Climate change and energy insecurity are real and present threats to the stability and sustainability of Australia. The imminence, scale and speed of both threats seem to overwhelm the principal mitigation strategies on offer. Technological fixes and market adjustments both have vulnerabilities and time frames that appear to make them unviable. Some schemes – notably the switch to renewal energy – are nonetheless necessary to long term security and sustainability, whilst others, especially reliance on nuclear energy, fail on both these counts (Lowe, 2007). The only feasible strategy to meet both threats appears to be a massive and sudden decrease in consumption and a rationing of key resources, especially water, oil and energy. We face a time of threat akin to global war: the peril is grave but not insurmountable.