It’s challenging to take Chris Bowen seriously, even though he appears to have shed his ‘Climate Change’ portfolio handle while dealing with the fuel shortage.
He’s a government minister torn between a theoretical apocalypse and a guaranteed crisis.
Speaking to news crews in advance of the Easter holiday weekend, the Energy Minister said:
‘As the government has consistently said, we do encourage people to their plans for Easter. To have a good time. To stick to being with our family. We also encourage people to be sensible. Not to take more fuel than you need. To fill up when you need to but not before that and to get as much fuel as you normally would.
‘Also, for those Australians planning a road trip this weekend.
‘Given our shortages are predominantly in rural and regional Australia, it makes sense to fill up in the city to help the country, if you can.
‘And little changes like … checking your tyre pressure before a long journey can really improve your fuel efficiency and help you save at the bowser and also reduce petrol use.’
It’s hard to explain how dumb this approach is, but let’s give it a go.
The government’s desire to prevent a Covid-era lockdown panic by protecting the tourist, hospitality, and retail industry by encouraging people to take their Easter holidays is sensible … with a caveat. If there really is an unsolvable fuel shortage due for the end of April then this is feasting before the famine.
Had Bowen instead confirmed forward fuel orders had been filled and would come, if only a week or so later than expected, then the economy would naturally enjoy a confidence boost. People would go about their pre-planned activities without being talked down to like kindergarten children.
However, eating through fuel stocks you don’t have to create the illusion of supply and push the PR problem down the road for a few weeks is reckless.
In any case, Bowen’s words are circular and do not offer any advice considering people always take what they need at the pump because that’s how fuel tanks work.
Asking people to ‘fill up in the city’ instead of regional areas is … laughable … for anything other than short distances and city-adjacent regional communities.
If you are driving four or five hours up the coast from Sydney to some of the most popular regional tourist destinations, your car is empty when you get there.
Who is going to risk leaving the regional town with an almost-empty tank to fill up on highway servos in remote areas that are last in the queue for fuel shipments?
Suddenly it’s petrol and diesel cars suffering from ‘range anxiety’ with the genuine fear their usual service station stops down the highway will be dry.
Unless this is a commercial for the NRMA, it’s more Canberra Bubble advice that means little to Australians travelling for the holidays.
Bowen’s last piece of advice is perhaps the most idiotic.
Check your tyre pressure, kids! That’ll save us from the fuel crisis…
Google assures me that tweaking tyre pressure can save between 2-3 per cent on fuel efficiency for average users. Unless you can hear your car dragging its framework across the tarmac, you’re probably wasting your time.
@abcnewsaus In mid-1979, Australia experienced severe petrol shortages that led to panic buying, driven by a drop in oil production after the Iranian Revolution and a national refinery operators’ strike. Governments responded with strict rationing, including a number plate system based on odd and even numbers for buying fuel. #Petrol #Fuel #OilShock #70s #Australia #ABCNews
This sort of government advice is the very definition of fiddling around the edges. Tyre pressure checking is a line recycled from the 1970s oil crisis where service station attendants made customers feel better by going through the motions.
While Australia panicked in the 1970s, supply was never truly at risk. The last time this nation was in actual danger of running out of fuel was during the second world war when our three-month buffer, something modern politicians can only dream of, was worn out and severe rationing took place.
Australian politicians had ignored an almost-shortage during the first world war and decided to do absolutely nothing about preparing for the next one.
The opening of the second world war was much like the situation our Energy Minister faces today, with very little domestic fuel and a world ignoring its missed trade calls.
From the Australian War Memorial records:
‘Speaking on behalf of authorities connected with the supply of petrol, the chairman stated that it was not considered necessary to restrict the use of petrol and oil immediately, and that rationing may not be necessary. Despite this sanguine outlook, the meeting agreed that some action had to be taken to make the public conscious that Australia was at war, and it proposed that consumers should be swamped with propaganda designed to promote voluntary economy in the use of petrol, in the hope that they would respond with such enthusiasm that rationing would not be necessary. What actually happened was that as soon as rationing was mentioned, massive hoarding took place.’
It’s almost like history is stuck on repeat and government ministers learn nothing.
The solution to fuel scarcity is fuel security, and only the government can achieve this by using its international diplomatic and strategic powers to bend the arm of oil-rich allies.
Checking your tyre pressure isn’t going to help.
