Tony Abbott, Sydney Writers Festival 2008. Excerpt: Peak oil

[Dodger481]

Tony Rocks, he is a defender of the common man!

[TheMarcHicks]

@Dodger481 Yes, Dodger, & that would be why he remains a champion of Work Choices-the most regressive IR system Australia has *ever* had within the last 60 years. Pull the other one, Dodger, it plays Jingle Bells.

[TheMarcHicks]

@Dodger481 btw, Dodger, just because someone occasionally dons a fluoro vest or a hard-hat, doesn't suddenly make them a "defender of the common man". This guy is a tried & true Tory-defender of the 1%-& he doesn't care who he has to screw over to defend their interests.

[Dodger481]

@TheMarcHicks

Tony is the 99%, the 1% are all the mongloids who are unemployed and boycotted wall street. That is why there we're so few of them.

[TheMarcHicks]

@Dodger481 Oh Dodger, you really have been sold a dud. Tony Abbott earns more than 6 times the Australian Median Income-& all his policies are just corporate welfare, welfare for the rich & policies aimed at keeping the poor in their place-yet still you blindly call him a "defender of the common man". Pathetic.

[Dodger481]

@TheMarcHicks

Super Abbott work hard by standing up for the rest of us. I applaud him for his defence of the common working man in Australlia. Here's to Abbott, one awsome chap!

[TheMarcHicks]

@Dodger481 BTW, Dodger, there are far, far more people rocking up to Occupy Movements around the world than ever turned up to that pathetic "Convoy of no consequence"-brought to you by Menzies House & the Koch Brothers. Whereas Abbott & his mates are doing their best to entrench the interests of the wealthy & powerful, the Occupy movement-many of whom are *not* unemployed-are actually fighting for a fairer world. What a delusional world you live in Dodger.

[TheMarcHicks]

@Dodger481 Actually, Dodger, given the ignorance inherent in your original comment, I can only assume you work for Tony Abbott-I mean no one with half a brain could think this silver spooner has *ever* supported the common man!

[WarblesOnALot]

I worked out why Tony Abbot just can't wrap his mind around the whole Global Warming concept...

It's that Global issue, that upsets him as much as the Warming thing; because how can there be any Warming on a Global scale - when Tony knows, very well, that the Earth which he lives on is Flat..?

[OmegaRage]

I don't know what you are all babbling on about. Peak Oil is myth. There is enough oil for instance in the United States to ween itself off dependence on the Middle East for some time. It is not a national emergency and for a politician to not know about it is no big loss at the slightest.

[ClownFight]

@OmegaRage Hear hear. What I find funny is that Australia's largest carbon certificate seller gave back it's carbon planet franchise to resume business as usual, as an oil company. That Solar panel tech is owned by BP Oil and that the patents for the best batteries for electric cars (NiMH), as used by the Prius, is owned by Chevron Oil. The whole ETS global warming scam was owned by the oil companies yet the AGW fools still want to pretend it's true so they can wear a save-the-planet T-Shirt

[Termoil2650]

@OmegaRage You talk rubbish.There is not enough oil in the US to do "oil independence". There may be e nough theoretical hydrocarbons resources, but to make them into liquid fuels would require more energy than what is produced. Physics trumps economics every time.

[OmegaRage]

@Termoil2650 No, it is you that is talking rubbish. The only reason the United States isn't tapping in to the oil reserves it sits on is because the environmental lobbyists in congress prevent the government from drilling it. That's why they won't touch ANWR and other places. It's got nothing to do with energy and such.

[Termoil2650]

@OmegaRage Absolutist crap. Firstly you don't understand the technical difference between a resource and reserve. ANWR is not going to deliver oil independence to the US no matter hard you close your eyes and wish for it. Waht has it got to do with Australian oil anyway? Wannna try drilling the Barrier Reef? I think the clusterfuck in the GOM just resolved that one forever.

[OmegaRage]

@Termoil2650 First of all, notice how I didn't stop at ANWR? \ There are many places in the US it can drill besides there that can help it ween off middle eastern oil, including closer onshore. Heck, even Canada has it's own reserves. Second, the BP crisis in the gulf was allowed to happen because the government didn't allow BP to drill any closer to the shore at much less risk! What the heck is it doing, drilling out at 5,000 feet when it could be drilling a lot cloer? Govt regulation!

[Termoil2650]

@OmegaRage Duuhhhhh because thats where the oil is! Absolute crap you speak about drilling for oil on shore being blocked by the government. Absolute crap. The oil companies don't drill the onshore leases they have because there is no frigging oil there! Or perhaps you are a geologist that knows better? Canada already number 1 foreign supplier to US, Mexico no 2. KSA No 3. Why (excpet for your bizarre conspiracy theory) would US government lock up easy to get onshore oil?

[OmegaRage]

This didn't get flagged to me in an email so I didn't reply. Conspiracy theories... lol. What do you call what you are doing? Scaremongering. You need to only go back to 2008 when it was George Bush who lifted the ban on offshore drilling allowing the companies to drill there. It was done on 16 June, 2008. Why? Because there were regulations, look it up.

