Senator MILNE (6:00 PM) —I move general notice of business No. 173 standing in my name:

   That the Senate—

(a)   notes that:

(i)   in 2006 the Australian Greens instigated an inquiry by the Standing Committee on Rural and Regional Affairs and Transport into Australia’s future oil supply and alternative transport fuels,

(ii)   neither the former Howard Government, the former Rudd Government nor the Gillard Government have implemented the nine recommendations of that inquiry’s tripartite report, with only ‘Recommendation 6’ relating to incentives for fuel efficient vehicles even having been considered,

(iii)   following a series of whistleblower leaks, the International Energy Agency in 2010 for the first time publicly acknowledged the real threat of peak oil, and

(iv)   a series of diplomatic cables released by Wikileaks and published in the week beginning 6 February 2011 reveals growing confidence that Saudi Arabian oil reserves have been overstated by as much as 40 per cent and that the world’s biggest oil exporter may not be able to supply enough oil to the global market to prevent prices rising dramatically; and

(b)   calls on the Government immediately to develop a national plan to respond to the challenge of peak oil and Australia’s dependence on imported foreign oil.