A national summit on public transport scheduled for August is on hold due to uncertainty surrounding the major parties' election policies
By David Goeldner | July 21, 2010
In the run up to federal election day a leading transport and logistics association has called on the major political parties to make their public transport policies known.
Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport CEO Hal Morris says a national summit on public transport scheduled days before the August elections has been postponed due to uncertainty on party policies.
“What are the plans – we haven’t seen any policies,” Morris says.
“We have evidence that there is a direct link between public transport and the health of cities – better public transport means healthier cities.”
He adds that with public servants now in ‘lock down mode’ the summit would not be representative of all leading stakeholders in the public transport policy debate.
The Moving People Summit will go ahead on 17-18 March 2011 at the original Brisbane Portside venue.
The idea behind the summit is to expand on the Bus Industry Confederation’s ‘Moving People – solutions for a growing Australia’ report.
Morris says the report, released earlier this year, has brought the focus back on to issues around public transport in Australia.
The report covers four broad public policy areas – national transport issues, developing a national land transport policy, public transport improvement priorities, and Federal involvement.
BIC Executive Director Michael Apps says the report considers how to develop a national passenger transport system that ‘actually works’.
“CILTA has picked up on this report as the basis for a broader discussion for an ongoing policy debate on where we are going in this country, and it’s important to have this discussion,” Apps says.
He says the summit will set priorities to take to the new government.
“We don’t want the report left on the book shelf – we want it to see the light of day in the delivery of real policy and programs.”
Apps says the report and the summit are strategic efforts to hand the Federal Government a way forward to develop a ‘moving people strategy’.