[Termoil2650]

@OmegaRage . Yes teh regulations fornear shore drilling were put in place becasue of the NIMBYISM of people whpo wnated their pristine coastal views protected. Funny thing is that oil companies aren't as ecited as the moron politicians becasue they know that there is not that much oil there anyway.US oil production peaked in 1970 and no amount of domestic drilling is ever going to reverse that. If you are scared of that fact then that is your problem. 

[Termoil2650]

So exactly how much oil has been discovered in your preciously opened up new areas hmmm? Oh not much. Pity about that. Got any more fantasies?

[OmegaRage]

@Termoil2650 And third, the benefits of the world's largest consumer of oil weening itself off middle eastern oil dependence in effect increasing supply would not only force down prices for itself, but for the rest of the world, including Australia!

[Termoil2650]

@OmegaRage Pure consipiracy theory dreamed to expalin a siutioan that you just plain do not like to hear. In short "You can't ahndle the truth"

[SvendBosanvovski]

@Termoil2650 Bravo! You have demolished this phoney head-in the-sand rhetoric of those who like to hit and run. You can be on my team any time.

[Flashmuse12]

Why does jis mouth keep moving ...

If he dosen't understand an issue why dosen't he just say,

" I am not aware of the policy structure at this time. "

Which is still the same as saying ... we don't have one !

[SvendBosanvovski]

Peak oil and global warming are the two most crucial issues of our time. Peak oil is the nominal point at which the extraction of petroleum begins to decline, which obviously impacts on pricing and distribution. But it also means that the supply will be insufficient to meet projected demand. Adequate levels of new energy sources must be found to fill the gap. Abbott's glib answer is both shocking and distressing, given the possibility that he may be PM by the end of the year.

[trabajador84]

That is just flabbergasting!!!! The alternative prime minister of my country is totally clueless about peak oil. For goodness sakes i'm a mere citizen and i've been worried about it for the past 10 years. I even went to see my local MP and gave him all this stuff about Peak Oil 3 years ago. He had never heard of it either.

[trabajador84]

Tony Abbott is wrong to think we'll magically replace oil due to market forces. We will - but over a long period of time, too long perhaps to prevent partial collapse of civilization or another major war.

Australia is wide open to economic collapse from high oil prices - which will damage our agriculture, mining, tourism and crazy long trucking distances. Where is the Australian policy to convert to high speed rail for instance?

[Termoil2650]

@trabajador84 I think that Labor just made the critical move to ensure that Abbott never gets anywhere near the Lodge.

[rolls1up]

In this video Tony Abbott is revealed to be yet another politician who will comment on issues he knows little to nothing about and will not simply indicate that he'll need to learn a lot more about the issue. Articles running in Australian newspapers this weekend reveal that his decision on the emissions trading scheme was driven by the emotional reactions of one roomful of conservatives in a rural Victorian town.

[bustermk2]

How can Abbot be so clueless about peak oil?

God help us if he ever becomes prime minister.

[sneakyam]

He'll just offer the punters a tax reduction - game over.

He's pretty good at showing off his vocab - finitude is rarely used outside maths or philosophy.

[ClownFight]

Peak oil as a term to describe the continued availability of oil based fuels to conduct 'business as usual' has been bandied about as an imminent threat since at least 1983 (watch the Bond film man with a golden gun). Yet the oil continues to flow and the price fluctuates from $25 to $150 on global demand.

What I find interesting is that many former Soviet scientist's research shows that oil is more like lava and is un-depletable. Maybe the peak oil scare just keeps the price high?

Buying in?

[Termoil2650]

Whats your source from 1983? No serious research has ever predicted global peak in the 1980s and a Bond fiction film is hardly great basis for planning the economy.

Luckily we don't take advice from discredited scientists that belong to a dead economic system that had its own peak oil production number in the same year it disintegrated?

[ClownFight]

@Termoil2650 My source from 1983 was me. I was there, I saw the whole thing. I remember the 'panic at the pump', the news stories, the fuel saving devices, the massive influx of Japanese cars, the profits from the importers of said Japanese cars and the profits from the oil companies that bankrolled the manufacturers of the Japanese cars. Back then it was a marketing exercise to increase profits just as it is today. Be a little skeptical and stop looking for "credible" scientists.

[Termoil2650]

@ClownFight . I think you are confusing scepticism and cynicism. I am a scientist and I can tell you that there is no credidbility to the Soviet era scientists unproven theories on abiotic oil. If you have evidence to the contrary then lets see it and put it to some rigorous tests to disover the truth. You could well be right about the manipulation of the market to increase profits. What do you expect oil companies to do? They aren't charities.

