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The Forum > Article Comments > It’s not the size of your engine, it’s what you do with it > Comments

It’s not the size of your engine, it’s what you do with it : Comments

By Gaurav Sodhi, published 20/6/2007

If the Queensland Government was really interested in helping the environment it would be advocating higher petrol taxes, not higher car registrations.

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And Divergence, don't forget the price of electricity is also expected to rise at the end of the year. Citizens of Melbourne and surrounding areas will be hit by a double whammy, but it's not only Melbourne and Queensland residents who are suffering thanks to all Government's "growth equals wealth" political agendas.
I travel to Ballarat to work on a daily basis and can't believe the damage that's being done to this once beautiful city by a council hell bent on increasing the population. Bracks too, has helped in ruining his old home town. Thanks largely to Melbournites, who have sold their inner suburban homes and moved to Ballarat where they can buy "two for the price of one," at peak hours the city has become as clogged as many Melbourne streets. The council's only answer is to place more roundabouts in the path of motorists causing even more pollution as cars are forced to constantly slow down and speed up. There's not a single free flowing road in Ballarat. The council's traffic management policy is appalling!
Into the bargain, local regional shires are pushing up rates as a means of dealing with the push to populate rural areas close to larger cities.
Eventually, people on low incomes will be forced to sell their homes and move to less populated areas, but that's a duel edged sword too. People get penalised by Centrestink for moving to low employment opportunity areas.
Looks like the wealthy who push for higher population and immigration will eventually destroy all we hold dear in this country.
Posted by Aime, Wednesday, 20 June 2007 2:59:25 PM
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"If the Queensland Government was really interested in helping the environment it would be advocating higher petrol taxes, not higher car registrations."
Actually, I believe that the way car registration and compulsory insurance is applied is the problem.
The current system is a 6 or 12 month fixed fee that does not reflect car useage, only engine size ect.
The best way to go would be to change this registration and compulsory insurance from a fixed fee system that we have now and have it changed to a fair and equitable user-pays system.
There are many benefits to having a good user-pays system, motorists will have more choices and more incentive to drive less, ie,they can save money by driving less (this applies doubly to second vehicles), car pooling, demanding and getting adequate public transport services , rather than the current system which encourages motorists to get value-for-money by driving their cars more.
Posted by Middleoftheline, Wednesday, 20 June 2007 7:36:21 PM
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Alzo

“I am not worried about the perceived CO2 problem.”

Does this mean you don’t think climate change is real, or that it is not due to the burning of fossil fuels, or that it is pointless for us to be worrying about it in Australia while China is so rapidly increasing its CO2 output?

“I am against cars that use more fuel than they need to for ascetic reasons.”

So you are against young petrol-heads having suped-up v8s when they should have small v4s or motorbikes. Surely then you would be in favour of disincentives, if not hard and fast laws, to dissuade this profligate immature-minded testosterone-controlled use of energy.

“What if Australia's population was stable and/or declining but Queensland's population was still increasing due to redistribution. Is this a problem?”

Redistribution within a stable population framework would be far less of a problem. But it should still be carefully managed so that large numbers don’t move into places with resource and infrastructure stress, or where they would greatly change the character of a place to the detriment of existing residents or where there are significant environmental concerns.

“Shouldn't people be free to choose where they want to live?”

Not entirely. They never have been. All sorts of things reduce this freedom; you can’t live anywhere without the permission of the owner of the land or without paying rent or purchasing a property. You can’t live where it is prohibitively expensive, where you can’t travel to work or access the goods and services that you need. And so on.

“Do you support regional population caps/quotas?”

Absolutely. To not support this would be to condone never-ending growth in population. In most regions we don’t need to worry about caps. But where populations are high and still rapidly growing, a limit to population size surely MUST be a fundamental part of strategic planning processes.

“Who decides how many and who to let into ‘your’ region?”

