By Michael Swifte, Page Manager, The
Translink Ripoff
Introduction
Shortly before concession fares were brought in on April 3 we produced a briefing document outlining the failure of community consultation and consistent lack of accountability from the current Labor state government in regards to the process of fulfilling their election commitment to introducing concession fares for low income earners (which we managed to gain from Jackie Trad at a public meeting). The entire briefing which was shared with media and community services professionals has been published here for anyone who's interested in what the media and the advocacy groups ignored.
Labor Policy Platform 2014
“7.60 Labor will maintain public
transport concessions and extend them to recipients of the Newstart
allowance.”
Policy on the 2015 Election Trail
Jackie Trad promised us on 3 separate
occasions that she would provide written commitments during the 2015
state election campaign including her party's commitments to
extending concession fares to unemployed/Health Care Card holders. No
written statements were issued.
Video: Michael Swifte seeking
confirmation during 2015 election Politics in the Pub/Meet the
candidates. In the video Jackie Trad reaffirms Queensland Labor's
2014 Policy Platform and acknowledges her party's commitment to
introducing concession fares for unemployed/Health care Card holders.
In the video she offers a meeting to The Translink Ripoff.
Pinned Post on our Facebook page:
https://www.facebook.com/TTRipoff/
Our Case for Reform in early 2015
In anticipation of our meeting with
Jackie Trad, Tony Corbett secured an op-ed in The Courier Mail which
is an abridged version of the ministerial brief presented ahead of
our meeting.
MINISTERIAL BRIEF: THIS IS OUR AGENDA
FOR REFORM
Commuting HCC Concessions and
Burying the Fairer Fares Community Engagement
In our meeting with Jackie Trad she
agreed with almost all our arguments regarding root and branch
reform. Shortly after the meeting the premier issued her 'Ministerial
Charter Letters' which were leaked to the media. In the charter
letter to Jackie Trad there was no mention of introducing concessions
for unemployed/Health Care Card holders. Thus it seemed HCC
concessions were being passed over to the upcoming fare review. The
below link contains the text of the charter letter.
In an interview on 612 ABC, June 22,
2015 Jackie Trad was asked why she couldn't reform concession fares
policy now and bring Queensland into line with all other mainland
states and territories and this was her response.
"Well we could but actually we have to have a look at some of the metrics around it"
"Well we could but actually we have to have a look at some of the metrics around it"
Jackie Trad was transport minister when
the fare review taskforce was announced. She promised extensive
community engagement. Not only did her government not engage
extensively with the public they also did this after making their
decisions and taking them to budget. Here's a quote from then
transport minister Jackie Trad in a statement announcing the
appointment of a Fare Review Taskforce.
“We
will also engage extensively with the public, providing them with the
opportunity to have their say before making a decision about the
future of public transport fares in South East Queensland.”
Fare Review – Terms of Reference
includes 'consideration' of concession fares.
“The scope includes consideration
of: products, ticket types including concession classes.”
“Following on from public consultation recommendations will be submitted to government."
In February 2016
Stirling Hinchliffe released a statement titled: 'Statement on the
Independent Fare Review'. In it he promised that:
“The review is expected to be
handed down in the first half of this year and will be followed by
extensive community consultation.”
The terms of reference were breached
when the Taskforce Report, Government Response, and Community
Engagement online 10 question survey were launched all at once with
no “detailed options paper” presented for the promised “extensive
community engagement”. The quote below is from the June 12, 2016
ministerial statement announcing the outcomes of the Fare Review.
