The number of people in the world is predicted to start going negative before the end of this century.

Safe bet they will not use any of the old mines or remote ports you mention because $$$

While it is the right thing to do, continued cultural isolation of its people is exactly what the Taliban want

Most people commenting here don’t have kids. Private schools are so prolofic because the majority of public schools are so defunded and sad looking that there is a native demand for schools with… non-below average facilities which families are willing to pay for.

This country doesn’t spend enough on education and instead is letting its citizens fund the education sector out of their own pockets. It’s kinda criminal.

So instead of blanket banning private schools we should be funding public ones to the level that makes most private schools redundant.

That’s way too basic to be a solution. If you take from them they’ll simply take it back from us by cutting jobs and services while raising fees.

We should be making it harder if not outright illegal for them to arbitrarily cut costs in the way they do i.e closing branches, offboarding atms, making workers redundant to keep up profits. They are in many ways a public service and the service component is worth protecting.

Countering this behaviour would be far more impactful to Australians and the economy than just having them hand a bag of money to the government.

Love the smell of cheap KPI attainment in the morning

In a large city they can be practically boycotted. Most people just can’t be bothered.

This is the way

We’ve actually spent tax dollars sending council members over to Holland to check out the safe bicycle infrastructure

Forget Holland, the most amazing bicycle infrastructure I’ve seen are in Chinese cities. Because bicycles were a dominant form of transport for most of the 20th century their cities were built to cater for this demand and had to have it work.

I’ve always liked a Sara Lee cheesecake but Sara Lee faces stiff competition at the budget end of the frozen dessert market and the much expanded availability of higher quality offerings. Australia’s dessert tastes are also changing. I expect Sara Lee will follow the likes of Arnotts and other such formerly beloved supermarket snack brands.

Unfortunately mass transit that works for everyone is the enemy of vehicle manufacturers.

Hydrogen currently doesn’t produce, store or transport well. This means it is not as economical as gasoline.

Not really a fan of lithium batts either. We’re going to end up with some environmental problems down the line but its the most economically viable tech we have at present if we’re intending on living the way we currently live.

Do you live in a domicile that doesn’t really have a kitchen? An increasing number of people do.

Do you work a job with shitty near unreasonable hours? Or indeed mutliple jobs? An increasing number of people do.

Sure these services are a convenience but more and more people are coming to actually rely on these services because of their suboptimal living situations.

Well when the state is balls deep in debt you’re only left with weak options

How was this accomplished? Early exposure at infancy? Do you expect this to be just a teen phase or do you think he has been imprinted for life?

My dad and I once sat in the cabin of a push to start vehicle for 20 whole minutes before admitting defeat and walking back to the rental office and asking how to start the car. If an action is completely alien/illogical to you, it’s not a matter of being bad at adapting, you’ll just never get it.

In this case we needed 3 actions done correctly: fob in dock, brake pressed down (even though its in park) and hold the start button down for longer than 2 secs. It was the last step that really screwed us around

Nah man, build demand first, services 20yrs later. It’s the aussie way

Don’t be afraid to shop around and get prices from far flung dealers. Even if you don’t intend to travel that far you can use the quote to negotiate down the price at your preferred dealer.

Dunno, don’t think they’ve tried it

Anyway crisis averted. I tried it again today and it tasted normal. I am/was recovering from sick so I reckon my tastebuds were a bit out of calibration in that end of the flavour spectrum.

I really don’t know anything about new Corollas so I can’t really tell you. The Hybrid seems pretty popular these days