[Peakoil] Oil and food supply lines

[Alex P]

Hi folks,

http://act-peakoil.org/dokuwiki/doku.php?id=future_canberra

Thinking about future scenarios of oil scarcity, how would food and oil 
itself be moved around Australia? I assume below oil is practically 
pricesless, in the sense that its use is strictly for essential purposes 
only.

>From the point of view of the Canberra, the population centres are all on 
the coast. So the food supply lines will run between rural areas and Sydney 
etc. Population pressure and the wealth of Sydney may mean that substantial 
population centres like the ACT may be bypassed.

Also, oil comes from coastal ports since it comes from underwater or is 
imported. I don't know of any inland oil source in Australia. So places 
like Canberra will be relying on the oil to flow inland. The only way the 
population centres like Sydney will allow this is if the oil is being used 
to transport and grow food, for them. Canberra doesn't make food, so why 
would we get oil to transport food to us?

Eventually things would probably get bad enough for the outer areas of 
major cities to start becoming like Macquarie fields x1000. Supply lines 
would require police support. Instead more food may be delivered to coastal 
cities by boat.

A good option would be rail. It has been long-neglected and we can't start 
on this soon enough. As long as the food-growers are happy selling produce 
to desperate Sydney-siders, and get a relatively generous supply of fuel by 
government mandate, the National Party constituency would be happy, so 
maybe rail would not be a priority.

With our neglected rail system, regional Australians may be confined to 
their localities. Coach services would not be subsidised since they serve 
no purpose for Sydney (witness the dismantling of the rail system by NSW 
state governments). Regional Australia would be captive to the local powers-
that-be, who in turn would derive their power from growing food for Sydney. 
Not far from serfdom.

Would Canberra be dependent on the Federal Government not just for income, 
but for mandated access to the food supply lines?

Alex
O4O4873828

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