This is a guest post from Cameron Leckie of ASPO Australia. He can be contacted at cameron.leckie (AT) aspo-australia.org.au.

Major transportation projects and the requirement for Oil Vulnerability Assessments

Introduction

I live in South East Queensland, a beautiful part of the world, but one with a population expected to grow significantly over the coming decades. Brisbane, the capital of Queensland, had a population of 1.77 million in 2004. This is expected to grow to 2.58 million by 2026 ⁱ. There are a large number of significant infrastructure projects planned, or under construction with the aim of delivering the infrastructure required to support the population growth in South East Queensland.

Unfortunately, despite the Australian Senate’s report into Australia's Future Oil Supply, the Queensland Government having established an Oil Vulnerability Task Force and the Brisbane City Council having established a Climate Change and Energy Task Force, virtually no consideration has been given to the impact that higher oil prices and declining oil production will have on the need for, and the types of infrastructure required to support, a growing population.

This will be to the detriment of the residents of South East Queensland and those who invested in these projects. A case in point is the collapse of the River City Motorway’s Group’s share price over recent months.