The demise of the rail network across regional NSW came about as a result of a number of factors many decades ago, but still represents a betrayal of regional NSW.
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I am all for bringing back a viable rail transport network to rural NSW if the economics can be made to stack up. Unfortunately, that has not been the case for many decades, and is unlikely to be so into the future.
Transport issues in the Northern Tablelands, and Glen Innes in particular, reflect the experience across the state and the nation. Rural and regional areas in general have seen a decline in the provision of public transport options over the last many decades.
It is not new.
It started in the 1970s and continues to the present day.
The reasons for removing and closing down regional lines will be argued until the end of time, but the basic reason they closed is because of lack of patronage. If the trains had sufficient usage to justify their continuation ... they would have continued.
What we need to do now is to focus on the future, rather than the past.
The trains will not come back.
We need to focus on pressuring the government to support appropriate and responsive transport options to meet our needs. That is their job as our government. They exist to serve us ... not the other way around.
The State government needs to take the lead in consulting with rural and regional communities about their transport needs and then organising and co-ordinating the response to ensure that those communities are well served,
For instance, the NSW Government could provide additional funding support to the Community Transport Scheme.
Local bus companies could also look at options to run additional services to Inverell and Armidale.
They might even be subsidised to provide these services, as might have happened in the "good old days" when there was a commitment to support all parts of our community and cross-subsidisation was seen as a social good.
Transport is, of course, only one area in which rural and regional communities are feeling, quite rightly, abandoned,
Health services, education, telecommunications, and other issues are all, quite rightly, on the agenda of complaint from those outside the major cities.
Top down responses to meeting the needs of regional and rural communities has not worked,
We need a complete rethink of how we identify and respond to issues outside the major population areas.
There are plenty of representative and participatory democracy models out there to choose from.
I have seen various models work in different areas.
It will not hurt us, and would only benefit us, to try an alternative model of getting feedback from our community to drive better decision making by our elected representatives.
A consultative approach could help identify ways in which the state government and local councils could support their communities to deal with and respond to the impacts of climate change.
They could, for instance, consider how they might support the increased take up of rooftop solar and batteries. They could also look at how they could support localised power networks.
It could also support state and federal governments to tailor their policies and priorities to address local concerns and priorities, rather than the other way round.