“For more information about the
fare change online, you can view:
Taskforce Report
https://haveyoursay.translink.com.au/SEQ-Fare-Review/documents/37378/download
(external site)
Government Response
https://haveyoursay.translink.com.au/SEQ-Fare-Review/documents/37379/download(external
site)
Zones Map
https://haveyoursay.translink.com.au/SEQ-Fare-Review/documents/37380/download
(external site)
Fare Calculator
http://jp.translink.com.au/fare-review
(external site)Taskforce report (external site)
For more information about the fare
reform or to have your say, visit the
https://haveyoursay.translink.com.au/SEQ-Fare-Review
(external site)”
Below is the June 12, 2016 ministerial
statement announcing the completion of the fare review. In it the
time frame offered for the introduction of concession fares is listed
as “from early 2017”:
“Concessions for Queensland job
seekers: TransLink will work with Federal Agencies so jobseekers
on Newstart or Youth Allowance will be able to access concession
fares from early 2017. Concession fares for asylum seekers: In
line with other states like New South Wales, Victoria and the ACT,
asylum seekers in Queensland will be able to access concession fares
to use public transport from early 2017.”
The Fare Review Taskforce Report,
released on June 12, 2016 indicates that an “options paper” will
be released. This aligns with the Terms of Reference, but no options
paper ever appeared.
“Following consideration of the
SEQ Fare Review Taskforce’s Options Paper, the Queensland
Government will also engage extensively with the public, providing
them with the opportunity to have their say before making a decision
about the future of public transport fares in South East Queensland.”
Government fare review reforms were
sent to budget on June 14, 2 days after the Taskforce Report,
Government Response, and community engagement online survey were
released.
An ABC article from June 14, 2016 shows
the figure that will be taken to budget to cover the cost of fare and
zone reforms.
“$210 million in public transport
revenue to be foregone to fund new zone and fare structure in
south-east Queensland”
Basic information about the reforms
taken to budget.
On September 5, 2016 the Fairer Fares
Community Engagement Report was released with zero notification to
the public through social media and minimal meta data listed on the
downloadable PDF. There was one unreported mention of the community
engagement outcomes in Hansard, but no ministerial statement.
“The community feedback on these
changes has been overwhelmingly positive. During the consultation
period, there were 30,756 visits to the Fairer Fares web page on the
TransLink website, with 3,555 customers providing direct feedback via
a 10-question survey to inform future fare planning.”
Our private correspondence with
Translink Customer Relations/External Affairs revealed the dates of
the only attempts to communicate the results of the community
engagement process.
Text of email from Jesse at TransLink
Customer Relations, 10/01/17:
“On Wednesday 31 August 2016, the
Hon Stirling Hinchliffe, Minister for Transport and the Commonwealth
Games, made a statement to the Queensland Parliament on the outcomes
of the feedback process. A summary of the feedback from the community
was provided in the Fairer Fares Community Engagement Report, which
was released to the public via the Fare Review website on Monday 5
September 2016. A copy of the report is attached for your reference.”
We questioned Taskforce member and
public transport users advocate Robert Dow who acknowledged that he
“stumbled” on the community engagement report and was not
sent the report. We suspect that no member of the Taskforce was
alerted to the release of the community engagement report.
Here are 2 quotes from Robert Dow
tweets (@Robert_Dow) regarding the discovery of the Fairer Fares
Community Engagement Report roughly 3 months after it's release,
December 8, 2016:
“@TransFixSEQ I stumbled on it
last week!”
“@TransFixSEQ...They did not even
tell the fare review task force!”
Here is a link to the web page where
the Fairer Fares Community Engagement Report can be downloaded:
On December 14, 2016 it was announced
that the Fairer Fares package of reforms would be brought forward to
December 19 with no concessions to be brought in until an unspecified
time “in 2017”.
“Concessions for Queensland job
seekers: TransLink will work with Federal Agencies so jobseekers on
Newstart or Youth Allowance will be able to access concession fares
in 2017.”
“Concession fares for asylum
seekers: In line with other states like New South Wales, Victoria and
the ACT, asylum seekers in Queensland will be able to access
concession fares to use public transport in 2017.”
A January 25,
2017 update from Mark Henley, CEO of the Queensland Council of Social
Service (QCOSS) indicates that in “mid 2017” we may see
concession fares. This means that the most important decisions and
design elements are likely being set in place as I write.
“Our most recent communication
with the Department of Transport is that the transport concessions
for job seekers and asylum seekers is more likely to be implemented
mid-2017 rather than early.”
