Page 3542 - Week 08 - Thursday, 18 August 2011
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I will talk a bit more on the topic of this debate, which is the timely delivery of roads infrastructure. I had assumed that this debate was going to be about actually timely delivery of infrastructure and services. There are many ways in which the government can improve on this. For example, the Auditor-General, in her 2009 audit of the delivery of two major road projects, made some recommendations about deficiencies and failures in coordination and delay. While the Greens do not always agree with the government’s and the Liberal Party’s priorities, and in fact probably quite often do not agree, in terms of transport infrastructure, we do believe that once the decisions are made, we should manage the projects as well as possible. We want them to be efficient and effective.
I would like to spend more of my time on discussing the crux of the matter which is, after all, the timely delivery of roads infrastructure. I draw the Assembly’s attention to the meaning of the word “timely”. “Timely” means occurring at a suitable time. It means opportune and well timed. Possibly what Mr Seselja meant to title his MPI was “on time or punctual delivery of road infrastructure”. But it is not actually what he did. He talked about timely and that is what I am going to be talking about. I am pleased that Mr Corbell also touched upon these issues.
As we have said before, we are looking for a transport system, a planning system and an urban form of Canberra which will suit going into the future, not the past. You have heard me bang on a lot about peak oil and I am going to bang on about it again. Peak oil is happening. The United Kingdom Industry Taskforce on Peak Oil and Energy Security predicted a crisis in the next few years. Lloyds and Chatham House predicted the oil crunch would occur around 2013. The joint operating environment report from the US Department of Defence predicated an end to surplus oil production by 2012 and a significant shortfall in output by 2015.
The UK Industry Taskforce on Peak Oil and Energy Security said recently:
We are asleep at the wheel here: choosing to ignore a threat to the global economy that is quite as bad as the credit crunch, quite possibly worse.
These are not seriously green organisations. These are well-informed serious studies. As I mentioned in the debate yesterday, the International Energy Authority has said that in terms of conventional production of crude oil it believes the peak has already been reached. WikiLeaks has disclosed the Saudi Arabian government has said that it has been overstating its oil reserves. I am just quickly flicking through—
Mr Coe: You want him to be man of the year, don’t you, Caroline?
MS LE COUTEUR: Pardon?
Mr Coe: You want him to be man of the year—Julian Assange?
MS LE COUTEUR: No.
Mr Coe: I think you do—on your Facebook.
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