Australia last rationed fuel in the 1970s. Could we do it again?

As oil prices skyrocket, analysts believe the disruption to the global supply will last months, not weeks. So what other options are there? Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast Just when most of us had managed to put the pandemic behind us, along comes another global crisis sending prices higher and threatening to change the way we live and work. The US-Israel war on Iran has unleashed a global energy shock that has sent global oil prices soaring and triggered a spike in fuel costs. With daily reports of petrol stations running out of fuel as Australians rush to fill up amid fears of shortages, there has even been talk that governments could be forced to take even more drastic action: fuel rationing. Australia last put in place forced rationing in mid-1979, during the second oil crisis of that decade, which followed the Iranian revolution. Authorities in Australia dictated that motorists with odd-numbered licence plates could fill up on one day, and even-numbered licence plates the other. The restrictions lasted for weeks. But the trigger wasn’t the global energy shock, it was the decision by workers at t