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Brian Ross
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Frank wrote on Apr 1 st, 2019 at 8:22pm: Brian Ross wrote on Mar 31 st, 2019 at 7:54pm: Frank wrote on Mar 31 st, 2019 at 5:03pm: If anything happened to disrupt our imports of oil and fuel, such as a blockade of shipping through the South China Sea or the Strait of Hormuz, our reserves would be exhausted within three weeks. We would have run out of petrol, diesel and jet fuel. All road transport and all private cars would grind to a halt. All aircraft, both civil and military, would be unable to take off. The distribution of food and essential services would cease. There would be no deliveries to supermarkets, no ambulances, no fire engines, no police cars. By the end of the fourth week, amidst looting and civil unrest, the rule of law would have crumbled and been replaced by that unforgiving law of nature – the survival of the fittest. This is not a storyboard for the next apocalyptic but fictional Hollywood blockbuster. It is a serious scenario envisaged by experts who are concerned that Australia’s lack of liquid-fuel security makes her extraordinarily vulnerable and exposed to political unrest or conflict in Opec nations, or to any flare-up of tensions in the key shipping lanes of the world. Australia is a member of the International Energy Agency (IEA), which was set up in 1974 under the auspices of the OECD in response to the 1973 Opec oil crisis. It acts as a sort of mutual protection society for oil-importing countries that are members of the OECD, and as a member, Australia is under a treaty obligation to maintain liquid fuel stocks equivalent to at least 90 days of net imports. When we joined the IEA in 1979 we were actually a net exporter of oil and thus exempt from the stock-holding requirement. But since then our oil production first peaked and then declined and soon we were no longer a net exporter. In fact, we have failed to comply with the IEA minimum of 90 days supply since 2010/11. Indeed the government’s own Australian Petroleum Statistics for December 2018 reveal that at that date we held stocks amounting to just 21 days supply of petrol for road vehicles, 18 days supply of diesel and 20 days supply of aviation fuel. It should also be pointed out that all such stocks are in commercial hands, mainly the major petrol retailing companies, with none being under government control. For Australia there is no such thing as a national strategic reserve. https://www.spectator.com.au/2019/03/running-on-empty/Why?? Why doesn't Australia have petroleum refining capacity? Why not have petroleum reserves? Why have politicians of all colours made Australia so vulnerable to outside forces? We are not in a friendly neighbourhood of the world. Why make ourselves vulnerable? https://www.smh.com.au/business/interactive-map-shows-how-australia-relies-on-sh... Talk to the economic realists, Soren. They decided that it was easier to shut down our oil refineries and have our oil processed overseas in Indonesia and Singapore. As most of them come from your side of the aisle in politics, I think you're shooting yourself in your own foot...  F off, parrot. Read the article, get the point, if you are mentally able ( a huge if), then talk to the point.Trying to sledge me will just reinforce what a piss-soaked, incomprehending, demented old aunty you are, Bwian Woss. Poor, poor, Soren. I only gave you a very minor sledge by pointing out that it was really the Tories who shutdown most of the oil refineries, not the ALP. It happened in the late 1990s - early 2000s IIRC, when Little Johnny was in power. If you think that is worth complaining about, then I pity you, Soren, I really do. He represented your views, didn't he or was he too left wing even for you? Run along, little laddie, run along. You're needed back in the little kiddies' playground where they are mixing up a fresh batch of mud for you roll in. Off you go, while the adults have a serious conversation.
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