NSW public transport up for sale

Peter Mac

Sydney's critically understaffed rail service has suffered major 
disruptions within the last two months. And now other matters 
appear likely to cause further problems for Sydney's hapless 
public transport commuters.

Privatisation looming

The long-awaited Unsworth report on NSW public transport, which 
is due out shortly, will probably recommend that the Carr 
Government privatise some areas of public transport.

A previous report recommended that consideration be given to 
handing over certain services to private operators. One Sydney 
pleasure cruise company said they'd be delighted to operate ferry 
services, but only on the most profitable routes, and only in 
peak periods!

The area most likely to get this treatment is the bus service. In 
contrast to the rail service, which tends to operate as a single 
integrated system, some of the separate depots and bus routes 
would be relatively simple to hive off to private operators.

The Carr Government already favours private bus operators. Within 
the last ten years rail works programs have seen the frequent 
shutting down of parts of the rail service. Buses used as 
replacement services during these periods are invariably supplied 
by private contractors, at huge public expense.

The NSW Minister for Public Transport, Michael Costa, has refused 
to rule out partial privatisation of bus services. This could 
involve, for example, the public transport system bidding through 
competitive tendering against private corporations to run the 
well-patronised eastern suburbs routes.

This is bad news for commuters. Private bus operators will demand 
"level playing field" tender conditions that won't necessitate 
them operating in periods of low patronage or on unprofitable 
routes.

As Raul Baonza, Assistant National Secretary of the Rail, Tram 
and Bus Union commented, "If people want the same quality (of 
transport services) in Bondi as in Parramatta, of course we can 
tender and compete with private operators, but they will end up 
paying 15 percent more in fares and with no buses after 10 pm or 
before 6 am."

Private operators will expect to be guaranteed certain profit 
levels regardless of their performance or patronage. This will be 
through higher fares and the odd bale out by government.

It's also bad news for bus drivers and other bus workers. They'll 
have a fight on their hands to hold onto their jobs, their wages 
and conditions, enterprise agreements, relative job security as 
public sector employees and their right to belong to and be 
represented by their trade union.

Huge fare hike

Not surprisingly, the Carr Government has indicated it favours a 
huge rise in public transport fares, as recommended in an earlier 
report. This could be as much as 50 percent for ordinary fares.

The Transport Minister has already publicly canvassed increasing 
fares for pensioners and senior citizens by some 230 percent!

This discriminatory approach would treat elderly passengers very 
much as second-class citizens, and would abandon the humane 
principle adopted in many of the developed world's major public 
transport systems, of allowing the elderly very low fares on 
public transport.

These low fares are a life-line for many people who would 
otherwise have little social life or ability to retain much of 
their independence.

Post-Madrid terrorism fears

The Prime Minister has made much of the threat of terrorist 
attacks against Australian public transport in the wake of the 
Madrid bombing. However, he refuses to accept the blindingly 
obvious conclusion that the major terrorist threat arises from 
his government's servile backing of the US in its war against 
Iraq.

The Federal Attorney-General, Phillip Ruddock, has been quoted as 
claiming that preventing terrorist attacks makes Australia more 
vulnerable as people become relaxed and less vigilant.

If accurately quoted, this amazing statement implies that it is 
better to let some attacks actually happen, as this will make the 
public more vigilant on behalf of its own safety.

It also highlights the tendency for conservative leaders to lump 
the responsibility for dealing with the threat they have created 
onto the shoulders of the general public.

As one commentator declared enthusiastically last week, "People 
are the most important weapon against terrorism — commuters can 
be encouraged to be observant and informed about what they should 
do if they see something out of the ordinary."

At the same time, however, the numbers of public transport staff 
are being cut and hence the level of security also falls. As the 
same commentator acknowledged, "Machines provide tickets to 
commuters and stations are often not staffed."

And even in the matter of national security, the issue of 
privatisation rears its head. One item discussed at last week's 
meeting of the National Counter-Terrorism Committee was the 
employment of private security firms to carry out anti-terrorism 
work.

This has enormous legal and security implications. Private firms 
have a commercial interest that may conflict with 
responsibilities entailed in national security work. Moreover, 
there are serious questions as to whether private firms should 
have access to the intelligence information at a national level.

Industrial relations plummet

Ignoring its failure to employ adequate numbers of drivers, the 
Carr Government recently blamed the refusal of train drivers to 
work overtime indefinitely for a disastrous string of service 
cancellations and late runnings. And now relations between the 
Carr Government and rail unions have entered a new low phase, 
with the use by the government of the draconian Workplace 
Relations Act, Section 127, to force striking maintenance workers 
back to the job.

Five years ago, when Michael Costa was NSW Labour Council 
Secretary, he sponsored an angry resolution demanding to know why 
the then State Rail Authority was contravening the Carr 
Government's policy of not using these viciously anti-worker 
laws. Costa himself has now used the same laws against workers, 
with the blessing of the government.

On this and many other issues the line between the ALP and the 
conservative coalition is becoming blurred or indistinguishable. 
The end result could well be that NSW voters look beyond the 
choice of the two major parties for a political alternative that 
truly seeks to meet the needs of ordinary working people. And 
that would be no bad thing.