Media release – The McKell Institute, 27 February 2024
Criminalise intimidation, harassment of Tasmanian bus drivers: report
A landmark analysis of Tasamnia’s chronically underfunded bus service has urged the government to shield drivers from abuse with a new offence criminalising the harassment of transport workers.
The McKell Institute’s review of public transport funding also shows Tasmania spends the least per capita of any Australian jurisdiction on services – just $115 a head. This equates to less than one per cent of its total budget.
“Tasmania’s public transport system has suffered from decades of underinvestment and that’s showing up in people’s daily commutes,” Max Douglass, McKell Institute Policy Analyst, said.
“This is compounded by the exit of drivers on the receiving end of rising abuse, harassment and even violence from disgruntled passengers.
“Criminalising this behaviour would make it easier to recruit and retain drivers while improving the overall quality and reliability of services.”
The proposal is styled after laws in NSW and South Australia imposing jail terms for assaulting a retail worker. It would make harassing, intimidating and abusing a transport worker a specific criminal offence in Tasmania.
The report, A Better Deal, shows areas with the greatest need for buses such as Glenorchy in Greater Hobart and Launceston’s northern suburbs receive the least services.
“Equal service is not equitable service. These areas have low car ownership, relatively high poverty and should be prioritised for additional services,” Mr Douglass said.
Overhauling the funding and management of Tasmania’s bus service would provide a much-needed economic shot in the arm to the state.
“Tasmania is losing out on significant productivity gains by failing to invest in public transport. An adequately funded bus system would create much-needed jobs, help meet emissions targets, unclog roads and reduce traffic accidents,” Mr Douglass said.
“South Australia, the next most populous state, spends nearly twice per capita on public transport. That’s the absolute minimum Tasmania must look at if it’s serious about creating a bus system that’s fit-for-purpose.”
Read the full report here: https://assets.nationbuilder.com/rtbu/pages/1651/attachments/original/1708942056/A_Better_Deal_report-compressed.pdf?1708942056
Media release – Rail, Tram and Bus Union (RTBU) Tasmanian Branch, 27 February 2024
Landmark report highlights critical needs for more public transport funding in Tasmania
Tasmanians are being short-changed on public transport, and more funding is needed to bring the state’s public transport services up to scratch.
The McKell Institute’s landmark report into Tasmanian public bus services, titled A Better Deal, shows that on a per capita basis, the Tasmanian Government spends less on public transport than any other State or Territory Government in Australia.
Rail, Tram and Bus Union (RTBU) Tasmanian Branch Secretary Byron Cubit today that while the McKell Institute report was sobering reading, its recommendations outlined a way forward to better public transport in Tasmania.
“Tasmanians deserve better from their public transport network,” Mr Cubit said.
“We need to see more funding for services, stronger laws to protect public transport workers, and Metro Tasmania brought back under the direct control of the State Government.
“The Metro Tasmania board seems more focused on making a profit than providing an essential public service.
“Once the fundamentals have been fixed, Metro staff retention problems have been addressed, and suspended services have been reinstated, then the government must look at expanding services into priority areas.
“As the McKell Institute report states, ‘equal service is not equitable service’. Priority must be given to increasing services to parts of Tasmania that are most in need of access to public transport.
“With transport congestion becoming more acute, and the cost-of-living crisis biting, the case for better public transport in Tasmania has never been so strong.
Media release – TasCOSS, 27 February 2024
Report confirms Tasmania’s public transport system is broken down, awaiting repairs
The McKell Institute report further underscores the underinvestment and neglect of our public transport system for many years, which has constantly fallen short of community expectations, and most importantly is falling short of its core function: getting Tasmanians where they need to go, when they need to be there.
TasCOSS CEO, Ms Adrienne Picone, said a well-functioning public transport system was critical in enabling Tasmanians to fully participate socially and economically.
“Many Tasmanians tell us that public transport is simply not an option, because there’s a lack of services where they live or the services are so unreliable they don’t even bother,” Ms Picone said.
“For too many years, governments have not adequately invested in public transport and the results are there for all to see.
“We need a government squarely focussed on reliability and accessibility of services. The McKell Institute report echoes what Tasmanians tell us — services into areas of socio-economic disadvantage are particularly poor. We echo the report’s call to address lack of services in these areas.
“Importantly, public transport, and in particular bus services, must be accessible for people most vulnerable to transport disadvantage, including young people, students, people with disability and older Tasmanians.”
Disability Voices Tasmania Executive Officer, Mr Vaughn Bennison, said transport infrastructure is vital to the enablement of people with disability people to access work and leisure activities, medical and other appointments, and the ability to provide and receive peer support to friends, family and others in the community.
“Metro Tasmania’s Disability Action Plan wound up in September 2022, but despite some consultation there is no new plan,” Mr Bennison said.
