Conflicts are caused by poverty, poor governance, unequal wealth distribution and threats to supply of essential resources, such as energy.

So the worst thing we can do is constrain access to resources, raise the price of energy, or retard global economic growth, especially for the poorest countries and poorest peoples.

The best thing we can do is to promote free trade, access to resources, globalisation, reduce cost of energy, and reduce the impediments we have implemented that raise the cost of energy.

Clearly, pricing carbon and mandating and subsidising renewable energy are exactly the wrong policies if we want to minimise conflicts. Blocking free trade, thwarting globalisation, arguing to reduce Australia's coal exports are all bad policies.

And one of the worst policies of all is the impediments imposed on nuclear power.

I don't see how any of this relates to us, except with regard to what we pay at the bowsers; or how much it further cripples our already very fragile economy.
That means, from where I sit, we need to end our reliance on any form of imported fuel.
This should mean we reverse recent decisions and set about immediately exploring and developing our own resources.
Some industry experts are reported to believe, we have hydrocarbon reserves to our immediate north, a euphemism for the Great Barrier Reef!
To rival or perhaps eclipse the entire Middle East's known reserves. An educated opinion, based on the sheer number of mystery oil slicks!
Sure it's unproven, but the green reaction around the world probably allows one to believe, that they also believe, such a reserve there, is also possible? There is only one way we can ever know for sure!
We once had and oil and gas corporation. That corporation should be reinstituted and enabled to get on with the job of developing our own resources.
As opposed to allowing foreign cartels to sit on known reserves, as a means to maintain the highest possible prices.
In use, our own traditional sweet light crude leaves the ground as a virtually ready to use diesel, needing only very basic insitu chill filtering, to remove a soluble wax content and some particulate.
This means our own sweet light crude produces four times less carbon pollution, than the massively energy dependant, double refined products, which we currently import!
The mystery oil slicks strongly suggest, that the quite massive oil reserves they are indicating, is at comparatively shallow depths.
NG leaves the ground at subzero temperatures, meaning the chill factor we need to process our own oil, requires no energy/cost input or produces any extra carbon pollution!
NG can be used in locally invented ceramic fuel cells, to produce electrical energy, free hot water and mostly water vapour as the exhaust product.
We must also consider Broad scale algae and biogas production; plus Nuclear power, or cheaper than coal thorium.
Rhrosty.

Rhosty

The cost of our largest gas development – Gorgon – is $52 billion. The combined capital spending of all levels of government – Federal State and local – was $74 billion in 2011-12. That’s on everything from desks and computers to offices, hospitals, public housing, sewerage treatment plants, footpaths , bikeways …

Governments simply can’t afford the investment that would be needed to develop our oil and gas reserves. And they have much better things to spend our money on.