Already and this is this is the daily This is the daily. Ohs oh, now it makes sense. Good morning and welcome to the Daily OS. It is Thursday, the fifteenth of August.
I'm billy, I'm Zara.
Rented e scooters. If you live in Melbourne, it is hard to go a day without seeing one. But this week the City of Melbourne Council has voted to ban hired e scooters due to what it says is an unacceptable safety risk. It has caused a fierce debate, with the state government now pleading with the council to change their decision. So where are we at with the exponential rise of rental scooters and how has this debate been
settled elsewhere in the world. In today's Deep Dive, we are going to tell you what you need to know. But first, Sara, what is making headlines today.
A forty six year old woman has been charged with murder after her take one year old daughter was found dead in a Gold Coast home this week. Emergency crews were called to a property in the suburb of Karra on Tuesday night. A woman was located nearby and has since been arrested and charged. The Gold Coast school attended by the girl has released the statement, saying she was a beloved member of the school community.
Japan's Prime Minister Fumiro Kashida has announced he will step down at next month. Kashida told reporters he won't contest the leadership for his party, the Liberal Democratic Party, when it holds a vote next month. Kashida has been the Prime minister of Japan since twenty twenty one. His approval ratings have slumped in recent months, with one poll showing support for his government had dropped to fifteen point five percent.
It comes amid ongoing national economic and social challenges, including a low birth rate, high inflation, and concerns about corruption in politics.
MPUs has been declared as a public health emergency in Africa as CA base numbers continue to soar across the continent. Empox is a viral disease that can cause skinner muscle lesions, high temperature, headache, muscle lakes, and swollen lymph nodes. Thousands of cases have been recorded this year, mostly around Central Africa,
including in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said the virus was spreading rapidly, with cases detected in sixteen countries, up from ten earlier this month.
In today's good news, scientists have found a new way to recycle microplastics for use in batteries. Researchers at James Cook University in Queenslance successfully used microwave technology to convert microplastic debris into graphene. That's a thick carbon material that can be used to develop solar power cells and batteries. Professor Mowe and Jacob said the discovery could help reduce the adverse effects of microplastic pollution on our ecosystems.
So believe there have been of headlines over the last twenty four to forty eight hours about rented et scooters in Melbourne, and I want to talk about what's happened there, But then I also want to take a bit of a broader look as to what the state of play is when it comes to east scooters around the world. Before we get there, though, tell me what happened in Melbourne this week.
So on Tuesday night, the City of Melbourne Council, so the local council for that area in the CBD, they voted to ban rental e scooters. So normal e scooters that you own are completely fine. It's just the rented ones. You probably recognize, the bright grain scooters, the lame ones, yes, yeah, the ones that are literally everywhere in the Melbourne Seed.
Drop it exactly where I park and therefore need to just climb over there to reach wherever them going.
So what it would mean is that the council would end its contracts with e scooter companies, which are mostly Lime and Neuron, nearly six months before they were due to expire. So right now we're in the middle of trial and I'll get into that, but basically they are ending that and you basically won't see them anymore because of this decision, and the companies have thirty days to
remove their scooters from Melbourne's CBD. There are other councils where they still will be fine, but in Melbourne CBD.
Which is a really large council area, it needs to be said. Okay, So I mean I spend a lot of time in Melbourne, and so when I saw this headline, when I saw that the Lord Mayor had announced that this was going to happen, I just thought of all of my melbourney and friends. You know, you just can't go fifteen minutes without seeing an e scooter or a Lime or whatever it is. They are everywhere in Melbourne, right.
Yeah, in the intro, I use the word exponential rise because it really has been like that in the past two years. I've been there twice and both times, you know, these scooters have kind of been a key part of my trip because they're so much fun. I don't know if I've ever shared this story with you, but one time I was in Melbourne for work and I was using one of the scooters to get to the office where I needed to go, and I was on a
footpath just briefly and I got completely shouted at. It was one of the most humiliating experiences of my life when it was the first time I realized that maybe these weren't the most popular locals.