Governments at all levels, with full and open consultation with scientific and economic experts and the general community.
Posted by Ludwig, Thursday, 21 June 2007 11:23:25 AM
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The case for climate change is overstated. CO2's contribution to climate change is vastly overstated. Other factors will be revealed to be behind the recent warming, both natural and man-made. Global warming is really only Northern Hemispheric warming. Black carbon/soot on snow is already revealing itself to be a major player in this regionalised warming.
http://climatesci.colorado.edu/2007/06/19/a-new-paper-that-highlights-the-first-order-radiative-forcing-of-black-carbon-deposition/
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/06/070606113327.htm

"So you are against young petrol-heads having suped-up v8s"
Not at all, as long as they are as economical as a 4 cylinder and not overly noisy. However this generally isn't the case. If they can invent a super efficient, quiet v8 why should it cost more to register.

"You can’t live where it is prohibitively expensive"
No I agree, so why not let the market decide rather than the government (those not to be trusted). Sydney is now experiencing a reduction in population growth as fewer people can afford housing there anymore.

"Who decides:
Governments at all levels, with full and open consultation with scientific and economic experts and the general community."
They're the ones that got SE Qld into the mess it is currently in. The deliberate de-regionalisation of Australia has concentrated populations into very large urban areas that don't have the required infrastructure to support their rapidly expanding populations
Posted by alzo, Thursday, 21 June 2007 12:35:32 PM
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Alzo

Like you I suspect that we shouldn’t be worrying too much about CO2 emissions / climate change in Australia, but for different reasons; mainly the completely overwhelming rate of increase in China – to the tune of two new coal-fired power stations every week, each with emissions equivalent to about 2 million cars.

But we most definitely should be worrying about peak oil. That is; rising fuel prices and the effects that will have on all aspects of our lives, not just transport. One of the main concerns here is very much the main concern for climate change; fuel efficiency, both in distances travelled and in the types of vehicles we use.

“Not at all, as long as they are as economical as a 4 cylinder..”

But V8s clearly aren’t as economical. You said in an earlier post; “I am all for getting V8's and other gas guzzler's off the road as they are wasteful…”

“so why not let the market decide rather than the government”

Market forces need control. We need to work with market forces but mitigate the downside. Hence strong government regulation. Obviously, unchecked market forces lead directly to cities/regions becoming overcrowded compared to resource provision and basic services. Obviously governments have let us down by not implementing strong enough regulatory regimes. The answer is to improve government and certainly not to give market forces free reign.

“Sydney is now experiencing a reduction in population growth as fewer people can afford housing there anymore.”

Yes! Well in inner Sydney at least. So market forces have disrupted the lives of thousands of people by making their rents, loan repayments or rate much less affordable, causing them to move, default or work a whole lot harder to make ends meet.

“They're the ones that got SE Qld into the mess it is currently in”

YES, but only with the duplicitous / chronically apathetic attitude of the populace that has let them do it. Governments desperately need reform so that they will take into account the need for population caps instead of future-destroying continuous unending expansionism.
Posted by Ludwig, Thursday, 21 June 2007 3:02:06 PM
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"But we most definitely should be worrying about peak oil."
Why worry...its going to happen regardless. We will just have to switch fuels. Lots of options. I like the look of electric bikes but I'm sure they won't be popular with the fatties.

"But V8s clearly aren’t as economical."
Not yet...but what if a new beaut v8 comes out that is ultra efficient. This is what the author was getting at with the rego restrictions. There should at least be an exception made for vehicles of any engine configuration that can meet or exceed an acceptable fuel economy standard.

"Obviously, unchecked market forces lead directly to cities/regions becoming overcrowded"
As did government/s shutting down all of their regional and rural services. Country people without work naturally drift towards the cities and the coast, where the work is.

"Governments desperately need reform so that they will take into account the need for population caps"
Wouldn't have needed them if the push to urbanise hadn't been so successful.

"duplicitous / chronically apathetic attitude of the populace"
Don't think much of your fellow man, do you? In what way duplicitous?
Posted by alzo, Thursday, 21 June 2007 3:31:54 PM
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