Victorians and Tasmanians get free public transport as state governments seek to ease surge in fuel demand
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2026/mar/29/victoria-free-public-transport-april-petrol-pricesOpen linkView original on aussie.zonehttps://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2026/mar/29/victoria-free-public-transport-april-petrol-pricesOpen linkView original on aussie.zone
"surge in demand" or "dip in supply?" Do so-called "journalists" even go to school anymore?
Well, the dip in supply hasn't started yet, we're still receiving deliveries that we're en route before Trump shat himself.
3 weeks ago here in regional WA every farmer tried to order 5,000 litres of diesel. This surge in demand caused the current shortage.
So right now, its a surge in demand, but in a month it will indeed be a dip in supply.
Maybe there's a surge in demand because people are hoarding the petrol in Jerrycans, similar to how people were hoarding toilet paper during COVID. Something I still don't quite understand - the whole world is going into lockdown and some people's primary concern was gathering enough toilet paper to last a lifetime?
Did Australia also go stupid for toilet paper?
Yep. Stupid people are everywhere unfortunately and Australians have somewhat of a tendency to hoard.
Australia started the toilet paper hoarding. We are the OG toilet paper hoarders.
Yeah I still wonder about the TP thing. Kinda fascinating really.
Like there's always just "enough" but it only takes 1 day for everyone to buy everything thats available on that day to create this illusion of scarcity so everyone bought everything they could get their hands on for the next year.
Weirdly my mrs has been a TP horder since forever so we already had a 2 year supply at the start. We have bidet sprays in both toilets so we dont use that much anyway.
The funny thing, in late November of 2019 I finished a big job at work and took in about an extra $1,000 take home pay. I decided to spend that on non-perishable household supplies that I ordered in bulk. Amazon had this deal where you'd get fairly large amounts off when you set up auto-renewing orders. So I did that with like $500 worth of stuff that would re-order in 60 days. Bath soap, toothpaste, deodorant, shampoo, laundry detergent. Some of those things I'm actually still working on today. I remember thinking "Toilet paper? Should I add a bunch of toilet paper? Nah, what do I need to hoard toilet paper for?"
Doubt it. Where I am from if you had top grades in school it was a question of "journalist or doctor?" You just couldn't get in without it.. now journalist programs at universities takes pretty much everyone with a pulse. And in some smaller univs the pulse part is optional.
Journalists today are told by their boss what to write, their boss is told by their boss which is told by the owner. And the owner has an agenda, and guess what. It is not to make themselves less rich.
Some journalists get trained, and let us cherish and protect them.
Democracy (worst form of gov other than all the alternatives, most capable of change) needs a free flow of information to keep voters informed i.e a free and effective press. Sadly lacking today.
I'm pretty sure the greens want free public transport in general
Many who want an end to car-centric infrastructure want this
When it's free, it gets treated by the government as a service for the poor which they can safely let rot. Far better to improve comfort and reliability than reduce prices.
So that's all 6 of the buses yeah ? /s
Alas, we're a car brained state
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.)