At the same time Fitzgibbon has attacked the Howard Government’s lack of forward planning and export focus after deputy prime minister John Anderson conceded that Australia is facing an oil crisis, saying ‘it may very well be that the era of cheap oil production has ended.”

Consequently in the lead up to the election the Labor party has now targetted increased investment to develop Australia’s offshore gas reserves and establish a gas to liquids industry.

“Australia is consuming oil three times faster than it is finding it and has been doing so for the past seven years. As a nation we are fast approaching 60% oil import dependency…(however) Australia has 140 trillion cubic feet of natural gas that could be transformed into liquid transport fuels using currently available technology,” said Fitzgibbon.

“To meet just half of Australia's current demand for refined products for the next 30 years, Australia would need to use only about 45 trillion cubic feet of gas, or less than a third of our known reserves, leaving plenty for export markets.”