A complete rethink of fuel taxation.

Removal of one of the government charges on petrol doesn't bode well for the Emissions Trading Scheme. Of course if you subtract one tax then another on a fossil fuel the next step is to negative-tax or subsidise it. I don't know how LPG or CNG works out on tax per say kilometre or kilogram compared to petrol. Petrol is more energy dense but higher in carbon. Perhaps the whole basis of fuel taxation should be revised consistent with carbon reduction. If the overall cap including vehicle fuel is on track to meet targets then the carbon charge could be low.

The next step is then to accelerate the move away from fossil carbon by handing back fuel revenue for approved purchases. For example solar hot water, photovoltaics, home insulation, ground source heat pumps, smart meters. Don't hand back the fuel tax in lower PAYE taxes as it will be spent at the pub. I suspect we'll mull over these issues until it becomes critical.

5c off or dropping the GST both are self distructive. this is a primarily a supply/demand problem - the arguement rages on in the media if this is really the case as columnists seem to insist that that heavy and unconventional oil can be easily processed just as light sweet is. otherwise appearantly stock players are driving off with millions of barrels of oil to stack in the backyard. logic says market drivers can only have a margin of effect or a short term large effect if the market is infact wrong. otherwise you see reserves increase, crude output drop without maintenance, crude prices drop as orders become easy to fill. this is not whats happening.

If we do drop the price, demand remains and the price goes up anyway.
If we dont drop the price of oil then china will end up with more,
. . . . . . but atleast australia doesnt feed an addiction that needs to be broken.

i agree with the greens here, we should not be taking money away from the government when it will have no effect. a long term solution is needed. like developing our own LNG inwards to power, trucks and trains to keep our primary services running. if a billionaire can drop 40mil and build an electric car for mass production, where is the lead from the government.

its going to near impossible to make the changes fast enough, so its not helping that we arent making a noticable effort to even take a step towards a fix, not a patch.

leaders will go down in history as morons if they keep listening the phone polls to drop the price,
leaders will go down in history as heros if they commit polical suicide and make the changes we need.

hindsights a B!@^#, so why are they closing their eyes when this ride is looking pretty dam obvious.

Barcelona a model for sustainable cities? I think not if they have to ship in water from other countries
http://edition.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/europe/05/13/spain.water.ap/index.html...

Damo, your right on the mark. I simply cannot believe that we have both a government and an opposition who appear to not have a clue about responding to increasing petrol prices when we have such well thought out policy responses from Hirsch (US) and even our own senate inquiry into Australia's Future Oil Supply and Future Alternate Fuels. Rudd must know better. The greens would have been in his ear for sure and he's a smart man. It seems that the rapid recent increase in prices have taken them by surprise (as it has most people). You'd have to assume even the Peak Oil aware polly wouldn't have expected the sudden barage from the community, given predictions that PO wouldn't impact for at least another 5-10yrs.

The reality is that the top of the bell curve, being where we most probably sit now, is beginning to open the gap between supply and demand. Yes, sure, the speculators have increased the prices, but its obvious that you'd need to know what the split of investment is for the purchase of futures contracts to have a better understanding of how this accurately affects the market and the price. If the bulk of speculation is for futures contracts for delivery much further down the track to as far out as 2016, then effectively they are bringing the peak oil price increases forward. If the bulk of futures contracts are for delivery in the next month, common sense would suggest that there must be alot of both buying and selling as the sellers off load the contracts so they don't have to take physical delivery of the oil thus revealing strong fundamental demand for oil.

Much of what we are seeing now has been predicted by Heinberg and others. The lopsided dumb reactions from Government is unbelievable. Rudd's 2020 summit could have heard these views. Its all very well to not want to hear about things which may have a negative impact on our society, but not at the expense of reality. Despite negative economic consequences of PO, surely it offers amazing opportunities to re-connect with our local communities such as Rob Hopkin's Transition Towns in the UK. Swan's war on inflation should really be a war on Peak Oil. To Rudd I say: "Get on with the broad based policy responses and embrace the opportunities.