A European-style blockade of big oil companies by lorry-drivers to protest against rising fuel prices threatens to disrupt Australia this weekend and cause problems for the Sydney Olympics.
The national president of Australia's Transport Workers' Union (TWU), Mr Hughie Williams, predicted that truck-drivers could refuse to make deliveries, or block city streets and fuel depots by the end of the week.
Mr Williams ruled out any action that would directly affect the Olympics, saying the union did not wish to harm "the greatest event of any time". But the action could paralyse transport in Sydney and other cities, affecting supplies, especially if farmers and boating associations join in. "If farmers decided that they should bring equipment into the capital cities, truck-drivers would support them," Mr Williams said.
A meeting of the TWU federal council will today decide on action to back up its demand for lower oil prices, according to the New South Wales branch secretary, Mr Tony Sheldon.
Because of the recent sharp increase in diesel prices in Australia, many truck-drivers are refusing to use their vehicles and eight owner-drivers have had their lorries repossessed as a result of financial pressures, Mr Williams said.
The leader of the National Farmers' Federation, Mr Ian Donges, played down the involvement of farmers, saying they were probably not ready to go that far.
A spokesman for the Federal Minister for Transport and Regional Services, Mr John Anderson, said a blockade would not achieve anything, as the problem lay in high crude oil prices.
The oil crisis has been made worse in Australia by a collapse in the value of the Australian dollar, which has been falling in tandem with the euro against the surging US currency. The Australian dollar closed yesterday at a new low of 54.2 cents and is expected to fall even further.
While this has delighted the thousands of American visitors and participants at the Olympic Games, for whom Sydney has become one of the least expensive capitals in the world, it is leading Australia towards an inflationary crisis, defying a strong domestic economy and 36 consecutive quarters of positive growth.
The currency free-fall has caused a problem for international "scalpers", black market sellers of Olympic tickets who have descended on Sydney from as far away as France and Florida, posing as tourists. Not only is the currency value of their ticket stocks reduced but they are finding that Australians prefer by and large to queue patiently at Olympic kiosks rather than risk buying a forgery.
Sydney Games organisers said last night they were taking action against groups of organised ticket touts who began operating inside the main Olympic Park, which is surrounded by high security and contains the main Stadium Australia and venues for 14 of the 28 Olympic sports.
Mr Michael Eyers, deputy chief executive of Games organisers SOCOG, said an unauthorised ticket booth had already been shut down in Sydney's Darling Harbour area.
More than 85 per cent of tickets have been sold, a new Olympic record, leaving one million on the market, and some fans are prepared to pay well over the official price for seats at the most popular swimming and track and field finals.
Banned in New South Wales, scalping carries a fine of some £1,000 and confiscation of tickets. "We've seen, and the International Olympic Committee have reported to us, evidence that there is organised scalping going on," a SOCOG media spokesman, Mr Milton Cock burn, said.
A French tout named "Frank" was quoted as saying: "The market has been quite bad. It's been really different to how it was at Nagano and other Olympic Games, where people would pay double, triple the value."
Employees of the Olympics accreditation centre are suspected of trying to make money on the side by printing up to 10 copies of swimmer Ian Thorpe's security pass to sell as souvenirs.
The 17-year-old Australian gold medal winner with size 17 feet found that the bar code on his pass had been invalidated when he tried to enter the Olympic Village after his double gold medal victory on Saturday.
The Olympic passes have holograms and bar codes, making them almost impossible to duplicate, and the invalidation could only mean that another copy had been used.
Ian Thorpe, a sporting hero with the most recognisable face - and feet - in Australia, was not prevented from entering. "I presume he flashed his gold medals," an official said.
The Olympic pass of Thorpe's team-mate, Grant Hackett, was also found to have been invalidated when he tried to pass security at the door of a dining hall. He was escorted to a security officer to double-check the pass, but he was not delayed, said Mr Michael Wenden, Australia's deputy head of mission at the Games.
Conor O'Clery's web diary, A Sense of Sydney, appears regularly during the Olympics at www.ireland.com/sports/ olympics.