This year has been quite an active one for our reasonably new citizen group, Sydney Peak Oil. On June 21, four of us presented our thoughts on oil depletion to a crossbench committee from The NSW legislative Council (the Senate) in Sydney's Parliament House. Members that attended included the Greens' Ian Cohen, the Australian Democrat's Arthur Chesterfield-Evans, the Christian Democratic Party's Fred Nile and more.

Then, in early November, we distributed the "Peak Oil" kit pictured above (see it bigger) to all 42 Members of the NSW Legislative Council. The kit included a 32 minute cut down version of The End of Suburbia DVD, a great Peak Oil poster produced by the non-profit Meta Foundation, plus various pieces of literature supporting our contentions.

This was followed by a Peak Oil Public Community Forum in the NSW Parliament House Theatrette, where Rowan Tucker-Evans from our group spoke, along with Brian Fleay and Professor Ian Lowe, Emeritus Professor at Griffith University and President of the Australian Conservation Foundation. Greens' MP Ian Cohen handled the introductions and then returned to the Legislative Council just after 11pm to make a speech about Peak Oil.

How did it all work out? Well, on 29th November the Australian Senate approved an Australian Greens' proposal for an inquiry into the future of Australia's oil supply. The committee is due to report by 15 June 2006. So we can now rest easier that our government may be a little better equipped to deal with the energy shortages that will come, as we transition to more renewable forms of energy.

On to Christmas

Now that that's done, and work is starting to trail off before the holiday season, I am very much looking forward to a break. I imagine that all the NetNacs! readers feel much the same, and are all looking forward to spending some time over Christmas with family and friends.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year from me, from the land down under :)