Government says people can 'make the call' on work from home amid fuel supply concerns
https://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/government-says-people-can-make-the-call-on-work-from-home-amid-fuel-supply-concerns/g1uenb8kb
106 points · 39 comments · view on lemmy.world
39 Comments
Longmactoppedup@aussie.zone · 39 pts · 162d
Jane Hume doesn't support WFH.
Did they misquote her or was she dropped on her head as a child?
Actually encouraging or dare I say mandating WFH for office drones would help those who can't WFH as it reduces demand for fuel.
Zagorath@aussie.zone · 19 pts · 161d
Reduces demand and reduces the amount of traffic on the roads, which has the dual effect of further reducing demand (since the trucks themselves get places faster and more smoothly, using less fuel) and also improving operational efficiency because trucks arrive sooner and more predictably.
PDFuego@lemmy.world · 13 pts · 161d
It's so obvious. I've never had a job that was possible to do from home, but everyone being home and off the roads helps so much. I had a driving job when covid hit. Everything about it was easier, faster and less stressful when most people were staying home, and oh would you look at that, driving when you're less stressed is another way to save fuel because you're less likely to thrash your car. Whether you're able to personally do it or not, WFH benefits everybody. Well, all of the actual workers anyway, but we know how the Liberals feel about us already.
Edit: Ok maybe not everybody, I imagine cafes and whatnot that rely on people heading into the office likely struggle a bit. But you get my point.
Zagorath@aussie.zone · 13 pts · 161d
You'd think it's obvious, but every time any government or council tries to do something to improve public transport options or bike paths, both of which also take cars of the road and make it easier for drivers, people come from all over to complain about how they have to drive and therefore it's a bad idea!
Salvo@aussie.zone · 3 pts · 161d
WFH benefits local cafes and restaurants.
Staying cooped up at home during the workday, and evening isn’t healthy. With the money saved by not having to drive as far, people also have more disposable income and normal people can afford to walk down to their local cafe and buy a coffee before work, or take their beloved out for dinner after work.
Bookending a WFH day is also healthy for Work-Life balance.
hanrahan@slrpnk.net · 1 pts · 160d
i see you haven't visited Australia vast shithole suburbs recently ? endless tracts of ticky tacky houses packed in and no facilities ?
an anecdote, we used to live across the road from a massive shopping center, in a 15 story building, 4 towers. You could walk on footpaths, one proper pedestrian crossing and be there. Endless cafes etc and I'd estimate 70% of people from our complex drove. Would have been hilarious if it wasn't sickening :(
Salvo@aussie.zone · 1 pts · 160d
Some suburban hellscapes do include cafes and restaurants.
Often they are enclosed in homemaker centres or shopping centres, but occasionally they are in a park or community centre, with a nice relaxing ambiance.
Tenderizer@aussie.zone · 1 pts · 151d
Not really. Higher speeds increase fuel consumption, and traffic light timings don't change with fewer cars on the road. They might save a little on roundabouts but for the most part I think the effects would be negligible.
Zagorath@aussie.zone · 1 pts · 150d
I believe most cars are at their most efficient at city cruising speeds of 50–70 km/h. Because there's a trade-off between air resistance and the efficiency of the engine & gearing.
OriginEnergySux@lemmy.world · 13 pts · 162d
Our work said no. Honestly i kinda hope we run out of fuel. Allies of the US need a kick in the bum to make a move on trump and this is it. This shit is getting expensive, and thats before you think of the live's lost already. Just embrace China, why fight it. Change is the only constant
Salvo@aussie.zone · 4 pts · 161d
We need to speed-run to the “And Find Out” part for all the fucking around by the powers that be.
Unfortunately the MSM and MSSM are pushing the Xenophobic narrative that our current societal collapse is not due to people being fucked over by big business, sexism and fascism, but by anyone who is not the same as you.
hanrahan@slrpnk.net · 2 pts · 160d
and why we're seeing the rise of toxic shit stains like ONP.
FreedomAdvocate@lemmy.net.au · -3 pts · 162d
If that’s the lesson you think needs to be learned, you’ve learned the wrong lesson from this.
We need to take more ownership of our petrol/diesel/oil supply. We need to stop relying on other countries for things we can do right here at home.
Longmactoppedup@aussie.zone · 3 pts · 161d
Who is this "we" who is going to take ownership of this?
The neo con govt that jumps when any industry sneezes?
The energy companies themselves going to do it because they are all about doing what's right for the country / consumer / anything other than profits?
OriginEnergySux@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 161d
maniacalmanicmania@aussie.zone · -1 pts · 161d
White people. They're talking about white people.
Longmactoppedup@aussie.zone · 0 pts · 161d
This energy crisis is already the product of white people.
maniacalmanicmania@aussie.zone · 0 pts · 161d
Sure. I just meant that this person is a March Australia supporter, not just a naive 'proud aussies' who went to one of the larger rallies, but a committed to the cause type.
Salvo@aussie.zone · 2 pts · 161d
All energy supply. And also all energy infrastructure.
This covers both Fossil and Renewable.
Corporate Astroturfing against Renewables needs to be exposed and banned. All political parties need to acknowledge that Renewable is the future, but our reliance on Fossil fuels are the bootstraps we need to pull on to get there.
Infrastructure needs to be Compulsorily Acquired for the nation through Eminent Domain. (Including other utilities and financial infrastructure and assets).