“More than 20 years since the implementation of the current Transport Access standards and we are still hearing of problems. People missing work appointments because they are left waiting for hours at the airport for assistance, or left out in the cold and rain because a wheelchair accessible taxi is not available.
”We need better training for operators, better compliance with the standards and stronger penalties for non-compliance, as well as greater accountability by government.”
Ms Picone said TasCOSS and Disability Voices Tasmania call for the parties to look closely at solutions to ensure public transport is accessible, reliable and convenient.
“It’s long overdue for Tasmanians to have a public transport system that is properly resourced and designed to get Tasmanians where they need to go,” she said.
TasCOSS, with the support of Disability Voices Tasmania, is calling for:
- Free public transport for students, seniors, concession card holders and people on low incomes.
- Fast track public transport access and inclusion measures, including: updating Metro Tasmania’s Disability Action Plan; expanding the Transport Access Scheme to rideshare companies; accessible, real-time travel information; and bus stop upgrades to comply with the Disability Standards for Accessible Public Transport 2002 and the Disability Discrimination Act 1992.
- Expand the public transport network in consultation with communities, prioritising areas of high transport disadvantage.
Media release – Josh Willie MLC, Shadow Transport Minister, 27 February 2024
Public transport “broken” after 10 years of Liberals
The McKell report’s assessment of Tasmania’s public transport system as being “seemingly terminal” is a damning indictment on 10 years of Liberal government neglect.
Just the title alone – A Better Deal: Fixing Tasmania’s broken public transport system – demonstrates the need to rebuild our public transport system, particularly Metro Tasmania.
After 10 years asleep at the wheel, the Liberals have driven Metro into the ground, with 180 services indefinitely cancelled and public confidence in Metro all but destroyed.
Tasmanian Labor recognises the need for immediate action to rebuild Metro – giving Tasmanians reliable bus services, saving money on transport costs in a cost-of-living crisis, and getting more cars off the roads to improve traffic congestion in our major centres.
Importantly, this needs to include decent pay and conditions for the people who keep the buses running – the drivers and mechanics.
Under the Liberals, Metro executive salaries have risen by massive amounts while mechanics are still fighting for a wage increase to an “industry rate of pay,” and Metro has saved at least $400,000 in wages because around a third of mechanic positions at the company are vacant.
The Liberals can’t claim to be working to fix our public transport when they are doing nothing to ensure there are enough mechanics to fix buses that need fixing or even routine maintenance to keep them running.
Tasmanian Labor is committed to rebuilding Metro, restoring services and ensuring drivers and mechanics are respected and retained in the business.
It’s time for a better future where Tasmanians can rely on public transport to get them where they need to go.
Media release – Independent candidate for Clark, 27 February 2024
Cynical vote-buying must stop
Independent candidate for Clark in the forthcoming election, Sue Hickey, has called for an end to the cynical vote-buying policies and trickery of the political parties.
Ms Hickey said the promises of political parties at election time of grants, one-off payments, and fee reductions just to win votes should be regarded with the utmost scepticism.
She said the tit-for-tat election promises of one-off payments and reductions in electricity prices, halving bus fares for just one year, school driver education, free school lunches, money for swimming pools and other public facilities were little more than cynical vote-buying exercises.
“The Tasmanian public should rightly ask, if these initiatives are worthwhile and needed, why do we require an election to make them happen?
“The reality is that Tasmania’s electricity prices are too high, given that we have invested in the Hydro for more than 100 years, so the price reduction should have been implemented long ago.
“Public bus fares are too high to encourage usage and they’ve been so for years. Again, they should have been reduced, or not increased, years ago.
“The need for young people to undertake driver education is well known and has been advocated by motoring bodies for eons. But now it’s come to the attention of politicians.
“I suggested providing school lunches for students years ago, not as an election gimmick, but as a measure to encourage school attendance and ensure students receive adequate nutrition. Now it’s been taken up as an election promise.
“The degradation of the Glenorchy Pool has occurred over the past decade at least, but now it’s worthy of support from the two major political parties.”
Ms Hickey said the list of blatant, vote-buying promises goes on and undoubtedly more will be made between now and election day on March 23. She said Tasmanians should remember this was their taxes used to fund these measures, not money from the Liberal, Labor or Greens parties.
“I’m not necessarily opposed to the promised measures. Indeed, many are worthwhile and necessary, while others will ease the cost-of-living pressures being endured by Tasmanians.
“But it should not take an election to force the political parties to come up with policies that can make a real difference for the community.
“The next parliament will likely see a minority government, required to negotiate with other parties and independents and this will lead to better policies that benefit the broader Tasmanian population and not just favour vested interests.
“If I am lucky enough to be a member of that parliament, I will work to ensure that Tasmanians do not have to wait until an election is called to secure much needed cost-of-living relief and community facilities.
“I will hold the parties to account,” Ms Hickey said.
