Letter to the Editor: On being brave and hindsight

DEAR News Of The Area,

SINCE my teens, following the 1973 Arab oil embargo, we have been acutely aware of the finite nature of fossil fuels.

And although scientists have warned that burning fossil fuels contributes to climate change for over a century, these concerns have become urgent since the 1980s.

So, in Australia we had in the order of 50 years to transition to more alternative fuel/energy sources.

Meanwhile in the same 50 years, three Scandinavian countries (Sweden, Norway and Denmark), with a collective population equivalent to Australia (22 million), have achieved over 90 percent low-carbon or renewable electricity generation, utilising hydropower, wind, and bioenergy.

Although Norway and Denmark are major producers of petroleum products, their domestic reliance on oil is decreasing, shifting toward heating and transport.

Importantly, Norway had the foresight to impose a 78 percent total tax rate on petroleum profits, with 100 percent of net cash flows transferred to its Sovereign Wealth Fund, which is valued at over $1.5 trillion.

So, why is Australia reliant on high-risk imported fossil fuel supplies?

Why didn’t we back ourselves to provide local resilient and sustainable solutions to fuel/energy sources?

Focusing on petroleum products, Australia is reliant on petroleum products primarily because our economy is structurally dependent on diesel for freight, mining, and agriculture. Rather than refining our own fuel supplies, we adopted a “Just-in-Time” Strategy with successive governments moving away from maintaining large domestic production to reduce costs, operating instead on a model that relies on constant, daily imports.

But at what real cost?

It was fiscally cheaper – but we exposed ourselves to more supply chain “risk”.

We now import over 90 percent of our petroleum fuel needs.

In terms of gas, we are the largest exporter but “forgot” to allocate an appropriate export tax. In fact, the Petroleum Resource Rent Tax (PRRT) – the main tax system for offshore gas – has historically collected very little revenue.

Truly gobsmacking.

So no, this is not Albo’s, Scottie’s or the migrants’ fault – this is over 50 years in the making. Importantly, Joyce’s regret with hindsight in reducing local fuel reserves and the Hanson/Reinhart promises are just more of the same finite fossil fuel journey.

We need a brave approach which looks beyond a three-year political term and supports our local community, environmental and economic wellbeing.

But are we now ready to be brave?

Regards
Dr Ljubov SIMSON,
Congarinni.