Christopher Kremmer

The noise over high fuel costs, dirtier air and a trade deficit blowout is getting louder. But the people who matter don’t seem to be listening, writes Christopher Kremmer.

When the Labor backbencher Andrew McNamara rose from his seat in the Queensland Parliament in February to state a few home truths about falling world oil supplies, he expected, at most, a few catcalls from the Opposition benches. Instead, the speech by the provincial solicitor from Hervey Bay “bounced around the world”.

What will cost $3 a litre, require car-pooling, the permanent military occupation of Iraq and oil drilling on the Great Barrier Reef? Petrol, according to experts who have been contemplating its future in an oil-poor Australia.