Editorial: Chance to force transport change

Queenslanders have a once-in-a-generation chance to extend a vote of confidence in public transport, writes the editor.

When Premier Steven Miles announced his six-month 50c Translink fare trial he said the goal was to see if the state could return to pre-Covid levels of public transport use.

Today analysis by The Courier-Mail’s state politics reporter Madura McCormack shows just what that would mean – and it’s quite a target.

Essentially we are looking at an increase of 450,000 extra trips a week, and while that sounds like a ridiculous number it could be achieved if 45,000 full-time South East Queensland workers decided to leave the car at home and travel to and from work on Translink every day of the week.

Prior to Covid-19 the system coped with such patronage – about 3.67 million individual trips a week – although it did creak at times.

Covid-19 saw that number shrink to almost zero overnight and the success of the working from home model that businesses adopted to keep trading meant a sizeable minority of workers never returned to the office.

It has taken Brisbane CBD businesses years to recover due to the loss of WFH employees.

However, public transport usage has not recovered despite our state’s runaway population growth and it’s clear thousands of people have turned their backs on it.

But with gridlock now a daily feature of morning and evening peak hours, commuters need to embrace this opportunity.

We will no doubt see issues arising from an instant surge in public transport use when the 50c flat-rate fares go live on August 5.

The park-and-ride facilities at outer suburban and regional stations are already packed – as are peak-hour trains – and commuters will need to adapt (perhaps by starting work an hour earlier or later).

Mr Miles has declared this is a “use it or lose it trial”.

“If this is effective, if this reduces congestion and sees lots of people get back on public transport then obviously we’ll consider making it permanent,” he said.

“If it doesn’t work and if people don’t return to public transport then it won’t stack up and it won’t continue.”

As we have pointed out in this column before, the 50c fares can be seen as a cynical vote-winning exercise from a government willing to pull any trick to stay in power.

But there is also a once-in-a-generation chance to extend a vote of confidence in public transport and force the state government – whoever that may be – to keep Translink fares affordable and invest in the growing network.

HEARTBROKEN FAMILY WITHOUT HOPE

When coroner Donald MacKenzie found there was “reasonable suspicion” two people were involved in the shooting death of young aquaculturist Jeffrey Brooks, it was the closest Wendy and Lawrie Brooks had come to having hope.

For 28 years they’ve fought for their son, not willing to believe Jeffrey, an experienced and careful shooter, could have made the fatal mistake of shooting himself by accident with a faulty gun he’d vowed never to touch.

They have now sat through a police investigation, two inquests, made appeals to the then-Crime and Misconduct Commission and conducted their own ballistics tests.

It was the second coronial inquest, held in late 2022, that gave them hope they may not have to fight any longer.

That inquest was called following the publication of true crime podcast series Dead Wrong – by The Courier-Mail crime reporters Kate Kyriacou and Peter Hall – that explored Jeffrey’s time working at the Beenleigh Crayfish Farm and his troubles with his co-workers.

It was an example of how the media can provide a platform for people who have fought and failed to be heard.

Coroner MacKenzie, while careful to point out there was not enough evidence to lay charges, said he had formed a reasonable suspicion that Jeffrey’s former colleagues, Johannes “Hans” Geiger and his then-wife Regine Kjellerup “were involved in the unlawful killing of Mr Jeffrey Brooks”.

Both Mr Geiger and Ms Kjellerup have always denied any involvement in Jeffrey’s death.

He referred the matter to the Director of Public Prosecutions and for the past 12 months, the Brooks’ have sat in hope that finally something might happen.

But now the DPP has informed the family it can take the matter no further because there is insufficient evidence to charge or prosecute either. The letter, penned by director Todd Fuller, ended with the well-meant sentiment that the police investigation “remains open”.

But there is a big difference between “open” and “active” and it is sad to hear Wendy and Lawrie Brooks lament that for the first time in 28 years, they are running out of fight.

Responsibility for election comment is taken by Chris Jones, corner of Mayne Rd & Campbell St, Bowen Hills, Qld 4006. Printed and published by NEWSQUEENSLAND (ACN 009 661 778). Contact details here

Originally published as Editorial: Chance to force transport change