Ben Robson@brobson_politic
Get ready Australia, ....
They used COVID19 to mandate human rights violations and they got away with it. Now they're going to use the war on Iran as an excuse to do it again.
While Australians will be forced to stay home, again, both Labor and Liberal governments will get off scot-free for their decades of energy policy incompetence.
Whilst the war on Iran may be the straw that breaks the camel's back, the real cause of this crisis is decades of incompetent energy policy:
- Petroleum reserve: 36 days (instead of 90 days).
- Diesel reserve: 34 days (instead of 90 days).
- Jet fuel reserve: 32 days (instead of 90 days).
- Oil refineries: 2 (down from 8, in mid-2000's).
- Oil production: ~200,000 barrels/day (down from ~700,000 b/d).
- Base-load electricity generation: 177TWh (down from ~220+TWh, in late-2000's - replaced with low-reliability, intermittent, expensive "renewables" that are highly dependent on external supply chains).
Australia's energy policy incompetence has resulted in a country that is highly vulnerable to external forces and events - this is why we are now seeing massive price rises and shortages.
NOT primarily because of the war on Iran, but primarily because our governments have made us incredibly vulnerable and fragile.