power without responsibility, page-6

If I wasn't short on time yesterday morning, I would have included the following comments in my original post.

Imo, the real issues for consideration and debate, in no particular order of significance, might be:

# The scale of a strong east coast gas industry which, combined with gas production in Western Australia, has the potential to see Australia become a world scale energy producer and to even rival Qatar ... I read recently that earnings could be $40bill per year within a decade.

# In a carbon crazy, nuclear wary new world, gas will be currency and potential for significant long term price rises should not be underestimated ... why do you think Gladstone is dominated by names like Shell, British Gas, Petronas, Santos, PetroChina who think 5, 10, 15 and 20 years ahead? They get it.

# Should Australia develop and allow export of gas at unholy haste now so as to monetorise what is probably 100-200 yrs of energy security for Australia or should it be mandated that a significant proportion be locked in and protected for future Australians?

# Gas apprently has the potential to extend the resources boom that curently underpins the Austalian economy well beyond the time that oil dries up and the country is full of emppty holes once the iron ore and coal have been exported.

# A strong gas export industry will offset national accounts deficits when the inevitable "oil price shock" hits and we have to import oil at $200-300/barrel or more.

# Development stimulus in Qld and NSW as the gas industry is developed over the next 10 yrs should help see Australia through the worst of any long term period of global stagnation/recession as the debt excesses of the past several decades are worked through and economic cycles rotate ... slowly this time it seems.

# I'm an engineer and I have absolute faith in needs and human ingenuity to resolve CSG envronmental and social concerns.

The real debate is so so much bigger and important than to allow legalised kidnap ransoms to be paid to the likes of Tony Windsor because they are able to misuse the power gifted to them (independents and the Greens) by Julia Gillard and a Labor Party desperate to stay in power at the last election.

With the position Tony Windsor has been taking over the past two days, my opinion is that he runs the risk of adversely affecting the huge majority of Australian, living and yet to be born, for the sake of satisfying a few minority goups of shrill protestors who have no answer for how the nation will function if they have their way and lead us to an energy starved future.

Go MEL go Shell I say 8))

Dex