the fuelwatch is a great idea. we can look up fuel prices online, and search the cheapest fuel nearby suburbs. and i found another fuel watch website http://www.fuelwatcher.com.au/ - it's great, it's with maps.

Fuel watch is just a data base with the cost of petrol at each service station in the person's region. And Bernie knows it.

Waht we need to do is just walk. Do you remember that? It was invented by man when we climbed up out of the swamp.

One foot in front of the other.

The previous posts defend the fuel price by accepting it and looking at alternatives and criticising others, we can do better than that!

Australia exports 65% of its Crude and the price of crude has gone from $40 to $140 a barrel in the last 5years. That is a 350% increase can someone advice me where has all this profit gone? The suggestion that this money is used to fund searching for oil is naive at the best. Therefore it the price goes up to $160 an barrel where does this windfall go? I suspect that the oil companies are making a larger profit. They are not subsidizing the Oil they buy from Singapore which is used to fuel our countries needs!

At The last budget, May 13th, the Federal Government target the oil industry and slapped on a 2.5 billion bill for condensate Oil. http://business.theage.com.au/25bn-as-condensate-tax-break-disappears-20080513-2dtl.html

Therefore, while the Federal Government says it cannot do anything, in fact it has done something already. This will help the Federal government to return a larger surplus but they will give no relief to the Australian population.

In a fair and just society, one that the population elects there leaders you would think the above would be a fairly tale, not so.

Remco, you aren't whistling into the wind, you are urinating into the breeze.

If we had a government of vision it would solve the problem by installing machinery in Canberra to recycle hot air into crude oil. As this does not seem likely, we will just have to accept the dramatic changes that will shortly impinge on everyone, particularly those in debt.

We also have to realise that many thousands of people are trapped in gated McMansions in outer suburbia which are locked into a high energy lifestyle, and which are worth much less than was paid for them. These people won't keep quiet while they are going down the gurgler.

We all know that Kevin Rudd promised to keep fuel prices low, and will remember that at the next election. Of all the stupid things to say, it even beats Howard's promise to keep interest rates low.

Anybody lamenting the way the community is tied to expediency should remember that our large immigrant intake came here to make a fortune, and are not interested in anything that does not promote that end.

The trouble is that we cannot receive real guidance to guide our actions, as any real outlook would have to accept a dramatically lower standard of living. No politician would suggest this because of the risk that when it eventuates they will get the blame.

Looks like being an interesting century.

Thank heavens we have a sea boundary.

I live n WA and subscribe to fuelwatch. Every afternoon I get an email with the tomorrows fuel prices at 10 petrol stations in my suburb and surrounds. It also gives a warning just before the start of a new price cycle.

It makes it easy to pick out one of the cheaper stations and can save 5-10 cents a litre per fuel stop.

While it takes the sting out of the bizarre "petrol price cycle" it is no silver bullet for sky rocketing petrol prices regardless of whether they are caused by speculation or peak oil.

The lack of interest in this Opinion speaks for itself. Governments, especially the State governments, simply fiddle, doing their utmost to appear to be doing something, but in the end, the marketplace rules. Its former employees like author Bernie now consultant, carries this charade through promoting even the age of the Kwinana refinery. Perhaps the age of politicians should be considered?

Doubling the price of fuel over say a ten year period, as outrageous this might seem, can be absorbed and promote a more resilient economy geared to the inevitable rise of energy prices. Trimming cents off with fiddles achieves only prolonged pain.