The Oil Drum: Australia/New Zealand | The Bullroarer

The Bullroarer - Tuesday 25th March 2008

Posted by Phil Hart on March 24, 2008 - 11:32pm in The Oil Drum: Australia/New Zealand

Slowly we are edging closer to a real debate on petrol prices. Perhaps one day somebody will mention 'resource constraint'?

Brakes on fuel critics

MOTORING organisations, including the RACV, say they will not be muzzled on fuel prices following a call by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission to try to stop them "confusing" motorists.

RACV criticises supermarket discount coupons

The RACV has criticised the pricing tactics of supermarkets and is claiming petrol prices are distorted by the popular fuel discount docket offer.

No dodging tough choices on climate change

CLIMATE change will be one of the issues that defines the Rudd Government. It is an issue of tough choices, of clashing values and objectives, in which decisions will have to be made in a fog of uncertainty about how serious the problem is, and what is the best way out of it.

But those choices must be made. Rudd rode to power partly on concern over global warming. Labor promised to act decisively, not only on the symbolic step of ratifying the Kyoto protocol, but on the serious stuff: emissions trading, funding research on clean coal and renewable energy, and mandatory targets for the latter.

Angel topsides take flight

The topsides for Woodside Petroleum’s Angel gas project have been floated out from a shipyard in Pasir Gurdang, in Malaysia, bound for the field off Australia’s north-west coast.

Economic turmoil can mean opportunity

Recently, I had a meeting with Bill Buechler, who runs an investment management company in the United States. He is amazingly confident about New Zealand's prospects in the next decade or two and believes our economy is heading for a boom.

We are set to enjoy big cash infusions from the continuing commodities boom, New Zealand's image is that of a safe and attractive place to own property, and, most significantly, it has an oil bonanza he believes could be as significant as the North Sea oil boom was to Britain.

This one is a week old, but an ASPO colleague is involved in the Bayside Climate Change Action Group, so it's worth a mention:

A family switches on to switching off

BRIGHTON resident Pat Calver and husband David have been spending their weekends shopping for light bulbs and shifting heavy furniture to get to hard-to-reach power points.

Concerned that energy bills for their five-bedroom home were soaring, the couple signed up for a free energy assessment being offered by Bayside City Council. The report compiled by the volunteer assessors has sprung the family into action.