Monday, May 28, 2007

On the trail

If John Howard's worst fears were realised in this year's election, Coalition numbers in the House of Representatives would be halved and the Prime Minister, Peter Costello and Malcolm Turnbull would be among 13 ministers to lose their seats.

A state-by-state analysis of Herald/ACNielsen polls for the past six months provides the first detailed impression of Mr Howard's doomsday prediction last week that his 11-year-old Government faced "annihilation".

… as many as 46 of the 87 Liberal and Nationals seats could be wiped out. How annihilation looks for Howard

I’m in campaign mode and the campaign is against the Australian Deputy Prime Minister, Mark Vaile. He isn’t mentioned in the numbers, essentially because he is a nobody. Even so, we have his party machine to contend with.

I’m finding it fascinating that no one here can recall his name. Bloody hell! If I were Dep PM I would at least sell the idea to my home electorate! But He is far to busy for that. We have a letter box bump claiming Mark Vaile – Our local member & Deputy Prime Minister. I’m sure if I was paying a few grand for letterboxing I’d try and say something more compelling.

But he is a ‘big picture’ man and his latest media burst is – Provide ethanol blends:

“The federal Transport Minister [Mark Vaile] says Australia's major supermarket chains should sell ethanol blended fuel at their service stations.

"They can provide that at three cents a litre cheaper to assist motorists," he said.

The national auto associations claim 4 cents saving, but then say tat would be wiped out by the lower fuel efficiency. They also point out that:

· there is simply not the feedstock in this drought ridden country to provide this alternative fuel.

· There is currently no excise on ethanol, but there will be in time.

· Not all engines can cope with an ethanol mix.

So good one Mark. Almost as good as handing 4300 million to Saddam’s regime!

5 comments:

DivaJood said...

And no relief to the drought in sight, either. Good plan, Mark Vaile. It sounds good on paper, but he's not looking at reality, is he?

Praguetwin said...

I've answered your question on PT. My time is limited these days, but I'll do what I can to help.

Best of Luck!

Cartledge said...

Diva. Vaille and other senior government members are in trouble. If we can help tip him out I will be pleased. Making a difference is the main aim.

PT, Thanks, I appreciate your time constraints.

Anonymous said...

there is simply not the feedstock in this drought ridden country to provide this alternative fuel.

He can't possibly be serious. He's dumb enough to propose imports, is he? Wipe out that mythical .04/liter pretty quick.

Hey...BTW, I saw the press release and story. Very cool!

Cartledge said...

froggy, Shell have already forecast full importation of gas, so why not the same with ethanol?
Just a shame te rest of us don't profit from selling off the country.

Media release - thanks.