“In his first Budget, last week, Mr Rudd made absolutely no effort to put Australia on a path to prepare for peak oil, instead continuing the love affair Australian governments have had for too long with inefficient cars and bigger roads.
“The most glaring failure is that, of total spending on transport in the coming year, a full 80% of the $4.2 billion goes to more roads, while only 4% goes to rail infrastructure. Roads get $3.4 billion next to a measly $187 million for rail. What is worse, over the coming years, the proportion to roads is set to increase, while rail funding will dry up to almost nothing – only $6 million by 2011-12. These priorities should be reversed to give Australians an alternative to paying through the nose for fuel.
“The Government also failed to take the easy and obvious step of removing the Fringe Benefits tax concession for private car use, a subsidy which directly encourages people to drive more to get more off their tax. This nonsense policy should have been scrapped years ago and could be scrapped tomorrow, easing pressure on prices.
“The $78 million for metropolitan transport, only some of which is allocated to mass transit, is a drop in the ocean when we need to be re-designing and rebuilding our cities for mass transit, walkways, cycle paths and urban villages. This needs serious Commonwealth funding to make it happen.
“The decision to establish Infrastructure Australia and the Building Australia Fund without any obligation to consider climate change or peak oil is foolish and must be reversed. If the 12 eminent Australians who have been given carriage of this work are instructed to plan for peak oil and climate change, we may see some innovative thinking to help ease the pressure on Australians.
“Finally, what possible reason can there be for pushing the start of the much-vaunted Green Car Fund out to 2011, when the Government could today introduce stringent mandatory vehicle fuel efficiency standards? The Government could tie subsidies to car manufacturers to meeting fuel efficiency standards and get efficient cars on the road within months, instead of waiting until after the next election.
“This vital issue needs serious action. What we see from the Rudd Government is nothing more than spin.â€