BY GEOFF PAYNE
NEWCASTLE — The Lower Hunter Transport Working Group (LHTWG), set up by the NSW Labor government with wide terms of reference, issued its first report on September 19. There were no surprises. Some options, like replacing the heavy rail line to Newcastle station with light rail or putting the line underground, have been eliminated on the grounds of expense.
By the time of third report is released in December, there will be no doubt that the cost of keeping the rail line into Newcastle operating will provide the LHTWG and its supporters with their main argument for ripping up it up.
One of the key issues facing supporters of the rail line is that of jobs, which are scarce in Newcastle. Some people, unionists too, argue that redevelopment of the rail corridor would provide much-needed employment.
Gary Kennedy, the secretary of the Newcastle Trades Hall Council, is a member of the LHTWG. He was quoted in the October 16 Newcastle Herald as saying that the state government's refusal to allow the $300-million Redbank 2 power station would cost 200 construction jobs, as well as 1000 jobs in off-site fabrication and services. He also claimed that the Redbank 2 power station project would have injected $10 million into the local economy and "from a purely Trades Hall perspective, we think it's a fairly bad decision".
The government, however, could not ignore the revelation that the proposed power plant would have spewed 22% more greenhouse gas into the atmosphere than coal-fired power stations built 30 years ago.
Kennedy reportedly argued that the environmental concerns were exaggerated. All environmental groups in NSW supported the project's axing.
If Kennedy's policy of development and jobs being placed above other social concerns wins out, then the Newcastle rail line will be closed. It is one of the reasons that the Save Our Rail Campaign has invited Jack Mundey to speak at its October 23 public protest meeting (see the Activist Calendar on page 27).
Mundey was an official of the NSW Builders Labourers Federation in the 1970s, who initiated the BLF's policy of banning development projects that were bad for the environment — the famous "green bans". Of course, back then unemployment was virtually zero in the building industry.
This rail-line issue is vital for all workers to discuss. The Socialist Alliance made a submission to the LHTWG that attempted to identify the principles that could be useful for workers to decide the issue. The submission argued:
"1. That the provision of transport by the government to the travelling public is a basic requirement of government. This provision cannot be a token effort but must be guided by some principles. These principles involve the duty of care to the environment and the leading role of the government in this area; the duty to all citizens for each to have access to a cheap, safe, reliable and efficient transport system that is designed from the point of view of the transport user; and the need to empower communities that provide the transport route with the right to veto any changes that they decide will adversely affect them.
"2. That the provision of public transport by the government is part of its wider responsibility to provide meaningful and socially useful employment. Any reduction in public services, no matter how packaged, will mean a reduction in the workforce. At a time of already high unemployment, any proposed service cuts must be vigorously opposed. The government should be creating worthwhile jobs by a massive expansion of the public transport system in line with the principles outlined above."
As an activist in the Save Our Rail Campaign, I can report that the overwhelming majority of workers I have spoken to favour keeping the rail line open. Here are some examples. An office worker who signed the petition at Civic station said he would be out of pocket by $936 for the 48 weeks he commutes to work — assuming the line closed at Broadmeadow Station (the worst option), and that the current weekly train and bus fares were unchanged ($936 per year is a good incentive to car-pool, further undermining the public transport system).
A good number of working-class families at the recent Mattara festival signed the petition and, without prompting, offered their views on why the business elite is in favour of closing the line. It had to do with making a lot of money from prime harbourside land.
[Geoff Payne is a member of the Socialist Alliance in Newcastle.]
From Green Left Weekly, October 22, 2003.
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