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Friday 5 December 2014

Kite-Flying or Desensitising

If Colin Barnett intended the leaking of an increase in motor vehicle registration fees to be a kite-flying exercise, the response is clear and unequivocal - the kite has crashed and burned.

Interestingly, the negative response is not solely (or even largely) on the basis of 'fleecing the motorist' but reflects concerns about:
- affordability for those on low incomes, many of whom live in areas not well served by public transport
- equity issues between those who drive a lot and those who drive little
- equity between city and country
- the need for revenue to be returned to improving alternatives to the private car so that there can be a real improvement in congestion.

These are issues raised in this blog yesterday (http://sustainabletransportcoalitionofwa.blogspot.com.au/2014/12/flat-fee-is-not-congestion-charge.html) and in the STC letter published in the West Australian today (below right, albeit with some editorial trimming).

Unfortunately, the whole episode might be not so much kite-flying as an exercise in desensitising - hoping that, when the additional charge is imposed in the 2015-16 Budget, we will all say we knew it was coming, shrug our shoulders and move on.
Click to enlarge
Click to enlarge


















Written and Posted by Ian Ker, Convenor, STCWA

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