Australia to phase out live sheep trade by 2028

@whowasthatmaskedman Ship slaughtering 🤣🤣🤣

@KiwiBird My bad!😂

@whowasthatmaskedman Australia should do the same with raw material exports too.

@ninalanyon I absolutely agree. We have mountain ranges of iron ore on one side of the country and valleys of coal on the other side.Why arent there trainlines running between the two with large steel towns at either end? Producing high grade steel for export? (OK. Maybe it doesnt work. But it sure looks easy on paper..)😷

@whowasthatmaskedman Exactly that scenario worked for Sweden and Swedish steel is world famous.

@ninalanyon True. Of course 5000km is a lot of railroad track..😷

@whowasthatmaskedman That reminds me that I read that there is a mine in Australia that uses electric trucks to transport the ore downhill to the port but has no chargers because the mine is so much higher than the port that the trucks use regenerative braking all the way down. That provides enough charge to take the now much lighter trucks back up to the mine. Can't remember where I read it or where the mine is though.

@ninalanyon I wouldnt doubt it for a moment. the trucks are so much heavier on the trip down, while loaded. That could work. The scale of those mines. (and the trucks ) is unbelievable..And not having to ship and store fuel in such a remote location would be a huge saving..😷

@whowasthatmaskedman Another vaguely related question: why isn't Australia a world leader in solar power? You've got so much sun and so much space for panels that surely it would make more sense than burning coal for electricity.

@ninalanyon Its complicated. but for a decade under a conservative government the coal industry ruled. (we have coal for about 500 years) and there was no "energy" plan at the federal level, leaving individual states to go it alone. My own solar panels have been up for ten years and paid for themselves in two years, thanks to a government scheme. Things are moving now. But it makes more sense To bring in panels and batteries now and use the power created for fresh water and to power other enterprises. The conservative (now opposition) side of politics suddenly loves the idea of nuclear power, if you can believe that,.. Even though all sorts of studies show it is more expensive.. The new Chinese salt batteries seem to be the key, when they become common..😷

@ninalanyon Australia exports not only the steel overseas to places like china, but also lots of fruit, where it is canned and shipped back.

@meggie Australia exports just about everything. Even camels to the UAE. (believe it) But with about 26 million people and being bigger that Euope with little water, (where its needed) developing industries for for such a small market locally is hard..😷

@whowasthatmaskedman But you could sell canned fruit to other countries presumably with less wastage due to shorter supply chains if you canned the fruit nearer where it was produced. And the profit margin on canned fruit must be considerably higher than on raw fruit.

@ninalanyon We do...😷