The real 'PPP': populism, probity and peak oil in the River City’s tunnel deal

Since construction of the tunnel began, a series of publicly available government reports have also gained little traction with policy-makers. A 2006 Federal Senate inquiry into peak oil went unreported in the local media. Planners and engineers ignored the submission to that inquiry from their own peak professional body, Engineers Australia, which warned that the economic risks arising from peak oil were "not being treated with sufficient urgency".

The contents of the 'other' Maunsell report, namely BCC’s Climate Change and Energy Taskforce Report released in April, were dismissed by Newman as "wacky", possibly because they threaten his "can do" TransApex vision:

We have been aware for many years of the need to shift more of our trips to modes other than private vehicles (especially those occupied only by the driver). … the Brisbane 2026 Vision goal is for 41 per cent of morning peak trips to be made by walking, cycling or public transport by 2026. …People’s past reluctance to take more trips by public transport might change rapidly in the face of escalating oil prices or fuel rationing.

In the same month, Government MP Andrew McNamara completed his Oil Vulnerability Taskforce Report, which concluded that "the overwhelming evidence is that world oil production will peak within the next 10 years" and that "regardless of the global peak oil issue, the risks of supply disruptions are rising". Despite Beattie’s efforts to bury this report it eventually made the front page of the Courier-Mail in September.

Perhaps the sense of denial might begin to change in mid-November when the OECD releases a peak oil study prepared by ASPO-International president Kjell Aleklett. In an excerpt already available on the internet, this report concludes:

In a business-as-usual case, the shortage of fossil fuel liquids for transportation will be substantial by the year 2030. The necessary decisions for the economic transformation required to mitigate this decline in available oil supply should already have been made and efforts to deploy solutions under way. We have climbed high on the "Oil Ladder” and yet we must descend one way or another. It may be too late for a gentle descent, but there may still be time to build a thick crash mat to cushion the fall.

While the clear message from these official reports for RiverCity Motorway’s investors is "sell", in the Orwellian atmosphere of the recent annual general meeting its executives were calmly conveying the “buy” or “hold” message even as oil prices climbed through the $US85 mark. CEO Bob Morris gloated: