From rationing to ad campaigns: Australia's fuel policy arc bends toward the polite

The Conversation · David Lee, Associate Professor of History, UNSW Sydney · Friday 17 April 2026

From rationing to ad campaigns: Australia's fuel policy arc bends toward the polite

Australia has rationed fuel during wartime and the Suez crisis. Now the government is running ads asking people to voluntarily drive less, which is a different kind of national effort.

Curtin rationed fuel to fight the Japanese. Menzies rationed it over Suez. We're running ad campaigns to ask nicely. Sixty years of energy policy and we've gone from wartime discipline to a suggestion box.

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