ACT Peak Oil

2011 Draft Energy White Paper submission
ACT Peak Oil made a submission regarding the Australian Government's 2011 Draft Energy Whitepaper. The draft ignores Peak Oil at the nation's peril. Pointedly the suppressed BITRE report 117 is ignored.

Federal Budget 2008 submission
ACT Peak Oil made a submission to the 2008 Federal Budget process. Our call for the abolition of FBT concessions on motor vehicles, which cost nearly $2 billion annually, was not heeded in this budget (FBT savings were made in the 2011-2012 budget). Unfortunately the Australian Government has also so far failed to adopt our recommendation to urgently establish an Oil Vulnerability Commission, nor has it chosen to explicitly acknowledge Peak Oil in the preparation of policy, even as the oil crisis deepens.

The Infrastructure Australia fund is welcome, as too is the appointment of Peter Newman to its board, however they do need to follow his advice.

Senate inquiry into Australia's future oil supply and alternative transport fuels
ACT Peak Oil made a submission to the Senate inquiry into Australia's future oil supply. This inquiry is the first look at the question of peak oil by the Senate. We also appeared before the committee. See here for the committee's final report.

ACT Government Sustainability Inquiry
ACT Peak Oil made a submission to the ACT Government's inquiry into climate change and energy policy (see here for a searchable version). Our most important message was that the ACT Government, like all governments, needs to take urgent, concrete action to prepare for much higher oil prices and even actual oil scarcity. At the same time, actions to ameliorate oil peak need to be carefully considered against certain constraints, not least of which is carbon emissions. We were pleased that the ACT Government said it would “adopt a leadership role in demonstrating practical initiatives and actions that can be taken up by the ACT community”.

National Capital Authority: The Griffin Legacy
ACT Peak Oil made a submission to the National Capital Authority's revision of plans for various parts of Canberra City and surrounds. We advised that having made provision for electrified mass transit in the National Capital Plan, the NCA should now take the next step. With oil prices set to rise inexorably the NCA should take the lead in investigating and implementing sustainable transport in the heart of Canberra.

ACT Legislative Assembly: Inquiry into ACTION buses
ACT Peak Oil made a submission to the inquiry into the ACTION bus network conducted by the Standing Committee on Planning and Environment. We submitted that the ACT planning process is deeply flawed because it does not explicitly acknowledge the looming Peak Oil crisis. Until this urgent problem is addressed, transport planning will fail to anticipate Canberra's needs with sufficient time to get solutions up and running. Electrified mass transit must be revisited in light of oil depletion.

Planning process submission: East Lake and Molonglo
The ACT Governmnet has recently released plans for the East Lake and Molonglo developments. ACT Peak Oil has made a submission to ACTPLA requesting that Peak Oil be explicitly acknowledged in ACT transport and urban planning processes. This would avoid further massive misallocation of resources, building an urban form that depends on cheap oil.