, in the form of big tax breaks for explorers - see the next Bullroarer...

The question will be how the industry responds. Just like negative gearing , at some point you want to make a net gain on the investment and tax breaks or not you still have to be reasonably sure of finding the stuff in big enough quantities. I would have thought that $100 bbl would have provided enough incentive. Am I missing something?

I also can't quite reconcile KRudds greenhouse chest thumping with a committment to make coal mining and delivery to China more efficient meaning more of the stuff even faster (the so-called infrastructure bottlenecks); this oil exploration tax deal and the $500M Aussie Hybrid car which will save exactly zero in GHG emissions and do nothing for overall oil consumption in this country.