On Wed, 2 Aug 2006 13:34:43 +1000, "Peter Webb"
That's great, if you're some country with a peey little land mbutt that you could throw a rock across.
But we arent Lithuania, or Sweden or Belgium, we are bigger than western Europe!
Energy costs hit us harder as a country because we have to send larger proportions of our poo further distances than just about everyone else.
There's a reason for that you know - some goose didnt just wake up one morning and go "might pump the economy with low energy costs today for something to do"!
Then we move across to diesel and LPG, the former from coal and bio, the latter we have tons of.
The only developed country more sensitive to energy costs than us is the US.
Disastrous for whom?
Tax it like an ordinary good and when it runs out, move across to diesel and LPG.
You can have vast armies of electric powered public transport, but it still doesnt change the reliance we have on cheap energy because of our need to send large proportions of stuff long distances, including often, ourselves.
Any twit that tries to foist on Australia a European style carbon energy policy will deserve the electoral oblivion they get.
