Sydney and other cities should be preparing now for future oil shortages, says Bruce Robinson, convenor of the Association for the Study of Peak Oil & Gas Australia (ASPO-Australia).

Peak Oil is the time when global oil production will start its unavoidable decline. This may be happening now, but a more likely date is in about 2012, according to Robinson.

He says cities which prepare well in advance for oil shortages will have big advantages over those which ignore the risks until it's too late.

The Queensland government is preparing an Oil Vulnerability Mitigation Strategy, one of the recommendations of its task force which reported in April 2007.

"We must start serious steps to reduce our automobile dependence before the oil shocks hit," he says.

"The federal government should remove fringe benefit tax (FBT) subsidies for car use, and the tariff concessions for big 4WDs, and start to fund public transport and bicycle facilities. We should follow Margaret Thatcher's example, and put Australia on a fuel tax escalator to help people plan for future oil shortages, and to provide funding for hospitals and for sustainable transport. The 2020 summit must recognise that shortages from Peak Oil will have almost certainly arrived by 2020.

"NSW should call a moratorium on new Freeway construction until future fuel availability is clarified and use the funds to upgrade public transport instead.

"Superannuation funds should conduct full oil vulnerability assessments before risking members' money in tunnels, toll-roads and airports which will be crippled when oil shortages arrive.

"Supermarkets should offer 4c/$ discounts on groceries as an option instead of the petrol dockets, which just subsidise profligate fuel use at the expense of sustainable transport users," he advises.