RDK

@DonnaGrubbster @P_bogan So you are equating tax deductions on money spent earning an income (deductions available to every taxpayer) with subsidies to largely higher income people buying an electric car? Subsidies running an order of magnitude higher than was forecast when the scheme was introduced.

@rdkrdk @P_bogan Tradies get a number of tax deductions/subsidies for their vehicles, when I looked this up the amount quoted was $1.35 billion in lost revenue, funny how that mirrors your quote!

BYD's latest battery can go 1,000km's take 5min to get to 80% charge and has zero fire chance and lasts forever and Hastie has a "integrity issue" with them. No vision of how good battery tech is getting year after year. #insiders

@expedtadam I think the bus routes from Oakleigh going north are hamstrung by the convoluted and slow interchanges at both Oakleigh station and Chadstone. They are painful as a passenger.

And a more detailed breakdown of the rationale + method here (last week's blog post): open.substack.com/pub/adambain1/…

Top 10 activity centres by public transport connectivity:

@P_bogan Every single car, 4WD, bus or truck you see on the road is paying all excise and taxes and is not rebated or subsidised a single cent. Unlike, of course, the electric car FBT exemption which will cost $1.35 billion in lost tax this financial year.

@rdkrdk Yeah like diesel fuel. $35bil in subsidies each year by the Gov.

@CognitiveVerb @Rizzabeast @YvetteSkinner Now list the positive side of the ledger. I value the benefit I get from alcohol at $20 billion. See how it's done?

@Rizzabeast @YvetteSkinner That said, alcohol excise doesn’t cover the costs to society, of alcohol induced: * cancer/s * cirrhosis of the liver * heart disease * domestic violence * depression * gout * traffic accidents * absenteeism * promiscuity etc

Aussies pay $8B in alcohol excise every year (beer $2.7B alone) — direct tax on every drink. Meanwhile, gas giant Santos paid just US$17m (A$26m) Australian corporate income tax in 2024 on hundreds of millions profit — near 0% effective rate after deductions. (They paid more in royalties/PRRT, but still low corporate tax for years.) One company digs up & sells our resources… yet drinkers often pay more tax per slab than these giants pay in company tax.

@cbnfvrchronicle @RageSheen Yes, apparent supporters of democracy, exept when the people support things the anti-populists are against. Of course if the voters support something they also support, then it's not populism simply the will of the people.

@RageSheen Why are attacks on “populism” mostly coming from people who seem oblivious to the fact that they are essentially arguing for forms of elitism ? Oligarchy Plutocracy Monarchy Corporatocracy Kleptocracy Etc.

Because many of us grew up in a time when populist idiots were constrained by institutional mechanisms set up to repair the smoking ruins of the first half of the 20th century, there’s a sort of hope that what is logical and objective will ultimately prevail. That’s almost certainly delusional. Instead populism, throughout history, destroys pretty much everything. Then institutional sanity (sometimes) returns, via the discipline of the repair and re-building. But only sometimes. More often a culture or nation limps into permanent dysfunction, or even extinction.

@conor64 Saving many, vhanging the definition of herd immunity so that it only occurs with vaccination.

A question for everyone: survey data suggests that by the end of the Covid-19 emergency trust in public health institutions had decreased significantly. If you are among the people who reacted that way, why specifically? I'm hoping for long, diverse, individualized answers.

@AvidCommentator This is the Melbourne rain radar from the new site. Look how the blue over the bay (rain I guess) changes to brown on the land. Why?

Oh God damn it....

@Layemie001 I want one.

A crazy vintage German wrench design. Germans are too technical while making tools.💯

@bagshaw2112 First guess 68, but maybe 67. Two Delilahs, Two x Love is Blue? Weird.

THE MUSIC CHART QUIZ ❤️❤️ What year ?? Please repost so others can play ! A nice UK chart .what year is it from Try to do it without using google or Grok . . #music #popchart #saturday

@Trident4386 This is the Scandinavian metro station I want to visit.

Marvels of the Stockholm Metro Proving that Underground systems don’t have to be soulless tunnels of grey, here’s just a few of the incredible stations which feel closer to living art pieces than anything else!

@CognitiveVerb @BethanyCherisse @larida10 Actually, it's the wealthy people who drive electric vehicles. Joe Average is more likely to drive a non-electric vehicle, and the poorer you are the more likely to drive an older, less fuel efficient car.

@BethanyCherisse @larida10 Bethany, Let me get this straight. You want to bleed programs for social benefit, in order to fund loss making commercial ventures, so wealthy people can continue to drive motor vehicles (& emit carbon pollution)??

Australia produces up to 398,000 barrels of crude oil per day. If we stopped exporting our crude oil, had the 6 major refineries closed since 2012 re-opened, and combined that with the imports still being received - we wouldn't run out of fuel. Why won't the government do this?

@RageSheen @AussieFim You can't at the same time extol your expertise as an engineer and state "Energy moves at the speed of light to where it’s needed, instantly." Why not attempt to be accurate? You are just as hyperbolic as some of those arguing against you.

@RageSheen @AussieFim Guess again

Stats for a fuel crisis. The fuel tankers that deliver fuel within Australia annually travel a distance equivalent of travelling from the Earth to the Sun, and back, and then back to the Sun again. They use probably over 200 million litres of diesel themselves, on those trips, to move the fuel to where it’s needed. The electricity grid on the other hand is already plugged in to most locations. No transportation required. Energy moves at the speed of light to where it’s needed, instantly.

@RageSheen @jchoop Projecting much?

@rdkrdk @jchoop I don’t argue with people whose brains are occupied entirely by political propaganda.

@RageSheen @AussieFim Nope.

@rdkrdk @AussieFim Yep.

@RageSheen @jchoop It's a non-sensical and meaningless comparison, especially non-sensical when more electricity is generated by coal burning power stations than any other source.

@jchoop Pull your righteous head out of your arse. The losses due to transmission are minuscule compared to the 70-80% of energy lost burning the transported fossil fuels.

@RageSheen @AussieFim As an engineer, is this statement correct "Energy moves at the speed of light to where it’s needed, instantly."?

@AussieFim I’m an engineer. For delusions I’d go to One Nation.

@AvidCommentator Before the crisis many servos had petrol at $2.23. Now it's $2.50 or so. More expensive but for most people not a particularly big hit.

Honestly relative to the hits younger demographics have taken, higher fuel prices is the side show of side shows. Lets assume you drive a diesel Ford Ranger and drive 15,000km per year. This a very much a downside scenario, a big heavy diesel car, higher than average km and we'll also assume worse than sticker fuel economy. Based on a diesel price of $3L, fuel costs for this person have risen by $2,267 per year vs 2019 prices. In a vacuum, a big hit. Meanwhile, this households rent has risen by over $10,000 per year. The cost of buying the median house nationally has risen by almost $60,000 per year. Yes fuel is expensive, but relative to the challenges imposed on the nations young or non-homeowners its the side show of side shows.

@disco___cat Albanese's response was to a criticism of EV subsidies. In that sense I'm sure he's right - no one regrets taxpayers paying for a proportion of their car.

If more people in the city drive EVs then there’s more diesel for you mate. This isn’t hard to understand.