Engineering, Passenger Rail, Rail Supply

Abbott has wrong solution to real problem: Albo

Anthony Albanese, ASA

Rail offers an opportunity to solve growing inequality in Australian suburbs, a fact ignored by the Federal Government, according to shadow minister for transport, Anthony Albanese.

Albanese, also the shadow minister for infrastructure and the shadow minister for cities, was on the soapbox again last week, writing an op-ed in The Big Smoke to tackle the imbalance between jobs and housing.

The former deputy prime minister has often criticised the Abbott Government for favouring road projects over rail. Last week he had a new angle.

He said the growth of jobs in central areas, coupled with unaffordable (and non-existent) inner-city housing, meant an increased number of Australians were forced to commute long distances – often by road – to get to and from work every day.

“In previous years, industries like manufacturing and retailing ensured there was strong jobs growth in the outer suburbs of our big cities,” Albanese said. “That was a good thing because housing affordability in the outer suburbs drove very strong population growth.

“However, in the past decade, the decline of manufacturing has choked job growth in the outer suburbs, and the rise of the digital age has shifted jobs growth in inner suburbs, particularly in tech-heavy services industries like finance and insurance.

“In other words, our population is growing in areas where job opportunities are limited, and job growth is now situated in places where average workers can’t afford to live.”

Albanese said this dynamic is forcing an increasing number of Australians to live in “drive-in/drive-out” suburbs, and commute long distances to work on congested roads.

“This damages their quality of life,” he said. “It is a tragedy that many working parents spend more time in their cars than interacting with their children at home.”

Tony Abbott certainly agrees that parents spending too much time on roads is a ‘tragedy’. The Prime Minister’s strategy to tackle this is to invest more money building better roads.

But Albanese thinks he’s got it wrong.

“We need to increase housing density in parts of the inner suburbs, particularly along established public transport corridors,” he said.

“And we need to invest in better rail transport in our cities, giving priority to more frequent services, particularly to the outer suburbs, while also investing in effective roads.”

Albanese said it’s also important for transport to assist in creating more connected communities.

“It is hard to maintain such a connectedness if you live in a drive-in/drive-out suburb where you sleep in between driving hours each day to and from work,” he said. “It’s also hard if your inner-city community is sterile and lifeless, and provides no opportunities for you to engage with the people around you.

“Our town planners need to think not just about the interior design of new buildings, but also about the spaces between those buildings. Properly planned community spaces can enhance communities by providing areas where people can interact.

“Better designed communities with more effective public transport options also have a health pay-off, particularly if we focus on the smart design of community hubs around public transport, and greater use of safe and secure walking and cycling tracks,” he said.

The crux of the issue, he explained, is that governments need to “accept the view” that they have a role to play in the way cities function.

“The current federal government sees no role for itself in either provision of public transport or the development of our cities,” he argued. “This is a great pity.”