Interesting.
Yeah, it was clear that there was a lot of frustration, and it was clear that I hadn't been the first person that that person had compatively obliterated.
Hilarious. I mean, it's very clear that there are two sides to this argument. What is the history, Like, how did Melbourne become so littered with these e scooters? Because Sydney doesn't feel like it has the same thing.
Yeah, No, Sydney has the bikes, but we don't have the scooters yea. So rented e scooters were first introduced to Melbourne in February or twenty twenty two, so about two and a half years in now. When they were first introduced, they were just a trial, like I mentioned before, and that trial has just been extended several times since now.
Throughout the trial there have been concerns raised about dangerous behaviors by riders, and there have been many fines that have been handed out to riders for their failure to comply with rules like wearing helmets, running red lights, etc. I have to say, in my defense, when you get on those scooters, I mean, apart from needing to wear a helmet, there wasn't anything that told me you absolutely cannot go on footpaths, you can't go in this place like I didn't know.
Yeah, and so I think a bit of a free for all.
Yes, I think enforcing the rules has been a real concern for many and in May there was a blitz from the Victorian Police of trying to hand out several fines to show that they are trying to enforce these rules. There have also been serious concerns about people getting injured. A Royal Melbourne Hospital study reported that there were over one hundred e scooter related head injuries in the trial's first year.
Wow.
Yeah, and those injuries cost the economy just under two million dollars, which is not insignificant at all. Although I have just gone straight to the negatives, so I think we should also mention some of the positives.
So what are the positives then, because there are many.
Yeah, one of the obvious ones, like I said, it's really fun. When I went on, it was it was a lot of joy. There was a lot of you know, wind in my hair, enjoying my ride to work. And that is a positive that a lot of Melbournians have embraced it. Yeah, Melbourne actually has one of the highest rates of e scooter uptake in the world. They have about six thousand trips occurring a day on these rented
e scooters. Another positive is that it is good for the environment, So according to the state government, as of August last year, the trial had resulted in the city's carbon emissions being reduced by more than four hundred tons.
Again not insignificant and part of The reason for that is because it has encouraged more people to use public transport, and that's because people are using it as a way to connect their commute, so for example, from a train to a tram, they're using these scooters in between that. And we know that that is good for the environment as well, which goes back to the four hundred tons of carbon et missions being reduced, and that has also helped alleviate traffic with less cars on the road, which
makes sense. And another positive is that it has actually contributed more than one hundred and seventy million dollars to the local economy since twent twenty two, and that's according to the state government.
Okay, so I feel myself flip flopping on this issue as you speak. When you were talking about the negatives, I was like, yeah, they shut When you talked about the positive, I was like, I love them. So let's go to the professionals and the experts. Why did the council make this decision? What was their reasoning?
So essentially, the Melbourne Lord Mayor Nicholas Reese, who brought this motion to the council, said that he has basically just run out of patients with the scooters and said that they pose an unacceptable risk to people's safety. Here is a little bit of what he said during the council meeting on Tuesday night.
All Right, so Lord Mayor Nicholas raised absolutely not mincing his words there. What have some of the responses to the announcement been.
I'll go straight to the Victorian Premier, Jacinta Allen, who isn't the happiest and I think she's a pretty important person in this, I thought, senior leaders in the state. So this is kind of an awkward one because this trial of e s scooters that I've been mentioning that was a state government initiative. But in order for hired e scooters to operate in an area, the companies need the explicit approval of the relevant local council.
Right, So there's those overlapping responsibilities of and local government. So you both need to kind of be on the same page for this to work.
Yes, and so the state government isn't as you would expect, Please that the Melbourne CBD's local council isn't now cooperating with the state government's initiative. So the Premier, Jacinta Allen said yesterday that she hopes that the local council is going to change their mind. Here is a little bit of what she said in her press conference yesterday.
I really hope that the City of Melbourne can have a change of heart on this decision. It was only two or three weeks ago that the Lord Mayor was pretty keen to be out talking about the benefits of a scooters in the City of Melbourne. There are trials going on in other parts of the city and state.