[ClownFight]

@Termoil2650. Peak Oil is like the carpet warehouse closing down sale for oil companies. The peak oil scare campaign has been trotted out too many times for me to buy it again. Having said that, the stone age didn't end because we ran out of stone. Electric cars will put petrol cars out of business long before the oil companies run out of oil. China already has a massive EV-car industry that will do to petrol cars what the Datsun 120Y did to GM. Get set for a peak-coal scare campaign in 2030

[Termoil2650]

@ClownFight So why is Australian oilrpoduction down 35% since 2000? Whay is US oil production down 50% since 1970? Why is North Sea oil production declining at 9% PA since 1999? Electric cars have been the next big thing for the last hundred years but always just needs a "technological breakthrough" that never seems to come. China does not have a massive EV-car industry. They have a tiny one that is running inot the same technical problems as everyone else who has e ver tried to mass produce EV

[neddy05]

Abbott clearly does not understand that peak oil isn't about running out of oil. Abbott argues that at a certain price we will be able to exploit other forms of oil. Isn't this the problem? Oil will have to be $80 a barrel, $100 a barrel, $150 a barrel before it is profitable to exploit those other forms. Peak oil isn't about running out of oil, its about running out of CHEAP oil and creates enormous challenges for our economy.

[zthustra]

This is absolutely hilarious! He's not a leader of mice and men, he's a comedian.

[credenza1]

Actually Abbott is not pro-life. He was one of the enthusiasts for going into Iraq (the week after the Parliamentary debate on abortion) and thereby ensured the deaths of tgens of thousands of children, born and unborn. By tthe way, does "pro-life" include caring for children already born?

[DJPsionix]

Abbott is the fall guy. He's going to lose the PM election if he's still around to see it.

[gibbomeister17]

People with no understanding of how marketplaces work have been predicting "peak oil is coming soon" for well over 40 years. Ain't happened yet!

Tony Abbott explains it quite well if you'd actually choose to listen.

Anyway, if all you peak oilers believ that stuff, then oil will soon be so expensive that alternatives become usable. Isn't that what the ETS was supposed to do? You can't have it both ways...

[johnTconover]

Yes Mr. Abbott explains it well if eg. storms disrupt banana supply, price rises so imports are affordabe or we substitute for apples. But unfortunately basic S&D does not apply to oil for which there is NO SUBSTITUTE. Forget the peak issue, just look at demand from non OECD. By 2020 Aust will have to import 0.8+mb/d. Its to late for any smooth transition even if we had an adequate energy substitute. Nothing against him but I guarantee this will come back to bite Abbott in the next few years.

[pohjalo]

Peak is a fact, even among oil companies (beyond petroleum, willyoujoinus hmm..). The only question is when. Already, 10 years,30 years or maybe 60?

You can´t just assume new technology will come and replace petroleum based products. Especially in a financial crisis.

[OmegaRage]

@gibbomeister17 That's exactly what I have been trying to tell these numb skulled lefties.

[unenergy]

What Tony Abbott is saying is that he actually believes the price of oil needs to increase so there are profits in extracting harder to get at oil. In other words that is his solution to peak oil - wait for the price to go up. Great leader you've got there Coalition party.

[onaclearnight]

Tony is actually right, peak oil IS a function of oil price.  You guys are idiots.

[johnTconover]

@onaclearnight. My father owns a transport business, ask someone like him what happens to businness as usual with $147us oil- $1.70+au diesel. Maybe you can conjure up 4000+ litres of Abbotts affordable magic biodiesel everyday for us? Otherwise dont whinge when your paycheck only buys half of what it used to and you cannot pay your motgage. Be thankful if you even have a job cos i'll tell you now, the world economy does not function with triple digit oil. As history has already shown.

[cityviagranville]

Perhaps Tony thinks that the Commonwealth Car runs on air?

[cityviagranville]

The Morning after pill?

[jondoig]

Wow. Nov 2009 and Tony Abbott still hasn't heard. What does he focus on?

[AtheistOnTheEdge]

He gives answers like Sarah Palin; just a whole lot of gibberish and conservative talking points. I'm actually not a liberal supporter but I would have voted for Malcolm Turnbull; I can't believe they got rid of him! And Tony Abbott is a conservative, a monarchist, a pro-life Catholic nutjob and a climate change skeptic! Fuck this two party system bullshit; we need more options!

[pohjalo]

The guy in yellow must be an economist. Supply-Demand solves everything. Right...

[BrisbaneQueer]

Shows that there's a great logical chasm between being an avowed devout Catholic and being an adequately informed politician.

When Australia's Leader Of The Opposition has so blatantly chosen to ignore all the mainstream media coverage and remain ignorant of the reality of Peak Oil, it does indeed indicate that the nation, under their control, would be up Shit Creek in a barbed wire canoe, and without a paddle.

[johnTconover]

What a rambling idiot... If peak oil was not such a serious issue I would laugh... If our politicians are not aware of such fundamental energy issues we are in a serious world of shit... Christine Milne recentley proposed a senate inquirey into peak oil and you guessed correct, it was overwhemingly voted down. But fuck it, lets just keep building them McMansions and highways. We can just blame oil spikes and the resulting economic recession on the ETS or even better. Blame it on refugees.

[or5eus]

OMG - perhaps he only knows that Peak Coal is a long way off and that oil doesn't matter