The fact that Australia consumes more oil than it produces leads to a reliance on imported energy. The implication for the future lies in the fact that Australia is faced with the challenge of finding a way to maintain sufficient energy sources for citizen usage as well as for industrial uses, and to keep the prices down to a point that they are affordable. What this means is that Australia needs to develop new energy avenues (and they have several of them available) in order to preserve their economic stability while maintaining their ability to use those items that require fuel.

Currently, Australia has the world's largest Uranium reserves, but they use this resource only for electricity. They currently do not use it for nuclear power at all because there is still a stigma associated with nuclear energy there is a perception that the dangers outweigh the benefits. Used properly, nuclear energy is a powerful, safe, and clean energy source, but taking away the stigma that has been attached to it and making the people as a whole feel confident that it is a safe alternative is going to take time.

What this fact means for Australia's future is that it is going to continue to be dependent upon imported sources of energy if it does not change its consumption patterns.  This is not necessarily a bad thing, but it does make Australia more dependent on other countries and it allows world events to have more of an impact on Australia than if Australia were more self-sufficient.

Australia is not using its uranium reserves because of people's concerns about the safety of nuclear power.  People worry about meltdowns at nuclear plants and they worry about what to do with the nuclear waste produced by such plants.