One idea that may be useful in getting out of the Howard rut and exploring the above fuel INDEPENDENCE options is to get behind Peter Costello and give him a 'test drive' before the Nov 2007 elections.

If he can deliver a saner federal leadership, well and good. Saves us having to go through an unknown Beasley period.

The problem is that we will have to learn to ignore the Gale Wynan style (and bad spelling) propaganda coming from ALL of our newsmedia outlets. The pathetic "Howard-hero to State Labor Governments" V "the Costello smirk campaign" coming from daily newssheets is appalling. God help us all if and when the new media monopolyship laws take effect. We will have to get used to black being called white then I can tell you! And just wait when "ethnic developers kicking Aussie vets out of housing estates" becomes "Heroic developers remove deadwood to create a brighter, newer Australia" hits the headlines.

Australia can never be energy independent, sustainable, environmentally secure or free from tin pot dictators while John Howard is PM.

Australia do your best!

I really like the idea of biodiesel and am considering replacing my 12 year old petrol car with a European diesel one, as they can use biodiesel without modification (and are very fuel efficient too). I read recently that BP (which now stands for Beyond Petroleum) is planning a biodiesel rollout of some sort - does anyone know more of this? On the oils for fuel front, I wonder if hectare of avocadoes would produce more oil than a hectare of more conventional oil crops? The trees could keep soaking up carbon all year round, and would require less cultivation/energy use than other crops. In the meantime, using old Maccas cooking oil is very appealing.

There is so much the individual can do much at very little cost some at no cost other than discipline others with a pay back time of a few years, all saving GHG production and some reducing the use of oil.

See the Greenhouse sites for Aust on the web and those of America and Britain. None need big brother approval some even still subsidised.

Maybe Australians have become too dependent on Gov hand outs the cry of the market believers, though the market forces seem too slow and too patchy in application. The fact that the current Bushfire enquiry is highlighting a failure of warning, when Australians know the dangers and combat/evasive procedures, is perhaps evidence of our failing independence.
Perhaps it is the propaganda for Nuclear or clean coal that delays action, One does little to solve the problems either GHG or Motive power and the other is much in the future though a good earner for Australia.
Perhaps it is the small percentage of spending that is devoted to energy, at least prior to the petrol price hike.
But to wait for the Gov is to further delay, wasting limiting time. Already failure to act has allowed thirty years of indifferent energy efficiency and construction of industries and dwellings on the basis of lot’s of cheap energy.

Ludwig, the current political system's dead, you see the turmoil of its collapse around the country. People will vote for change, when another approach is put before them that can't be denied, by rat bag packs of educated ignoramuses.

Political party change, requires changing its support base, (big business and union donations), who'll never give up their despotic power hold. Its up to the individual to get their act together, or go down with the ship. Look at history, when danger is before us, only 1 % take action to avoid calamity. The other 99% rely on their leaders, even when they lie and send them to slaughter.

No government tells the truth if it means the cannon fodder it commands would desert it. That's why there's so many civilian casualties in wars, their too stupid to get out of the way before it gets to them.

Kaep, wasn't it you who stated, huge hurricanes would hit the USA this season starting in May. The link you posted, is just another fairy tale put up by the fools who refuse to look forward. I'd be interested to know how this will decrease GHG's.

I've no interest in believing anything will change, history shows us all societies collapse very quickly, (5-10years) causing massive loss of all descriptions.

I post on these subjects, to give people alternatives, they can use for themselves. I've no interest in fools constantly living in denial of reality. If you live in a city, and rely on it for support, you'll go down with it.

Stupid people do nothing, becoming trapped in dying, despotic, violent cities. Look at the social situation of cities, most don't even know their neighbours. Say hello to someone in the street, and they run in panic or attack you. Say what you like, but the answers are all around us and easy to use, what Kaep and the other fools envisage, is just another nail in humanities coffin.

Kaep what's your sure fire effective now approach, more of the same just different technologies, sounds rather infantile and regressive.

KAEP, what is the point of voting any of the “bastards” out when there are no better alternatives?

You say: “…get behind Peter Costello and give him a 'test drive' before the Nov 2007 elections.”

Aaaarrgh….. Excuse me while I perk.

As bad as Howard is, Costalotello would be worse. He has shown himself to be enormously shallow, both in his understanding of a diversity of issues, and his depth of expression on even those few issues that he does have half a handle on. He has also shown himself to be extraordinarily one-eyed and dishonest, especially with the insistence that Australia’s population will go into decline without high immigration or a boosted birthrate. If you think Howard has been dishonest…

He would make the most awful PM.

And worse than this, he would probably cause Labor to win power. The problem with that is that Labor would not see any reason to change and would basically carry on with the same old expansionist agenda, whereas if Howard fought the next election, there would be much more pressure on Labor to come up with something substantially different to their current mirror image of the Libs.
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Alchemist, I don’t quite share your despair over our political system, and I think we need to both look after our personal future and work hard towards reforming our governance.

You write: “Political party change, requires changing its support base….”

Absolutely. And this has to include much more than just the mum and dad voters, it has to include the business sector and the unions. But despite the current apparent stranglehold of the vested-interest profit motive on governments, I think there is hope.

(oh dear, in my last post I said: “it looks as though we are screwed”…. and now I’m expressing hope! Oh my poor head)

"Can't really trust co-ops either, just look at Wesfarmers now, formerly our own co-op but now really turning up its nose to us cockies all ready to do us down."

Bushbred, you are missing something there. There are plenty of
farmers around, who kept their Coop-Wesfarmers shares and have
made far more money out of them, then they ever made out of farming.

Similarly NZ farmers are doing extremely well from their Fonterra
investments, Fonterra of course owning a number of milk companies in Aus, including in the West. The moral of the story is that farmers need to be involved in the the value adding of their products, if they want to avoid being screwed by the system. Your Graincol story
is one bad one, there are many good ones around