Public Transport
[9.45 p.m.]
Ms BURNET (Clark) - Deputy Speaker, I thank Mr Vermey for this motion. The motion looks to recognise the various benefits to introducing this free public transport, in particular. I think what it has done, and Mr Vermey talked about it himself, making the shift to public transport has been a very good thing for individuals. It means, as the honourable member for Bass has just stated, that the reduction in fuel costs to individuals and families has been significant. Those expenses and making the modal shift to using public transport is a really good thing. I must commend the government for making this shift as well. It's not easy to say 'Right, our community is hurting. We're going to have three to four months of free public transport'. That's a great thing, and I think it was nation-leading, actually. It's a good thing that the government has done.
However, it's something that, when we come to 1 July - it's from all of the economic reports that I've heard and read - it doesn't look like there's going to be much of a reduction in the cost of fuel, it's not going to automatically go back to a much lower cost. There will still be that pain and likely more economic pain for our community. For the government to maintain that interest in public transport is pretty fundamental. I have some faith in minister Kerry Vincent to be able to do that - to argue his case and argue it for the community.
We know that the various bus services, which have been listed, so those intercity and intrastate services, Metro in our major centres of Launceston and Hobart, are running very well. I had a report today of problems with congestion on the buses, rather than congestion on the roads. The bus services are becoming very popular. As Mrs Greene has said, it's is really important that that planning is done and it's a robust look at how the planning is done for these services. This was this was a response which, I think, the community has obviously voted with their feet and are catching buses, but there has to be further planning. It's not just about re‑establishing the services that were cut; it's making sure that there are more buses and more investment in buses as well for the longer term.
I would like to see an extension of the availability of buses, either free or at a much lower cost, so that we do get those extra benefits like reduced congestion on roads and we get that incidental exercise of people catching buses, walking to the bus stop and having those social interactions, which are so important for people as well.
What this motion, unfortunately, doesn't do is really look at extending this after 1 July and it doesn't look at the monitoring and the real assessment of how beneficial this service is. I'll be having further discussions with Metro - I'm going to visit the Metro workshops in Glenorchy on Friday. I'm also having those ongoing conversations with people who are very interested in good and more beneficial integrated public transport for our city. It's kept people coming into work. It's kept our city going. We saw a similar thing in COVID, during COVID times. It's very important that those things are delivered, and we're integrating the public transport system. I'm sure the Greens will be continuing to ask questions and pushing for better outcomes for public transport users, as will all of this side of the Chamber, no doubt. But I appreciate the motion from Mr Vermey, and I hope to see him on a bus soon.