Senator Lyn Allison makes some astute points about Australia's dangerous reliance on foreign oil. Brazil, for example, has already largely weaned itself off imported oil using sugar cane-derived ethanol. Unfortunately for us here in arid Australia, sugar cane is a water intensive crop. Yet, some experts believe that the future of ethanol resides not in sugar, but in cellulosic ethanol, a biofuel that theoretically could be extracted from almost anything from bunch grasses to scrap paper.

On the issues of energy security and sustainability, I am somewhat perplexed by Senator Allison and her fellow Democrats. How can the Democrats argue for a national reduction in oil demand while still supporting mass immigration-driven population growth? More people = more demand for imported oil.

In response to Michael,

Read "U.S. Government Objectives in Iraq" by Erich Marquardt.

Link:

http://www.pinr.com/report.php?ac=view_report&report_id=28&language_id=1

Lynn Allison a politician with a heart and a brain, Chris Shaw?

I don’t know the woman, so cannot comment on her heart; but her public ravings and those on OLO certainly rule out the presence of a brain

Oligarch asked the question......

"On the issues of energy security and sustainability, I am somewhat perplexed by Senator Allison and her fellow Democrats. How can the Democrats argue for a national reduction in oil demand while still supporting mass immigration-driven population growth? More people = more demand for imported oil."

And it's a very good question, one I'd dearly like Senator Allison to answer. Or, any of our political leaders for that matter. I haven't heard our aspiring Prime Minister once mention the prospect of peak oil, apart from perhaps a minor contribution from the ALP during the Senate Committee into the future of Australian oil supplies, however anybody may feel free to correct me on that point.

It seems politicians of all persuasions have been infected with the ideals of "higher immigration equals increased wealth" and it works rather well for the "big end of town," but the effect it's having on urbanites struggling to hold down a poorly paid job and pay off a mortgage is nothing short of devastating.

Comments so far indicate that many assume that new migrants used virtually no oil before migrating. That may be true for a small proportion but I doubt if that is so for the majority.
If all the world grain and sugar production (about 1.7 billion tonnes per year) was converted to ethanol or bio diesel the world could only supply a small proportion of the liquid fuel demand and many more people would starve to death. Possibly Australia could follow Brazil's lead and increase its sugar production using the fertile areas of the far noth and the seasonal rainfall in those areas.
Too many of our politicians are lawyers or commercially trained and too few of them understand anything requiring knowledge of physics and chemistry or indeed anything technical.

Your argument is as serious as saying that while one's life is at stake-as it was of the U.S. in the aftermath 9/11-one is more concerned that HIS SALAD IS OILED than his life is protected.

Indeed for you, is oil for your "greenery" salad and not blood for nurturing the tree of freedom.

See:Australia Calls America--http://australiacalls.blogspot.com