When we built 6 years ago, we advised the builder that we wanted a Zero Energy house and that it would be audited and profiled by the SECCCA and published in their magazine.

We weren’t seeking any discount or special treatment, but it would have been a great opportunity for this builder to showcase that they are progressive.

Every step of the way, the Site Supervisor and contractors snatched defeat from the jaws of victory. It is was almost as if they were trying to sabotage the build.

It came to a head when they tried to install an “electric assist” hot water service instead of a fully electric hot water service. We never had Gas to site.

The Site Supervisor and their manager called us idiots for not wanting gas and ranted and raved. They said it was not possible to have a house in Australia without Gas hot water.

Their CEO got involved and pointed out that his house did not have Gas to site, he had two Tesla PowerWalls and 20kW of solar over two inverters and was essentially off-grid in suburbia. He got a rebate from his power company every month.

The Site Supervisor was fired and their manager was given a demotion.

Building Inspectors used to be employed by local government and were audited to prevent them being able to take bribes.

Now Building Inspectors are employed by the builder. Their whole business model is one big bribe.

I see people walk out of the supermarket without paying constantly.

They just walk out with carry-baskets full of stuff, the staff call them out and they just keep walking with no consequences! They don’t even return the baskets!

Meanwhile, us honest people at the self-checkouts get treated like a criminal if we want to purchase something that is too light for the scales to register and are treated like social deviants if we don’t want to use a loyalty card.

“Back when I was a lad, we used to commute into the city every day in our V8-powered sedan and it only took 10 minutes because petrol only cost 30c/l and there weren’t as many cars on the road.” “I expect my workers to do the same, even though petrol is $2.30/l and it takes them an hour to and from work.”

You’re thinking of a LandCruiser

https://youtu.be/IBIRnrTItGo?si=J7lL8lJWu784TOCP

Landrovers aren’t quite as amphibious.

https://youtu.be/BDfF3UJZvaY?si=FYndfTP8CokV9jiY

Consumer phones in regional areas are still an issue. As @baku said, 3G has better range than 4G (which has better range than 5G). If someone in the middle of the bush, or on a country road needs to use their 5G phone, they may not have coverage.

I have a friend that had to drive 10km with a cracked skull, ribs and broken arm and leg because he didn’t have coverage on his farm. He now has 3G coverage, but not 4G.

High Tech doesn’t automatically mean MLL. There is still plenty of “High Tech” that isn’t a Techbros wet dream.

The term ‘AI’ is not not turning off customers. The actual product is turning off customers.

It has already been proven that the products claiming to be AI are just advanced enshitification and that they are inferior to traditional products.

It is time for everyone to jump off the AI bandwagon and start making products that are actually smart and aren’t just called “Smart”.

The other problem is that tradies don’t know how to / can’t be bothered learning to reduce a buildings energy consumption.

We had an argument for weeks with the Site Supervisor because his subcontractor didn’t want to install the Reverse-Cycle condensers on the south side of the house because it was “too hard”.

One of the refrigerant lines insulation was nicked during installation and we started getting condensation stains through the walls.

The contractor came back and once again, he wanted to relocate the condenser on the north side. He kept blaming us for making him run the pipes to a location that was “too hard” for him.

This guy claimed to be an Air Conditioning specialist and couldn’t understand how a heat exchanger in direct sunlight will not be as efficient at cooling as a heat exchanger on the cold side of the house.

It’s not “America Bad”. It is “Capitalism Bad”. When a builder or contractor can save 5c in the dollar by half-arseing the job, and then come back to “fix” it and charge $1 extra for something that would have been 5c worth of extra work, they win and we loose.

I think it is mainly because;

• Melbourne and Sydney (and Adelaide) have historically always had mild weather. The extremes we are starting to see now had only been occasional. Now they are consistent.
• energy prices have always been deflated. There has always been plenty of cheap natural gas avalable.
• commercial builders have been reluctant to embrace new technologies like aerated concrete panels and the market does not support highly rated insulation batts.
• inflated qualified labour pricing has resulted in builders and improvement contractors taking the quickest, simplest option instead of the best option (eg. blow-in powdered insulation instead of batts).

It does “Make Sense” in the “Economic Rationalism” mindset.

They don’t want to loose money they make on Parking, Airport bus licensing and all these other little penny-pinching charges they can make in their role as the monopoly.

If they loose customers to other methods of transport like Interstate Rail/Coaches, driving and people just not travelling, that is fine because they still make obscene profits on the parking.

I like getting to Sydney overnight.

If I have to stay in a cheap hotel in Tullamarine so I don’t miss my flight, I arrive stressed, tired, hungry and usually late for my appointment.

If I catch the XPT from Southern Cross, I arrive refreshed, relaxed and satiated. I can then take advantage of Sydney’s public transport to get to my appointment on time.

As a driving enthusiast, I agree 100%.

Everyone benefits when there are multiple safe transport options available.

If you are stuck in traffic behind a Bus, or at a Level Crossing, or at a cyclist or pedestrian crossing, you need to remember that you are stuck in traffic. If the other traffic wasn’t there, and they were all taking the train, bus, bike or Shanks’ Pony, you wouldn’t be stuck in traffic.

Belarus.

The fansites and forums are the issue. The issues are the Retailers whose Content Management Systems are not respecting the embargo.

That was what I was going to say.

That said, if someone detects some sort of data-mining plagiarism bot sucking down everything on an instance, it can be defederated very quickly.

This is 100% correct.

With the lack of public transport infrastructure, and social expectations, more people who don’t have the skill level to be driving, or don’t have the maturity level to be driving, are (ab)using our roads.

Meanwhile, said individuals with low profile tyres are speeding over potholes and suing VicRoads, diverting public funds from public road repairs to private wheel repairs.

Australian ADRs need to be updated to a minimum tyre profile to get these completely impractical vehicles off the roads.

Labour is always the biggest cost. When changing spark plugs damaged coils/ electrical plugs could end up being a hidden cost, especially on older vehicles from the 2000s. Some mechanics will absorb this cost, especially if they are honouring an original quote for a little old lady. They also need to warrant their work. This makes $100/h a very reasonable price for skilled and experienced labour.

If you want to get a ballpark price for aftermarket parts, put your mums Rego into one of the online stores.

I’m not going to endorse these stores or provide links but Automotive Superstore, Repco and SuperCheap websites are very online-retail-friendly (unlike SparesBox or AutoBarn). Mechanical workshops will (of course) pay less for the parts and often trade price on genuine is cheaper than aftermarket.

Iridium plugs are much cheaper than they used to be and are a great way to get more life out of older vehicles.

The 2.0l SR20DE and the 1.6l GA16DE in Australian-delivered N14 pulsars actually required Iridium-coated plugs for efficient fuel usage. If you fit other plugs, you will be using more fuel.

That said, the N14 finished production in 1994. OP’s mum probably has a 2006 N16 which would gave the finicky VVT QG18 engine and would require Iridium Plugs at a minimum.

One thing you need to keep in mind with modern cars with electric-actuated park brakes is that the Actuators need to be disabled prior to doing rear brakes, otherwise you may need to replace the entire caliper. Even vehicles with mechanical park brakes may require special tools to wind back the park brake piston.