- This is a response based on a BTN High episode, which you can find here: https://www.abc.net.au/btn/high/rural-kids-issues/105231660
I find it interesting that these rural citizens have similar issues to people in regional areas. For example, both rural and regional areas can have poor support from state governments. For issues with transport, better public transportation would benefit these communities, connecting them better with other rural/regional communities. A simple bus network, and a train that goes between rural, regional, and major centres would boost the amount of opportunities that these areas can have.
On the point of transport, even major cities suffer from poor public transportation. Especially in newer areas, for example, western Sydney, and outer-northern areas of Melbourne are purely developed for the use of privately-owned cars. These rural areas are built for the use of cars, which hinders the amount of people that can live there, and the accessibility of other rural areas. In Albury, we have a train connection to nearby regional centres, and to Melbourne. This means that I can work in Wangaratta, Seymour, and Benalla. We also have a train connection towards Sydney, however, it is really infrequent. We also have a bus network that can get us around the city (including Wodonga) to get to local jobs and educational institutions.
Rural areas don’t get to have a public transport network at all, which limits the autonomy of young people, as they have to get a license to drive, and forces car-dependency for everyone in the area. Almost everyone shown in this episode wants to have a license because they want to be able to move around, and get from point-a to point-b. However, I don’t think that the people involved even thought about maybe getting better public transport for their area. Why? Well, because they have grown up in an environment that doesn’t have public transport. They wouldn’t even know that public transport would help with their issues. Is this their fault? No. Poor planning of their town and lack of public transport development from state governments is to blame. Public transport should not be limited to big regional centres and major cities, it should be available anywhere in Australia.
I am going to quickly point out that public transportation, and city/town planning is a state government issue, not a federal government issue. While the federal government can influence the state government to build more public transport, or have better town planning policies, the most they can do is provide funding for specific projects by the state government.