Anarchists and old lace.

[mattd]

TRANSPORT DREAMING
I don't want to give Mr. Bob Annells, the Executive Chairman of Connex,
nightmares, but his statement on the front page of the Age (Dec 11) that
transport operators in Melbourne face entrenched cultural factors that
underpin fare evasion that include everyone from anarchists to little old
ladies. "We have everything from the anarchists who believe they are
bringing down the capitalist system by riding for free, to the little old
ladies, who say they are making a social protest about privitisation and the
removal of tram conductors" , is much closer to the mark, than he realises.
Some of the most persistent critics of the privitisation of public
transport, are little old ladies, who are part of Melbourne's anarchist
community. What gives them that fire in the belly that sustains their
campaigns against corporations like Connex, is their disgust at the type of
society Australia has become.
They are sick and tired of listening to trans-national corporations that pay
minimal tax call on the public, to subsidise their losses, while they're
happy to transfer their profits to their head offices overseas. They're
sick and tired of seeing workers taking the brunt of the corporate cost
cutting exercises and commuters being treated as criminals. They're sick
and tired of seeing the run down of an essential public service, the public
transport system, but most importantly of all, they are sick and tired of
seeing lame duck governments that theoretically represent the people
representing the interests of the Corporate Sector.
If Mr. Annells is so concerned about the lack of Connex's ability to make a
profit, because of the entrenched cultural factors surrounding fare evasion
in Melbourne, why doesn't he do all of us a favour and give the half of
Melbourne's train network that Connex runs, back to the State government.
If the State government is serious about representing the interests of the
people of Victoria, not the Corporate Sector, why don't they all do
Victorian's a favour and make public transport free in this State? The
social, cultural, economic and environmental benefits of such an audacious
move on the part of the State government, would far outweigh the cost to the
State. Just in case the Peter Batchelors of the world throw up their hands
in horror and say, "the State government doesn't have the money for such a
move." The money can be found by removing corporate subsides and by placing
a levy on every motor vehicle and every ratable property in the State. Any
short term political resistance to such a move, would be far outweighed by
the long-term benefits to the Victorian community.
And then free ISPs please,TIA.proffr1.