I have been thinking about the rise in prices. On the one hand higher prices for petrol and diesel is good as it will reduce our consumption of what appears to be a finite resource. While I am not totally convinced that climate change is man made or that its consequences is bad, if you do then surely higher fuel prices is a good thing.

On the other hand higher fuel prices hits people hard, but not all people equally hard. In my case I walk to work and my wife catches the train to work. Its less than a 5 minute walk for her to get to the station. So we generally drive our van very little, just to friends places, the beach and church. We do not need to commute for which I am very thankful. However my parents live on a farm and need to drive to get anywhere. I too previously drove about 600kms a week in my work so petrol was a large cost.

Now we get Brenden Nelson saying the government should cut the fuel excise to help Australians. This would not help me much but would help others a great deal.

Thinking about LPG, from what I understand Australia is self sufficient with LPG and we export it to China for about one cent a litre. If thats the case then it would be good for Australia to stop using imported fuels and start using LPG as a substitute. The first step was already put in place through the LPG subsidy started by the previous Federal government. Is that subsisdy going to continue with the new government?

What would be the effect of mandating that all new vehicles sold in Australia be able to use LPG? Petrol vehicles can use LPG as a fuel source with some modifications. Diesels motors can use LPG too, but not 100%. Diesels are happy to use around 20% of LPG in their combustion process.

Forcing the use of LPG in vehicle engines could do much to improve our economy as more Australians would buy Australian cars. If BMW or Peurgeot could not make an LPG car for Australia then too bad.