This is why I am so annoyed at the way Rudd spent billions on projects that will do nothing to help Australia in the 21st century…but the billions will still probably get him re-elected.

Hey we do a good job of digging coal out of the ground. But could we add some more value to it? Maybe -- For that reason I’d like to see us putting way more R&D effort into things like maybe cracking coal into oil cleanly. The demand for oil is there and it’s not going away just yet. We have lots of coal. We know it can be turned into oil. And that the cost was maybe USD 30 per barrel in 2005? (Not sure what it would be now -- But if it is an energy intensive thing then if push came to shove I’d use nuclear power to get the cost down.) Because it has to be cheap or the current oil producing nations just could to do their best to drop prices long enough to starve you out of the market.) Presumably it’s pretty infrastructure intensive -- Maybe it would give Mr Rudd something of long term use to direct his infrastructure stimulus dollars towards? But it also has to be a clean process. Some R&D needed please?

And maybe figuring out how to convert sunlight to usable energy cost effectively. Oz has no shortage of sunlight. Harnessing it cost effectively is the trick. This little nation really should be world’s leading R&D site re that for mine. Because we have so much to potentially gain from any break through.

And then there is the question of how to capitailise on all that dry land to grow food cost effectively? Do we look for ways to get water to it? Or do we look for ways to grow food with minimal water -- Unless we don’t think food is going to be a big deal anytime soon? If not then we should be a leading R&D nation when it comes to getting cost effective food out of dry land.

But we should also maybe be thinking about how we can lift our game re some of the things that we don’t do well for the longer term. Because as you say, the commodities are going to start running out eventually.