Woodside boss John Akehurst started the ball rolling on one side of the country last week, and the message was amplified today in Melbourne at the Australian Petroleum Production and Exploration Association of Australia annual conference.

The alarm clock had gone off, according to APPEA Executive Director, Mr Barry Jones.

"Sadly, after promises, promises and more promises, Australia's frail efforts to develop a meaningful energy policy are in tatters," he said.

"APPEA has a very plain message to Australian governments - wake up and realise that effective energy policy cannot be developed in a bureaucratic silo that has no realistic contact with industry.

"It's a very laudable objective for governments to say they want affordable, clean and secure energy supplies.

"What they don't understand is that they won't achieve such objectives by tinkering with the structure of petroleum product taxes, putting ethanol into petrol, focusing primarily on retail and wholesale energy market competitiveness and subsidising industry development for renewables.

"Addressing such issues may be very important, but they do not make an energy policy".

Jones said the warning was applicable to State Governments also. "States shouldn't be treating greenhouse as a football in the Commonwealth/State relations game - it is too important to be merely a vehicle for political points scoring."

Woodside's Akehurst said Australia was consuming its hydrocarbon reserves three times faster than they were being discovered, adding that by 2010 the country would be importing 60% of its daily consumption.

Of key note to Government, Akehurst said that if this figure became fact, over $1 billion would be lost in tax revenue.