I wish the headline would be:

political party X brought up a motion to stop surveillance on Australian citizens by Palantir.

We need these types of parties / policical groups around the world. We deserve them. I’d vote and/or seriously consider voting for one if it’d appear in my location.

The underlying data source is very interesting. They have easily accessible stats on a lot of things! https://ilostat.ilo.org/data/snapshots/earnings/

I’m sorry, but you’re somewhat inconsistent with yourself.

To my question on why Iran was enriching uranium, you’re saying that it was “to use it as a pressure technique on the usa”. How is that not adding to the problem? Of course it does. Mind you, I’m not picturing Iran as the bad guys and US or Israel as the good guys. Quite the opposite. But you gotta stay true to the facts.

And when later you say “did not plan to build a weapons”. Do you have reputable/verifiable references for that? Was it part of Snowden’s leaks or something? And you’re saying that it did not plan to build weapons, but then still did it?

I ask you to be real here. You can try to bully me of course. But I’m not protecting the US or Israel here. Both of the respective leaders committed numerous crimes and should be stopped. This is important. But it is also true, even if it’s less important, that the control over Iranian citizens is in the hands of IRGC and this is bad for everyone. Not that Trump can be a solution to that, but it’s hurting. And the “pressure technique” of having nuclear weapons development is also hurting. I, personally, want neither Israel nor Iran to have nuclear weapons - not even remotely.

I’m confused now, because I know you from other posts and I respect your knowledge and depth of thought/comments.

To comment on minor things before answering fully: no, I have not read about WMD. I’ll do that now I guess. “bringing freedom” is definitely a non-valid argument indeed, especially if it comes from the US. I do agree with you that the Israel (or the US) have no “moral highground” even if there could be one - especially them actually.

My comment was mostly about building specifically nuclear bombs. I haven’t made claims if it’s close to completion or not - just that they are doing it. I’ll research what you wrote before answering fully.

Why is Iranian’s military side, IRGC, enriching uranium then? You’re not gonna deny that are you?

EDIT: Just in case I wanna clarify. I find the egocentric asshole (Trump) as stupid as you probably do. His actions were unplanned, and he only ever pursues his own benefit, and not anyone else’s. Whatever he says should be taken with literally 0 weight if one is looking for the truth. But I insist that you cannot wave away that Iran does have a nuclear program. I wish adults would handle the problem, not Trump, but the problem does exist.

EDIT: I could be in the wrong, I need to think/evaluate. In any case, I do acknowledge that e.g. Netanyahu is a war criminal, and that Trump is a walking disaster and incompetence. However, I’m still not in the clear with regards to a nuclear program in Iran. There’s definitely evidence of the production of enriched uranium. That, in my opinion, and even with “my” current 19 downvotes, is still not something to be waved away. The decision to create and have enriched uranium adds to the problem.

Original message:

Well Iran is building nuclear bombs. And its 90 or so million of people are under a dictatorship (though Trump only makes it worse). It’s not honest to wave these factors away.

The Netherlands is not comparable to Australia. … Using them as an example makes no sense

I disagree. I’ve lived in countries with almost as low population density as Australia, and in the Netherlands of course, and the biggest incompatibility there is between lands is people’s assumptions. You can absolutely transfer knowledge and best practices. Yes, lots of land can make “building out” cheaper in the initial stages. But if you notice that costs are rising and comfort goes down comparing to regions of the world that invested heavily in trains (or rarely, cycling infra), you know that cars are not the only option. Like, not throw cars out of the window. But add alternatives, removing pressure from fuel and car lanes. Yes, it works. Yes, it works outside of the Netherlands, too.

EDIT: by the way, I’ve visited Australia for a short while, too. I’m speaking from personal pain points and moments of positive amazement here.

Agree; at least by default.

I use duckduckgo as a default search engine, and then google when I want a second second opinion (admittedly usually high-quality). That’s one strategy, I guess there could be others.

By the way, you really faithfully downvoted all my neighbouring comments - even those where I share a picture of the Netherlands. That’s quite the dedication. I guess your car mobility is really important for you? Please keep in mind that I’m not advocating to take this away from you. Even in the city where I live right now, cars are the dominant transport. It’s just that those drivers are also happy when their kids return from school safely, by themselves. If that’s not “freedom” akin the one mentioned in your nickname, then what is?

When I go to visit one of my good mates

By all means, please do use the car when you go to your good mates! As I’m saying in the other comment below as well, I’m not asking you not to. I’m only saying it would be to your benefit if some part of the traffic would be served by trains or even bike lanes, too. Like, your trip would get faster because of that. Your trip on the car to your friends.

