Australia’s fuel crisis: Only 43 days before “real trouble”
<p>Australia is heading towards trouble according to energy experts, with supply of one of our major commodities expected to run out in a matter of days.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.theaustralian.com.au/" target="_blank"><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><em><strong>The Australian reports</strong></em></span></a> Australia is at high risk of running out of fuel by the end of next month, due to supply issues exacerbated by the Syria attacks.</p>
<p>The International Energy Agency mandates countries hold a fuel stock in reserve “equivalent to 90 days of net imports” but according to reports Australia only has 43 days of supply.</p>
<p>Liberal Senator Jim Molan, who was once a major general in the Australian Army, <a href="https://www.2gb.com/" target="_blank"><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><em><strong>told 2GB</strong></em></span></a>, “we stand in real trouble and this is a single point of failure for Australia, very similar to what could happen in a cyber situation”.</p>
<p>“It happens because for too long we have taken a business as usual approach.</p>
<p>“It’s like saying we can determine the size and shape of the Australian Defence Force based on commercial factors and making the market decide.</p>
<p>“The way that we seem to get around this is that we buy credits overseas which ignores the entire problem.</p>
<p>“Those credits say that if things go wrong we can buy from overseas but hang on our supply lines of communication by ship are likely to be either threatened or because of insurers nothing will come to us at all.”</p>
<p>“It’s refined in Singapore, yes, but it’s also refined in Japan, in Korea and in China. It then is turned into diesel, aviation fuel and petrol and comes down in ships to Australia’s ports.”</p>
<p>Mr Molan’s comments have been backed by Defence Strategy and Capability at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute senior analyst Dr Malcolm Davis, who says Australia’s fuel reserves would not last long if supply was cut off.</p>
<p>“It would be a Mad Max world. Our society and our economy would begin to fall apart very quickly,” Dr Davis <a href="http://www.news.com.au/" target="_blank"><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><em><strong>told News.com.au</strong></em></span></a>.</p>
<p>“It’s like electricity — everything depends on fuel to make an economy run. It is very serious.</p>
<p>“We’ve left ourselves in a perilous situation and governments on both sides have been negligent in this regard.</p>
<p>“Military analysts have been warning consistently for years and they just ignore it.”</p>
<p>What are your thoughts? Do you think enough it being done to shore up Australia’s fuel supply? Let us know in the comments section below, we’d love to hear from you.</p>
