Petrol up again

I suppose you’ve heard that petrol prices are on the way up again. Oil has hit a new high of almost US$61 a barrel.

Once oil goes up, everything goes up because most other goods need to be transported by oil powered vehicles.

While we’re still reeling from the price rises, some Australian economists have come out saying that they want petrol to be taxed at a higher rate to discourage the use of cars. They believe that we’re not paying enough tax when we fill up at the bowser. They reckon that we’ll just have to handle our household budgets a little better. Easy for them to say.

Thankfully I don’t have to buy a lot of petrol because my main vehicle is my bicycle. I’m all for encouraging people to use active transport methods like walking, public transport and cycling. I share their concerns about car usage. I think we rely on vehicles far too much and we’d be doing ourselves and the environment a huge favour if we got out of our cars more often. However, I think it’s a pretty sad state of affairs when we’re forced to do so because we can’t afford any other choice.

Posted by Rodney Olsen



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About the author

Rodney Olsen

Rodney is a husband, father, cyclist, blogger and podcaster from Perth Western Australia.

He has worked in radio at Perth's media ministry Sonshine for over 25 years and has previously worked at ministries such as Compassion Australia and Bible Society.

The views he expresses here are his own.

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3 Comments

  • gas has gone up here in Canada too … see, that is another good reason to sell our cottage and move to a town – so that i can walk or use my bike!!!! i do have a beauty of a bike that i’ve only ridden 4 or so times in the last 4 years … sad, eh …

  • I think the price of fuel is rediculous. When I lived in NZ, the price of fuel went above 1.10 cpl. I simply couldn’t afford it, so I changed to Diesel, which is half the price of ULP in NZ. My fuel bill dropped by 60%

  • you want to talk expensive fuel. Come to Finland!

    Most families only have one car and most families still ride bikes here at least in the light season. We thank God for reasonable public transport within walking distance too.

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