Australia is over 200x the size of the Netherlands.

This part is not really relevant for intra-city or inner-city travel. Yes it means that you should always have car infrastructure. But it does not mean that you should only have car infrastructure in cities. Think about it, isn’t it something you’d agree on? Wouldn’t it be better for you if there would be less car traffic in the inner city?

If I was to catch public transport it would take 2.5 hours. If I was to ride a bike

By all means, please do use the car! I’m not saying you not to. I’m only speaking about alternatives to cars being available. Not cars being banned or any stupid sh*t like that.

I love the angle of comparing in numbers!

I wonder, how do they calculate the population density for Melbourne? Is it what’s in EU cities would be defined as the “Metropolitan area” or the “inner-city Urban area”? From this picture I wouldn’t actually exclude that they could mean a wider radius, = “the Metropolitan area”. This would be somewhat close to Paris then, because Paris is at 698.976 pop / km2. Though still less densely populated, admittedly.

Honestly, after living in the Netherlands for long enough, also in cities that have only a fraction of Melbourne’s density, I’m quite convinced that density is just an excuse pushed so hard by oil and car companies that we’ve grown to accept it without critical analysis. But it’s hard to overcome this thinking, because as minimumchips puts it above, all these calculations feel like hippie/nonsense/unrealistic if you’ve never actually seen how an alternative can feel like. I especially like that gif specifically - shows it well :)

By the way, if you want to try and see if videos of the alternatives could corrupt your soul - I highly recommend @NotJustBikes on youtube. For example, his most-popular video about “stroads” (street + road).

I think density is not as important as frequently perceived because the vast majority of trips happen intra-city (in any country in the world). So even in Austrlia, we’re speaking about how to get e.g. from Melbourne to Melbourne.

I’ve uploaded a picture to show what I mean:

Here’s how it looks when there are alternatives to cars. (The Netherlands. Shitty photo by me today in the morning.)

P.S. my kid has his own bike, so he safely cycles to school if I’m sick or just don’t feel like cycling with him. I usually cycle with him in the morning though: it’s nice and refreshing before the work starts. We can chat on the way, and we have a tradition to look for cats and say it’s good when we find any along the way. Lemme maybe take a photo along the way and post it, so taht it’s not just empty words.

As a European, I hate this type of speech:

The prime minister sought to assure Australians it was still business as normal but said workers should consider taking public transport to conserve fuel supplies for those who didn’t have the option.

Public transport is presented like the last and shittiest option. What about long-term plans of solving this dependency on Putin, Iran and such? It’s to buy more oil and stockpile it? My god, grow some balls already and commit to making public transport better to avoid such a collapse in the future! Let Aussies have alternatives, don’t keep them hostages of the situation.

P.S. admittedly I live in a luxury because I live in the Netherlands and pay ~300 EUR (500 AUD) for transport annually, which is 40% bike maintenance and 60% the rare use of public transport. But then again, is it completely impossible for other cities to have even part of their citizens served by these modes of transport?

I never open this. No personal thoughts attached? Then I won’t bother following this hype-driven post.

We need less information and more thinking in this age. Not the other way around.

That’s a good measure though! We all like to complain, but this direction of complaints is comparatively good. I’d note with a pen the politicians who made it happen, personally, and would consider voting for them if it’d be in my region. (Given, of course, that the above temporary measure is just a tell, and they have a long-term strategy towards higher frequency mass (“public”) transport, new routes, tram/train frequency increase etc.)

My commute to work one way is 35 minutes driving … 60-75 minutes peak

What’s the distance in kilometers? 40 minutes is enough to cross Amsterdam diagonally (from furthest side to furthest side). Or 15 minutes if you’re in the same quarter as your destination. Works quite reliably at every time of the day, too.

Now I’m not saying that AU already has this problem fixed and the public transport and bike lanes are real options. In fact it’s exactly what I’m talking about - you deserve better! I’ve visited AU just recently and part of me wants to relocate! ❤️ I really wish AU people would fight for their mobility rights like the Dutchies did in the 90’s, and you’d have 3 modes of transport running concurrently - again I think you deserve it! But it’s not my choice to make.

Sorry for saying this in a car-related post, but the solution to car dependency is simply the availability of other forms of thansport.

Specifically, trains, intra-city bike lanes that are 2x faster than a car, ect

If you have that, you get choice and some level of control. (P.S. not in rural areas with no trains tho.)