What is so surprising though is how as a nation we have our heads collectively in the sand or above the clouds and not able to recognise or accept a massive society restructuring is the best thing that could happen for Australia.

We have the four major cities of the most inhabitable part of Australia spread roughly 1000 km. apart and our reliance on transport is massive.
And yes, shelter, water and food are the basic staples of survival.
Minerals extraction not only largely depends on oil but is essentially an industry producing materials for manufacture of products also largely dependant on oil.

It is not as though there are not models in centuries before oil became widely available, and the establishment of more self sustainable villages may well again become the success story for survival through necessity rather than choice.

Meanwhile, having leaders strutting the world stage and attempting to attract more and more people to our existing cities structure is just going to exacerbate the situation.

And then the irony is that unlike the gigantically more population dense countries of virtually the rest of the globe, we not only have a chance to do something different rather than follow in the footsteps to have more polluted and crowded cities overseas, and yet we do.