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.

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.

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”.