On the campaign trail at railway stations

One of my aims in the campaign in Kooyong is to reach as many residents and provide information and get feedback on issues that matter to them.

Visiting railway stations and handing out our free Green Times newspaper is a good opportunity to do this. Public transport users are doing the right thing by not taking their cars into a the city and thereby reducing congestion and greenhouse gas emissions.

The Green Times is an informative read which provides some details on our policies and approaches for this election and for the future, which the mainstream media very rarely mentions.

Hawthorn railway station

Chatham railway station

I have visited may stations in Kooyong this week. This year it is evident that many more people are catching trains and the system is now overloaded past its capacity. Currently, no federal funding is provided to the states for public tranport. However, the federal governement provides several $billion to the states for road funding, which of course encourages more road and freeway construction, which in turn encourages more people to use their cars more often.

By contrast, no new train lines have been built in Melbourne since the Glen Waverly line in 1937, and several have been decommissioned.

It is time that this inequity was addressed. Rather then $34b in tax cuts that both old parties are offering to try and win the election, the Greens say that this money should be invested in services such as public transport, which can then be matched by State funding.

This could double the funds available to greatly improve the coverage, frequency and integration of public transport. Only the Greens have this policy and commitment. Improved public transport can also enable use to reduce our carbon emissions.