Advocacy from QCOSS?
Our fare comparison table features in
this QCOSS Transport Disadvantage forum report from August 2011.
Mark Henley from QCOSS has only ever
provided what we would describe as a soft message for the state
government on concession fares. At each stage he has indicated
support for the introduction of concession fares but has not sought
to hold the government to a timetable and has not articulated any
need for an open and accountable process.
The section titled 'Better Targeted
Concessions' in the QCOSS 2016/17 Pre Budget Submission includes this
statement:
"QCOSS believes that a review
of the level and targeting of concessions for people on low incomes
in Queensland would identify a range of opportunities to most
effectively use the concession spend. This might include concessions
for people on low incomes who use public transport"
QCOSS 2016/17 Pre
Budget Submission:
In a June 13,
2016 media release from titled 'Job seekers and asylum seekers on
the move with concessions announced' QCOSS made the statement:
“We look forward to continuing to
work with government throughout the implementation of this initiative
and seeing these concessions applied across the state,”
Hansard from June
15, 2016 contains this statement from Labor MP Curtis Pitt
attributing a supportive position to Mark Henley and QCOSS:
“Mark Henley from the Queensland
Council of Social Service says there are some good things in the
state budget. He says the decision about transport concessions for
jobseekers and asylum seekers is good news.”
No submission was made by QCOSS to the
Fare Review Taskforce and we gather from our January 18 meeting with
Mark Henley and Kamil Shah, and through subsequent email exchanges,
that if any communication took place before or during the fare
review, the only item communicated was the existence of a 2013 QCOSS
submission titled 'Review of public transport fares for the
TransLink public transport network in South East Queensland'
suggesting a fare review.
Below is a quote from our private
correspondence after our meeting:
“It is my understanding there was
not an additional submission prepared. I know we made sure they had
access to the 2013 submission. To be honest I don’t recall whether
there was an opportunity to provide written submissions at the time.”
Below is a link to the previously
mentioned 2013 QCOSS submission to the Queensland government. It was
prepared with the help of Rail Back on Track, Council of the Ageing
(COTA) and the Multicultural Development Association (MDA). It
contains some excellent arguments for bringing in concession fares
and provides some useful case studies to explain some of the
challenging circumstances of low income earners in accessing public
transport. An updated version of this report would have served the
taskforce well in their deliberations.
Jackie Trad and her allies
Queensland Community Alliance along
with the Multi-Cultural Development Association, the Rail Tram and
Bus Union and the Catholic Archdiocese of Brisbane successfully
lobbied both Jackie Trad and Stirling Hinchliffe for the extention of
concession fares to asylum seekers. Below is a link to the online
petition hosted by Queensland Community Alliance and a link to Jackie
Trad's Ministerial Diary for December 2015 indicating that a December
3, 2015 meeting was held.
On June 12, 2016 Jackie Trad wrote the
below quote in a post on her Facebook page, at this stage she was no
longer transport minister. In the accompanying poster Labor claims
concessions for “asylum seekers” and “job seekers”
as part of “Public Transport Reforms” that
“#LaborDelivers”. Jackie Trad copied Queensland Community
Alliance into the post. The message in the poster and particularly
the #LaborDelivers hashtag is an assertion that change has been
delivered. The reality at the time this Facebook post was being
viewed, and at the time of writing (13/03/17)
was that none of the “promised” policy on
concession fares had been delivered. We could not find the poster art
or #LaborDelivers messaging outside the Facebook silo.
“Worked hard
as shadow transport minister to have developed & promised this
policy. Proud to have delivered it in Government. #LaborDelivers
Queensland Community Alliance”
Community Alliance welcomes the
concessions for asylum seekers promised at the announcement of the
Fairer Fares Package.
“The Queensland Community Alliance
welcomes the Queensland Government's announcement that they will
extend public transport concessional fares to asylum seekers.
Alliance leaders Kerrin Benson, Archbishop Mark Coleridge and Owen
Doogan have all indicated their support for this announcement.”
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