Well, I for one did not know that coffee was considered as carcinogenic as benzene, but there you go.

If gas is really the non-toxic future of fuels, then I am hopeful.

Electrical generation using gas is easily scalable, in that it can be used in generators that can run a building quite easily. It is a fuel that can also easily ramp up for peak loads and can be teamed up with renewable energy generation.

That is of course, if it doesn't contaminate the ground water in our food growing regions. I hear there are quite a few concerns about that.

From the Minister for resources & energy:
http://minister.ret.gov.au/mediacentre/mediareleases/pages/offshorepetroleumexplorationpermitsawarded.aspx
"Australia has a $16 billion trade deficit in crude oil, refined products and LPG which is expected to rise, possibly as high as $30 billion by 2015.”
It will be interesting to see how the government copes with this scenario. This situation will only alter for the worse as the demand raises oil prices. Will it continue to take its orders from the Energy lobby or actually take steps as in PESTs post?
As for which party will do this, I hold little hope that either of the main parties will have the wit or will to act.
Unfortunately the alternative parties are not really up for this either. Maybe it will take a totally new party that is willing and able to face up to the challenge. One that is not financed by the greenhouse mafia but is able to think and act for itself.

sarnian - a $16B deficit, meh, we waste more than that building school halls no one needs, in one year and can get back into surplus a year or two later, on top of hosing away a similar amount for insulating houses the owners didn't consider worth insulating. Then add a NBN that hardly anyone believes can be done for less that $43B.

I don't think you realise how trivial that figure is in the scheme of things, do you know the GDP of Australia and that piddly figure is the only problem we might have ..

mousenuts, sky is falling alarmism yet again ..

Gas reserves haven't gone through the roof - they have remained unchanged since they were laid down millions of years ago. We are just discovering more of them. Whatever fossil fuels we are talking about, they are finite, and the cheaper they are the faster they will be exhausted. No matter whether it has another fifty years or five hundred, the fossil fuel age of homo sapiens will be the tiniest blip on earths time line. The stone, iron and bronze ages are, arguably, still continuing while we burn off our carbon stores over a few centuries. Common sense dictates that we look for alternatives.

Candide - true, they are just the same as they were when first laid down, and there is always good reason not to be wasteful but it is always a good idea to base policy on reality rather than on mistaken ideas of fast approaching limits.

We all want a new clean energy source. However the emissions of shale gas are worse than coal over a 20 year period. Dr Richard Howarth of Cornell University released a report in January - which has been peer reviewed and accepted - giving a properly researched assessment of this industry. Couple that with water contamination, health effects and the hydraulic fraccing process and this is a very dirty energy indeed. Why not promote the use of the solar energy? Beyond Zero Emissions, a group of Melbourne University Engineers have it costed and ready to go. Far more efficient and far less controversial.