Fuel

This letter in today’s Australian makes sense to me –

We badly need solutions that require courage and vision. In spite of the rhetoric, neither side of politics can do much about fuel prices. Reducing the excise by 5c a litre would have a negligible impact and be overtaken within days by further price rises, and government inquiries into oil pricing are toothless. High oil prices are here to stay due to diminishing supply and increasing demand from China and India. We badly need solutions that require courage and vision. Why do thousands of heavy trucks travel each night between Melbourne/Sydney/Brisbane, for example, when a single freight train could carry the cargo of more than 100 trucks? This would surely reduce cartage costs, fuel consumption and road accidents. With nuclear-powered energy, we could produce as much clean electricity as we need to power industry, trains and small electric vehicles for short journeys and city driving. The Government needs to stop waffling and get the infrastructure right. It can't "Fuelwatch" its way out of this. Mick Whybrow Birkdale, Qld

The problem, of course, is that solutions requiring courage and vision may not necessarily prove popular, and the repercussions would be felt at the ballot box. There is too much vested interest in the transport industry (for example) to give the revival of the railways a guernsey. Nice thought though.