Hacker News Reader

Comment by actionfromafar | Hacker News Reader

Isn't it because the US has a more entrenched "clean beuatiful coal" class of people?

Almost ten years ago, in February 2017, the then Treasurer and now former Prime Minister of Australia literally brought a lump of coal into Parliament and metaphorically started licking it while telling all to not be afraid of coal.

* https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2017/feb/09/scott...

Its also electrician unions fighting things like balcony solar (SB 868) and maintaining regulatory capture over licensing and certification to bottleneck how many people can enter the industry by forcing antiquated models like 4-6 year apprenticeships into a career path that could be 2-4 semesters of vocational courses and bi-annual relicensing exams. This keeps installation rates sky high.

Australian electricians (as with most skilled trades) undergo 4 year apprenticeships where they split their time between learning on the job and attending a trade school.

There’s nothing wrong with this model, it produces tradespeople with solid fundamentals and practical experience that they would not receive in a diploma mill.

Apprenticeships in the US come with minimum wage and no to low benefits of any kind, often with no healthcare. If I want to switch from my job to electrician I have to forgo a living wage for multiple years to make that switch. Unless of course I am connected or related to someone already in the industry. The apprentice system is rife with easy low grade fraud where anyone already licensed can simply claim you've done work for them. Meanwhile people coming in from the outside fight an uphill battle moving from shuttered llc to shuttered llc struggling to collect hours that still can be verified years later

Australia has always been big on workers rights and respecting trade work as much as any other, if not more.

Healthcare isn't tied to to an employer and the base level of "free" healthcare (supported by across the board taxation) will keep most alive and get you into an operating theatre for, say, a femoral artery heart stent placement at no cost other than the ambulance (should you not have St. John's Ambulance cover)

For interest:

AU Government on apprenticeships: https://www.fairwork.gov.au/pay-and-wages/minimum-wages/appr...

Electrical Union on same: https://www.etunational.asn.au/apprentices/apprentice-wage-r...

1907 Harvester Decision set a ‘living’ or ‘family’ wage: https://www.fwc.gov.au/about-us/history-sir-richard-kirby-ar...

On the particulars of residential solar deployment, it's the utilities. (And to a degree, the US's completely backwards permitting system which varies by municipality and mostly exists to drive up costs for everything and maintain stasis.)

Utility leadership is highly tech-averse, change averse, and rooting for the "clean beautiful coal" sports team. But also they can't imagine a future where there's massive electrification, with people switching from gas to getting their car energy from the grid, and being able to profit from it. It's somewhat shocking, but just like US car manufacturers, utility leadership is from a different era and are rentiers, rather than innovators.

Than Australia? Probably not.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com