Business Council of Australia chief executive Bran Black says Australians should be encouraged to use public transport to get to work during the fuel crisis.
Black said it could be a more effective way to conserve fuel and cut down on costs than encouraging workers to stay home, as suggested on Friday by International Energy Agency chief Fatih Birol.
Business Council of Australia chief executive Bran Black.Alex Ellinghausen
“We know that we should be looking at wherever we sensibly can reduce our fuel consumption, but at the same time, this is all about balance and being sensible,” Black told ABC’s Afternoon Update.
“So at the same time, we need to account for the fact that there are businesses that depend for their livelihoods each and every day on foot traffic, and we need to make sure that they can continue to stay open.”
Black said that while some of the supply chain issues were similar to the shocks felt during the COVID-era shutdowns, people “don’t have to socially isolate. We can use public transport, and my advice would be, if people can sensibly use public transport coming to work as they ordinarily would, support their small businesses, then they should absolutely do so.”
Black’s comments follow a call from the Victorian Farmers Federation last week for people to take public transport to conserve fuel for farmers.