 | The Bullroarer - Thursday 19th June 2008 | The Oil Drum: Australia/New Zealand | ABC 7:30 Report: Richard Heinberg & Prime Minister Kevin Rudd |  |
Australian Petrol: Very ****ing Expensive (GetUp! does FuelWatch)
Posted by Phil Hart on June 19, 2008 - 6:00pm in The Oil Drum: Australia/New Zealand
Here's the message from GetUp!
You have to see this video: it's a hilarious parody of fuelwatch, and it has a really great message about funding renewables.
You can watch it at the website below, and you can also chip in to put the ad on air!
https://www.getup.org.au/campaign/FuelWatch&id=357
We need Rudd and Nelson to start focussing on serious climate action, and this message could really change the debate. The fundraiser is going strong, but with more contributions we can get the message out to millions of viewers.
For international guests, here's some of the context:
In market behaviour which seems to be unique to Australia, petrol (gasoline) prices vary by as much as 10% in a weekly cycle, increasing dramatically late on Wednesday's and steadily dropping through the rest of the week. While the oil companies claim that retailing is not profitable (largely true), you can't blame consumers for feeleing ripped off by such a manipulated price environment.
Now the newly elected Federal Rudd Labor Government is feeling the pressure on oil prices, after the 'Aussie Battlers' ditched the antiquated John Howard at the election last year.
Prime Minister Kevin Rudd's response to high oil prices has been to promise to introduce a FuelWatch scheme, whereby oil companies will have to publish on a website the prices they plan to charge for petrol the following day. A similar scheme has been found to smooth out the 'weekly price cycle' in Western Australia, although there's debate about whether it makes a tiny difference to average prices or no difference at all.
Struggling opposition leader Brendan Nelson has promised to cut excise on petrol by 5c/litre, while his senior colleagues have not bothered to hide their disagreement with the idea. Their internal bickering was trumped by leaks from several Government departments advising Rudd against FuelWatch scheme, but he chose to go ahead anyway. Presumably he didn't have any better ideas?
As elsewhere in the world, the public wants the politicians to do something about oil prices. In typical GetUp! campaign style, this ad humiliates their current response. Help them spread the word to millions of Australians with a donation!
Contact
- anz at theoildrum dot com
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Unbelievably since I first checked this a few hours ago, the donations raised have risen from around $20000 and something (can't remember what) to $47800. And these aren't donations to an obvious cause like Burmese cyclone victims...these are donations to help get an advertisement on television!
Yep.. they know what they're doing alright. They've now reached their first target of $50,000:
It might not seem like an obvious cause to donate to, but people (including me!) can see quick and very visible returns for their money. I think it's great.
It got a donation from me immediately. A great way to raise awareness.
I never get tired of waching this ad. ANyone know who's the Lead in it? I get the feeling I should know who he is...
It's interesting about the weekly cycle for fuel prices. I observed a similar phenomena here in Norway a couple of years ago. Back then I had about a 30 km drive to work. A price jump of around 1 crown per liter (prices were around 10-11 crowns per liter) used to happen on Mondays around noon, and then prices would drop steadily during the week. I don't know if it still occurs, but I remember trying to get up five minutes early on Mondays so I could have time to fill up with cheap gas.
I call it CPSRS--Cornucopian Primal Scream Response Syndrome, i.e., there must be some way, somehow to maintain an infinite rate of increase in our consumption of a finite energy resource base.
WT -- I call this propaganda directed at enhancing the sense of Infinite Entitlement, Certainty Through (largely) Faith-based Intentional Ignorance, and Artificially Induced Rage through Feelings of Victimization and Deprivation.
OK, so my lists are too long for good acronyms, but I do think that Corporatists like to stir up fear and rage in order to direct the masses like packs of dogs toward selected targets.
We are indeed conditioned to respond on cue.
Most folks I know do not read at all, and certainly do not dare to read outside of their own very narrow professional field or choice of hobby.
This leaves them quite manageable and manipulable.
So, yes, people actually believe that they are entitled to an infite supply of energy, and that this supply can only increasde, and that anyone who says otherwise deserves to be shunned and eventually imprisoned as one who supports "the terrorists."
I speak as someone who lives in the USA, of course.
only to be rebadged "working families" under Chairman Rudd. A phrase obviously focus grouped into existence, presumably adopted as it was more inclusive, it's not going to last long in Rudd rhetoric if there is a recession though...
I like the ad.
I unfortunately have to admit the "working families" is a chairperson Clarkism from here in NZ.
The Social Engineers in NZ are struggling with the oil cost, 1) They can't regulate it 2) Its causing an economic downturn so their tax take is going to drop, so they have less lolly to bribe us with 3) Its going to get them turfed out in November as we now realise a socialist government is something you can only afford in boom times
Neven
And the liberal capitalist government in bust times makes things worse, a la Thatcher and Reagan.
Good luck.