"If petrol prices go high enough people will use less as has happened on every prior occassion the price went up (excluding some triffling amount)."
FB, petrol is not a luxury for most people, so demand is inelastic. If I need 50 litres a week to go to work, how can I use less and still do so? (Too far to cycle, no buses/trains)/
Because of this, Big Oil & Big Govt have us by the short & curlies, and they don't care Aussie petrol prices are one of the biggest scams of our era.