2017-09-11
The Greens have today successfully amended the Government’s Liquid Fuel Emergency Bill to call on the Government to reduce Australia’s oil consumption.
Part of Australia’s international obligations under the International Energy Agency is to ensure we have 90 days worth of liquid fuel stocks. Australia has not met this obligation for over half a decade.
The Greens support bringing Australia back into international compliance, but have further called for the Government to reduce Australia’s dependence on oil imports by reducing the reliance of the Australian transport sector on oil.
“Instead of continuing our reliance on fossil fuel imports to run this country, we should be urgently shifting to clean renewable fuels” said Senator Janet Rice.
“Reducing our reliance for liquid fuels will come in two ways – we have to move people and products around in more efficient ways, and we can replace polluting fossil fuels with renewables.”
“The government needs to wake up and look at what the rest of the world is doing. By reducing our reliance on oil – and three-quarters of Australia’s oil demand comes from transport - we not only achieve fuel security, we’re also doing more to tackle dangerous global warming. It’s a win-win situation.”
“Our successful amendment calls on the government to introduce mandatory vehicle emissions or fuel economy standards, introduce measure to encourage uptake of electric vehicles, encourage switching from private transport to mass or active transport, and the development of a Transport Energy Plan to plot out the pathway to sustainable, affordable and secure energy supply for our transport sector.”
The Greens amendment to the Liquid Fuel Emergency Amendment Bill 2017 passed 30-27.
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Liquid Fuel Emergency Amendment Bill 2017
At the end of the motion, add:
“, but the Senate calls upon the Government to work to minimise liquid fuel use in Australia, improve fuel security and lower the cost of compliance with Australia’s 90 day stockholding obligation, by:
- introducing a mandatory vehicle emission or fuel economy standard;
- introducing measures to encourage the uptake of electric vehicles;
- introducing measures to encourage mode switching from private vehicle transport to mass transit or active transport options; and
- the development and publication of a comprehensive Transport Energy Plan directed to achieving a secure, affordable and sustainable transport energy supply.”