New Opposition Leader Tony Abbott struggles with the “arcane concept” of peak oil at the Sydney Writers’ Festival:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tCiHFyLIfu8[/youtube]
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37 thoughts on “Video of the Day: Tony Abbott doesn’t know what “peak oil” is”
Phil
December 2, 2009 at 1:51 pmNow that is a worry, and to make it worse he’s is now the opposition leader OMG!
Colin Jacobs
December 2, 2009 at 2:05 pmOh dear… More competition is the answer to peak oil? God help us.
Mr Squid
December 2, 2009 at 2:26 pmgod save us all!
scottyea
December 2, 2009 at 2:39 pmWhat a Muppet.
Yes, God help us.
Dr Strangelove
December 2, 2009 at 3:03 pmThe man finds the ‘arcane concept’ of natural resources being finite ‘implausible’.
I wonder if clean coal will be joined by renewable oil reserves as part of the COALition’s climate policy platform for next year?
Scott
December 2, 2009 at 3:19 pmThis myth again? When people mention “Peak Oil”, they forget the rules of supply and demand.
Oil Supplies are found all the time, but no effort is made to harness them as the cost benefit isn’t there yet. However when oil supplies decrease due to increased demand, the price of oil increases causing the cost benefit analysis to change. Drilling the oil becomes a profitable option.
Also don’t forget Germany in WW2 introduced technology to turn basic coal into oil (as it didn’t have extensive oil supplies to fuel it’s war machine). It’s expensive to do so, but again if the oil price increases, these things become profitable. Alternatively there are billions of barrels tied up in Oil Sands and Oil Shale in Canada and the US which again can be turned into oil.
Plenty of environmental things to worry about, but Peak Oil is not one of them
Mr Squid
December 2, 2009 at 3:29 pmThe problem with oil sands and shale oil is their monster envronmental impact, making peak oil one of the most important environmental considerations, especially in relation to CPRSs and ETSs. Which is why Abbott’s astonishing ignorance is such a dangerous thing.
David Ingram
December 2, 2009 at 3:47 pmOh dear. I wish I hadn’t seen this.
S G
December 2, 2009 at 4:12 pmWow. This is almost 2 years old. Crikey has dug deep into the desperation bag with this one.
I was at this actual event and it would be helpful if the person who edited this clip to 2 minutes actually let it run the full hour or so that it went for, as it really isn’t fair to both Manne or Abbott’s responses.
The other thing that was interesting about the event was the amount of hissing and gnashing of teeth that was going on in the crowd before Abbott even got to speak. You lot really are a predictable clique.
Brian Kelly
December 2, 2009 at 4:23 pmAbout as predictable as you lot S G