The following article is based on a talk given by Felix Donovan, a Year 10 Bulli High School student and Resistance member in Wollongong. Donovan was speaking at a November 15 rally outside transport minister David Campbell's office, organised by Wollongong Public Transport Coalition. The rally was in response to a recent Independent Pricing and Regulatory Tribunal (IPART) recommendation to increase train fares and cut services.
We are here today to send a clear message to Premier Nathan Rees and transport minister David Campbell: be afraid.
We will not let the hypocritical and contradictory proposed changes to public transport go ahead.
IPART is proposing to take $1 billion out of an already under-funded system and then make us pay more for this depleted service. Are they serious?
If the NSW government accepts the regulator's proposal, it will show just how short-sighted and narrow-minded this already-discredited administration is.
With petrol prices so high that it is almost unaffordable in most family budgets, people have turned to public transport. Surely this is not the time to sack all train guards, suck $1 billion dollars out of the system and jack up fares by 25%.
No. This is the time to increase spending, to make public transport a preferable alternative to driving.
The state government is also going to make school students pay for transport to and from school. I'm sure you can all remember your school days. Scraping the shrapnel out of your wallet to try to afford Mum's birthday present. Saving for weeks and weeks to go and see your favourite band play, or Australia take on New Zealand in the rugby.
Just so you know, nothing has changed: teenagers are as poor as they always were.
So when the government announces that I'm going to have to pay $90 next year, just to get to and from school, you can imagine my outrage. I have three siblings; all of them are yet to go to high school. Maths tells me that this proposed change is going to cost my family $360 a year just to get to school.
That's not the only attempt made to discourage young public transport users.
Trains are scary. And that's with guards. Without them, you could probably shoot a horror movie on your average night train, or at least a violent thriller. For young people who can't scab lifts off parents, trains are pretty much the only option. I don't know about you, but I think an empty Illawarra train at night sets the scene perfectly for Jeepers Creepers 3.
Twenty-five percent is actually a fairly large increase — it's an extra $4 for a return ticket to Sydney. That hurts most people, but especially young people.
The state government is weak. Rees promised change and he promised to listen. I want to still be able to catch trains home at night knowing there is a guard. I don't want to pay extra for a service that is, for lack of a better word, shit.
Let's make sure Rees keeps his promise. Lets make sure he hears us.