- NATIONAL

Blockade threat over fuel prices

By GEESCHE JACOBSEN, TONI O'LOUGHLIN and agencies

Australian truck drivers and farmers could be blocking the fuel depots of big oil companies by the end of the week in a European-style response to rising fuel prices, the transport union said yesterday.

The NSW branch secretary of the Transport Workers' Union, Mr Tony Sheldon, said a meeting of the union's Federal council tomorrow would consider what action to take to back up its call for reduced fuel excises.

The union's national president, Mr Hughie Williams, predicted that truck drivers could refuse to make deliveries, or block city streets and fuel depots by the end of the week.

"If farmers decided that they should bring equipment into the capital cities, truck drivers would support them," he said.

But the head of the National Farmers' Federation, Mr Ian Donges, played down the likely involvement of farmers, saying they were probably not yet ready to go that far.

Mr Williams said eight owner-drivers had had their trucks repossessed as a result of financial pressures created by the recent sharp rise in diesel prices, and that dozens of drivers were refusing to take their trucks out.

"There could be some serious problems right across Australia if prices continue to rise," he said.

The union's warning comes after crude oil prices hit a 10-year high of $US36 ($66) a barrel in New York on Friday. The impact is worsened by the weak Australian dollar.

A spokesman for the Federal Minister for Transport and Regional Services, Mr Anderson, said a blockade would not achieve anything because the problem lay in high crude oil prices. The only thing that would fix the problem would be an increase in crude supplies, he said.

Meanwhile, The Sunday Times in London yesterday quoted sources in Britain's Treasury as saying the leaders of the Group of Seven industrialised countries would warn the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries about the dangers of high prices at a meeting in Prague next weekend.

The paper said the warning could also include a threat by the United States to release some of its strategic petroleum reserves onto the market to drive down prices.

Mr Donges said farmers were concerned about the twice-yearly automatic rise in the fuel excise in line with inflation, which last month increased the excise by about 0.7 cents a litre and is expected to lead to a further 2-3 cent increase for GST-led-inflation in February.

The Federal Government has so far ruled out any change to the system.

While not ruling out action later this week, Mr Donges said no members had argued that the situation was so serious that farmers should take to the streets.

In France, farmers and truck drivers protesting against high fuel taxes blocked highways two weeks ago, sparking similar action elsewhere. In Britain last week fuel supplies virtually dried up across the country as small but determined groups of campaigners blockaded oil refineries and distribution depots.

A spokesman for BP said the company could understand the drivers' frustrations, but targeting petrol stations would only hurt small-business operators and targeting oil companies was also misdirected, he said.

"There is nothing we can do as a company about the fact that the price of oil is so high."

A spokesman for the shadow treasurer, Mr Simon Crean, did not wish to comment on the union's threats.

http://www.smh.com.au/news/0009/18/national/national9.html

-- Martin Thompson (mthom1927@aol.com), September 18, 2000

Answers

I would think that such a thing happening during the Olympics would be incredibly embarrassing for Australia.

-- LillyLP (lillyLP@aol.com), September 18, 2000.