The Public Sector needs to be constantly audited to prevent any pork barrelling and corruption needs to be exposed as the crimes they are, with legal ramifications for those who are exposed.
FreedomAdvocate@lemmy.net.au · 1 pts · 159d
What we call “renewables” currently is not the future because it’s all contingent on having non-renewables to make the “renewables”. We need to somehow invent batteries and solar panels that can be made using nothing non-renewable, but we’re not even close.
There’s more astroturfing for renewables than against it.
Salvo@aussie.zone · 0 pts · 158d
If you your saying is true, then the Astroturf campaigns that are funded by the Fracking Companies would focus on the unrecyclability of turbine fins/blades, solar panels and lithium batteries.
In this case, they would be sued by battery and solar panel manufacturers and it would go to court.
Instead, the astroturfing campaigns focus on ridiculous claims like “birds will get hurt when they fly into turbine blades” and “high-tension power lines look ugly and hurt my feelings”.
FreedomAdvocate@lemmy.net.au · 1 pts · 155d
That’s some bizarre and nonsensical logic.
Are you saying you disagree that “renewables” are made by and using non-renewable materials? Or that there’s no astroturfing by the pro “renewables” side? Simon Holmes a Court alone spends tens of millions of dollars a year astroturfing.
budget_biochemist@slrpnk.net · 0 pts · 159d
This is simply untrue. Here's an in depth Technology Connections video about renewable power, including the ease of recycling both solar panels and batteries
Solar panels are 90% recyclable and most parts can be easily separated by hand. The aluminum, glass, silver and copper can then be simply melted down. The only reason it isn't more common is that the labor costs are more expensive than buying virgin raw materials - a capitalism problem, not a technical problem.
Likewise, most batteries are recyclable by simply separating the electrodes and melting them down. For alkali metals like Lithium and Sodium you have the complication of having to work in an inert space but that doesn't make it impossible, just more work (Edit: Ask a chemistry graduate, they have probably done this in a glove box before). Again, it's a problem of the labor cost of recycling being prohibitive, not a technical problem. Lithium batteries are 98% recyclable.
The suggestion that 98% recyclable batteries are somehow less sustainable than oil-based fuels that are literally burnt up and completely unrecoverable is ludicrous.
FreedomAdvocate@lemmy.net.au · 0 pts · 155d
There a difference between being recyclable and being economically viable to recycle them. It’s not economically viable to reclaim the recyclable material from solar panels, especially in Australia where you’d have to pay someone $40/hour + super + taxes + everything else to do it. It’s not a “capitalism problem”.
I didn’t say that batteries are less sustainable than oil. Batteries, however, require oil to be manufactured - like all the “renewables”, and they’re not economically viable to recycle even the recyclable parts. As wholesale costs reduce they become even MORE unviable to recycle.
There is simply no know replacement for oil, and there is no “renewable” energy without non-renewable materials. This is the problem that needs to be solved, and we are still not even close.
OriginEnergySux@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 161d
We export like 90% of our crude oil and we've only got like 2 refineries so we also import like 80% of our refined oil.
FreedomAdvocate@lemmy.net.au · 1 pts · 159d
My point exactly. We shouldn’t be exporting it, and we shouldn’t be importing it.
OriginEnergySux@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 159d
So how do you replace the billions lost?
FreedomAdvocate@lemmy.net.au · 0 pts · 155d
You don’t need to. If we make our own oil industry in Australia we will be significantly better off.
OriginEnergySux@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 155d
Well best of luck with all that mate
budget_biochemist@slrpnk.net · 0 pts · 160d
As another person said, we're at the "And Find Out" stages of climate change and fossil fuels.
Or maybe we could shift away from the fossil fuel fetish toward sustainable sources of energy.
FreedomAdvocate@lemmy.net.au · 0 pts · 159d
“Renewables” aren’t sustainable because they’re made with non-renewable materials.
There is no known replacement for oil. None. It’s in basically everything the world runs on and uses. We need to be producing our own until a replacement is found.
budget_biochemist@slrpnk.net · 0 pts · 159d
What non-renewable materials?
What is less renewable than literally burning a finite resource?
FreedomAdvocate@lemmy.net.au · 0 pts · 155d
Oil is the main one…….
ryannathans@aussie.zone · 11 pts · 161d
We're currently getting mandated return to office, effective in the next few days
eureka@aussie.zone · 8 pts · 161d
Exactly. " "Work from home is a viable option for many, many people, and they'll make that call," he told ABC News on Monday. ", oh it's certainly viable but we're being forced in anyway.
baseball2020@sopuli.xyz · 7 pts · 162d
The property council publicly celebrated their influence over the nsw premier when he mandated RTO for public service. I maintain that we are gonna keep commuting until it runs dry because certainly commercial property investors and transurban can not withstand any reduction in profits.
Taleya@aussie.zone · 6 pts · 160d
already seeing the articles going "BuT I caN'T wOrK fRoM HoMe MuH JAWB" (tradies, etc)
Guess that advice isn't for you then, buddy. Fuck me, do you assume everything you read on the internet is about you?
budget_biochemist@slrpnk.net · 3 pts · 160d
Probably the same ones who bought a stupidly oversized and heavy vehicle and now complain about fuel prices.
king_comrade@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 160d
Average ford ranger driver
fizzle@quokk.au · -6 pts · 162d
I don't think mandates are the right move for this, at this particular time.
Free market forces have already incentivised people to minimise fuel usage.