Melbourne, Australia – A multimillion-dollar advertising campaign encouraging Australians to save fuel for “our truckies” is just one of the ways the government is trying to address shortages caused by the war on Iran.
Since early March, the Strait of Hormuz, through which 20 percent of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas (LNG) supplies are shipped during peacetime, has been effectively closed and shipping traffic has fallen by 95 percent.
Australia’s heavy reliance on oil refined in South East Asian countries which, in turn, import crude oil through the Strait of Hormuz has seen the government turn to “fuel diplomacy” and fuel tax cuts to try to limit price shocks.
But experts told Al Jazeera that such measures are little more than “sugar hits” which will do little to address longer-term problems associated with Australia’s heavy reliance on fossil fuels
Australia imports about 80 percent of the refined fuels it needs, much of it from “regional refining hubs such as Singapore, South Korea and Malaysia, which in turn depend on crude oil imports from the Middle East”, said Hussein Dia, professor of transport technology and sustainability at Swinburne University of Technology in Melbourne
“While some Asian economies may face more immediate exposure, Australia remains structurally vulnerable due to its reliance on imported refined fuel and extended supply chains,” Dia told Al Jazeera
In a bid to bridge this gap, Australia’s Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has turned to “fuel diplomacy”, said Dia, with recent visits to Singapore, Malaysia and Brunei, where he has been trying to shore up the supply of fuel and fertiliser
Bowen’s decision not to attend the Santa Marta conference comes despite his role as the president of negotiations at this year’s top climate change conference, COP31.
Australia had lobbied to host COP31 in part to try to improve relations with its Pacific island neighbours, who have long said that uncontrolled climate change poses an existential threat to their survival
Like many other developing countries, Pacific islanders are facing dire consequences from oil and fertiliser price rises, with potentially worse consequences than those suffered by Australians. That includes the island nation of Tuvalu, which spends 25 percent of its gross domestic product (GDP) on fuel, and has declared a state of emergency
Christiaan De Beukelaer, senior lecturer in culture and climate at the University of Melbourne, told Al Jazeera that oil price rises “gravely affect our Pacific neighbours, whose biggest worry is now to secure enough supply to keep basic services running”.
“Australia would do well to make significant efforts to reduce fuel demand, by opting for alternatives whenever and wherever available,” De Beukelaer added
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