THE SECRET TO LOWER PETROL COSTS IS GREATER EFFICIENCY
Australians will have lower petrol costs if the Government introduced the bold initiatives unveiled by the Democrats today said Leader, Senator Lyn Allison before the Greenfleet Driving Future Change’ Conference in Adelaide
“With crude oil nudging $100 a barrel compared to $35 just 3 years ago working families are under increasing household affordability pressures and debt levels”, said Senator Allison
“But the automotive industry will only deliver on fuel efficiency when incentives and deterrents are established by government”.
“Aggressive actions on both transport supply and demand side are needed. We need to provide standards and incentives for fuel efficiency; resume indexation of excise on petrol; make industry assistance conditional on cleaner vehicles; put R&D and commercialisation funding out to tender for alternative fuel vehicles; and increase expenditure, availability and patronage of public transport”.
In 2000 Holden in conjunction with the CSIRO unveiled a leading edge concept vehicle that used up to 50% less fuel than a conventional family car and dramatically reduced exhaust emissions but Holden never produced the vehicle commercially.
“Unfortunately the automotive industry is still stuck with the mindset that fuel efficiency is not important. What’s required is for government to use a carrot and stick approach to the industry that provides both incentives and deterrents to move towards more fuel efficient vehicles. The Australian Democrats propose a combination of minimum fuel efficiency standards plus an energy efficiency incentive scheme to boost and reward innovation like the E-Commordore.
“We can all make noise about cutting the tax on fuel but that is a short-term fix to a long-term problem. Petrol costs will continue to rise as demand outweighs supply so in order to get at the crux of the problem we must target efficiency”, said Senator Allison