Now you're here there that she mentioned something that happened three weeks ago. There she's referring to when the Victorian government announced in July that e scooters would be permanently legalized in Melbourne from this October with additional safety and compliance measures right there. Okay, Yeah, so literally three weeks ago the Victorian government held a press conference and said
e scooters are here to stay in Melbourne. What's also interesting about that is that the Lord Mayor, Nicholas Reese, was at that press conference, standing next to the minister who was announcing it. And so I think that also goes to why the Victorian government is a bit confused now because what they're saying is just three weeks ago you are helping us say that these scooters were here to stay, and now you're saying that we're actually going to take them away.
Yeah, And I mean, just to add another level of complexity to the political arena that this is playing out in, there's actually a local election happening soon. So Lord Mayor Nicholas Race he has assumed that position because previous Lord Mayor Sally Caps stepped down and now he's contesting that. So there's so much to this it's really quite fascinating.
Can always trust you to have election knowledge of local councils in Australia.
My favorite thing to do. Okay, so let's move now to Line because I imagine that they haven't taken to this announcement too well.
Yeah.
So Lime is one of the biggest stakeholders in this debate. If you don't recognize a name I said before, you might recognize their really bright green coloring.
Or the noise. I was recently walking with my partner and someone was activating a line bike and you know it like do do do oh, Yes, I was that is the noise of a generation. I could hear that in my sleep and not be confused. But anyway, Lime very widespread.
Yes, and not very happy with this announcement, as you would expect. So they responded to this in a statement saying that they appreciate that counselors are hearing from what they say is a very vocal minority. Interesting and they also said that removing the service in Melbourne could actually
lead to more dangerous outcomes. So in a statement, they said, if higher schemes aren't around, riders will turn to unregulated, privately owned scooters that can be modified to travel at the same speeds as cars and without the ability to imply meant geo fencing, slow zones and helmets.
So that's just the typical black market argument. Yet if you ban something, people still do it, but it just becomes more dangerous. I mean, obviously we'd have to wait and see if that rings true, but it's an interesting argument there from a company that has a lot to lose. Right now, I want to turn really quickly before we end to the rest of the world, because Melbourne is by no means unique. You know, we said that there's been a lot of uptake, but these e scooters are
all around the world. Can you tell me what has happened elsewhere?
So Another city where these rented scooters have been really popular is Paris, and they have gone through these.
At the time of my life on an e scooter there, I just want to say, there is nothing better in this world than being in summer in Paris on an e scooter.
Well, that is not a luxury. You can have any mine, and I'll explain why. So they have gone through the exact debate that Melbourne is having right now, and the way they settled this debate is actually by putting it to a public poll last year, and that pole resulted in ninety percent of people who responded, So not everyone responded and you're not quite a citizen or a resident, but that poll resulted in ninety percent of respondents voting
to remove scooters. So again I think it comes back to it's not really the most popular thing for locals in these cities where it is really popular. And so ever, since September last year, scooters have been banned in the city and Zara most importantly hasn't been able to ride her scooter through the streets of Paris.
Again, Niche experiences they're coming to light on this podcast. Billy, thank you so much for explaining that I mean, it seemed like a fairly straightforward story, but there are so many layers to it, and I think it will be really interesting. This is a precedent that's being set in Melbourne and seeing what happens elsewhere will be fascinating too.
Yeah.
I think it's you know, it's an economic story, it's a safety story, it's a political story, it's a tourism story. I don't know if I want to go to Melbourne now.
That they don't know really, draw card is gone.
Thank you so much for listening to this episode of The Daily Oz. If you would like to help us grow, if you can click follow on Spotify or Apple. It really helps us get up those charts and helps new people discover us. Thank you so much and we'll be back again tomorrow. My name is Lily Maddon and I'm a proud Arunda Bungelung Calcoton woman from Gadigol Country. The Daily oz acknowledges that this podcast is recorded on the lands of the Gadighl people and pays respect to all
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