Liquid fuel security campaign becomes election priority
NatRoad has reinforced its calls that the federal government must ensure Australia has an adequate, appropriately costed and reliable supply of diesel.
Making it an election priority, NatRoad CEO Warren Clark says the association, in its pre-Budget submission, recommended that the Government’s review into fuel stocks should be fast-tracked – as should returning Australia to holding 90 days’ worth of oil stocks, sooner than the Government’s mooted compliance commitment date of 2026.
“As one of NatRoad’s members commented to us in the development of our submission lodged today, without access to fuel stocks, we don’t have an industry,” Clark says.
“NatRoad today provided a submission to the federal Department of the Environment and Energy in relation to its work on securing Australia’s liquid fuel supply.
“The Department has issued an interim report before it completes this work towards the end of 2019.
“In producing this initial report, the Department has recognised that the transport sector is almost entirely reliant on liquid fuel—it sources 98 per cent of its energy from liquid fuels, most of which are used in road transport where diesel fuel predominates.
“This means transport is the sector that is most vulnerable to impacts from liquid fuel disruptions.
Read Clark’s op-ed on the importance of securing fuel supplies, here
“The reality is that diesel enjoys a virtual monopoly in fuelling heavy freight vehicles.
“Most alternative fuels at the current stage of their development involve compromises – such as lower energy density, higher price, reduced driving range or lower thermal efficiency.”
“NatRoad therefore fully supports the finding in the report that diesel fuel will be an important energy source for Australia beyond 2040.”
NatRoad’s contention is that while alternative fuels and technology will change the face of transport in the longer-term future, the reality is that its current future needs to be secured immediately.
“That is not to say we don’t support the development of alternatively fuelled technology. We do.
“But the reality is the time frame for these technologies to have an impact on the day to day operations of members: we are looking at 10-20 years.
“That time scale reinforces the need for Government to have in place policies which secure Australia’s access to liquid fuels.”