In between my new role at Mycause, I attended a Committee for Economic Development of Australia (CEDA) discussion on transport infrastructure.

The program included two guest speakers, Eric Keys, Principal of the consultants Booz Allen Hamilton and Nick Dimopoloulos, the Chief Executive Officer of the National Transport Commission. Both speakers discussed the need for an integrated and national approach to transport through federal leadership in the creation of a strategy that looks across all transport modes and incorporates freight and passenger movements with a nationwide perspective.

While the Federal Government has created Infrastructure Australia to examine transport bottlenecks, there is still a failure to recognise the need for federal leadership in regard to public transport infrastructure. This despite the economic and inflationary repercussions of congestion, the negative impacts on housing affordability due to a lack of infrastructure and the greenhouse emissions caused by car dependency.

A national transport strategy followed by the availability of Federal funding for public transport infrastructure is urgently required to ensure the future sustainability of not just our local communities but of the entire country.