The Good Oil

When Jed Clampett took his shotgun and went looking for supper he missed the rabbit but blasted open the richest oil deposit ever discovered.

Until now.

Environmentalist Kit Astrophy attended a protest meeting at the ADI site in January and was intrigued to notice an oily sludge oozing from the ground where a previously undiscovered explosive had detonated.

She sent some samples to Mamre College's geology laboratory for testing and the results have now been released. The ADI site is such a rich source of easy-access oil that present development plans have been scrapped.

St. Marys will take its place among the world's major oil producers with full OPEC status.

To the consternation of the current lobby groups, the oil development may prove so extensive that not only will the ADI site become a maze of oil wells, derricks and drills, but surrounding homes might have to be bulldozed to allow access to the liquid wealth.

That's the good news.

It is believed that Prime Minister Howard intends to export the whole of the output, ostensibly to improve competition in the global oil market. Canberra sources are more cynical. They claim he wants to tax the export dollars while still maintaining an oil import levy.

The ADI site has cropped up in a few of these yarns and needs explanation for people who don't live locally.

The Australian Defence Industries operated a munitions factory on this very large, mainly undeveloped site during World War II. During recent years the government has been trying to decide what to do with it. The site covers 1535 hectares – that's almost exactly six square miles – of prime suburban real estate and it will probably be developed into a mini-suburb. This has caused outrage among environmentalists as well as those people who often find themselves opposed to any development (indeed, anything) at all.

When the debate was at its peak I had a phone call from Rachel Derham, editor of the St. Marys Star, who asked if I could lighten things up a bit. So, at my wife's suggestion, I discovered oil on the site.

About a week after the column was published Rachel phoned again. She said, "I don't know just who reads my paper but we have spent the week answering phone calls from people who wanted to know if the story was true."

And I thought nobody believed what they read in the papers . . .