Category: covid-19

Why Good Governance Really Matters

Post author By Roger Taylor
Post date 28/09/2020
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Most people only think about “governance” when the government really messes things up and people can see it affecting them – like the botched hotel quarantining that caused the second wave in Victoria which resulted in hundreds of deaths and huge social and economic cost. Some might argue that everyone can make a mistake and no government is perfect but the State government had the opportunity to do much better.

The Victorian second wave of the corona virus was not a result of one thing – it was the failure of the system as a whole with many contributing factors. It is a reminder that the activities and processes governments carry out which we call “governance” are critically important.

There is growing concern that governance standards in this country are declining. We have seen this now in government’s response to the second wave of this pandemic but the problem appears at times in all levels of government today. Often the symptoms and impacts are difficult to see. We have seen this in transport : failure to adhere to accepted/proper standards and procedures including too close a relationship between public officials and private corporations, too much unaddressed conflict of interest, too little transparency, lazy analysis of problems – grasping at instant solutions imbued with ‘optimism bias’, manipulated supporting data, enfeebled public scrutiny, and even egregious examples of outright corruption both at political level and within what used to be trusted departments of the public service. This ‘institutional decay’ was evident in the abortive East-West Link motorway project, the West Gate Tunnel project and the North East Link. More details are provided by William McDougall on his blog https://www.wmcdougall.com.

Whilst poor governance is the main reason we have consistently achieved poor transport outcomes in Melbourne and Victoria generally, the greatest governance failure is reflected in government policy and responses (at all levels) to the climate emergency. Transport for Melbourne does not believe there are easy solutions to this problem but governance needs to be addressed because the quality of our democratic institutions and how they ‘govern” on our behalf will ultimately define who we are as a society and our future.

Tags Covid-19 disaster, failure of governance, State Government, Victoria

climate change covid-19 public forum

The Future We Must Plan For

Post author By Roger Taylor
Post date 21/09/2020
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This is the subject of Transport for Melbourne’s next forum to be held on 4th December 2020.

It is our belief that planning is a waste of time if you have no idea what future you are planning for. As the covid pandemic has demonstrated It certainly will not be business as usual, yet that is what many politicians continue to hope and plan for and is reflected in many of the major transport projects being pursued or advocated for by government – even today.

Whilst the covid pandemic will be transformative in many ways, its impact will be quickly overtaken by other global changes – principally of an environmental nature which will have a profound impact on everything we do – our way of life. It will also have implications for our values and aspirations and the choices we make now and in the future.
As Prof Johan Rockstrom (Director Potsdam Institute of Climate Impact Research, Germany) stated recently the Earth is fast approaching a tipping point ie 2 degrees above pre industrial levels which will put it into a new state – Hot House Earth in which global temperatures will rise rapidly to 7 degrees or more by the end of the century fed by positive reinforcing loops which will be impossible to reverse. A 1.5 degree increase was established years ago as the point at which the planet enters the danger zone. According to a new report by the World Meteorological Organisation this may be reached as soon as 2024, and further increases are locked in until 2040 even if we stopped all greenhouse emissions immediately.

It should be noted that global temperatures have been tightly constrained for the last three million years ie within minus four and plus two degrees which defined the glacial/interglacial states for the duration of the Pleistocene. It has been the capacity of the earth’s biosphere to self regulate that has kept global temperatures within this very narrow temperature range during this period despite variations in solar intensity, volcanism and other external factors and maintain the world we know. But Hot House Earth will be very different. It will be a very harsh and alien world and provide a pathway to mass extinction – a process that is already well advanced.

If we want to avoid runaway climate change and Hot House Earth we are running out of time. Indeed Prof Will Steffen reported more than a decade ago there is strong scientific evidence that we have already left the interglacial state – known as the Holocene and entered a new state – the Anthropocene. It is likely this occurred in the 1950’s.

Since that time the impact of human activity on planet has escalated at an unprecedented rate affecting all elements of the earth system. This has been the result of a huge increase in the exploitation of the planet’s natural resources, escalation of pollution, environmental degradation and species loss. The planet is rapidly warming at a time when it should be cooling. One can see evidence of this as the great ice sheets in Greenland and the Antarctic melt at an accelerating rate. Much of the Arctic sea ice has gone and permafrost is thawing releasing methane gas. We are now witnessing extreme weather events on a scale and frequency well above, by orders of magnitude, that could be explained in terms of natural variability.

As Will Steffen stated recently the Holocene is gone and we will not get it back. The climate emergency is real and there is an imperative to act now and reduce global greenhouse emissions to avoid runaway climate change but that on its own will not be sufficient. It will also be necessary to reverse the impact of much of the human activity on this planet ie pollution, environmental degradation, forest clearing and species loss which has weakened the earth’s self regulating capacity and given us even less time to act.

This is the world we must plan for.

bike covid-19 public transport value for money

Covid has created a perfect opportunity for people who want to travel by bike

Post author By Roger Taylor
Post date 31/08/2020
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As reported by Timna Jacks in The Age public transport rides have dwindled to 9% of normal levels and are unlikely to recover fully for years to come as a direct result of the covid pandemic. But now is not the time to reinvest in more private car travel. Whilst it is true there will be more congestion on the roads as more people go back to their cars we know that building more roads and providing more car parking will not solve the congestion problem – it never has and only feeds it. There is an overwhelming imperative – environmental, social and economic to resist this and promote alternatives.

One of these is active transport – particularly cycling and e-biking which can be provided at minimal cost. There are huge benefits promoting cycling. It is accessible or should be for almost everyone now – particularly with the arrival of e-bikes. It is dirt cheap, particularly in comparison to the private car (which is important in a time of recession, particularly for young people who are bearing the brunt) and provides huge health and environmental benefits. It can also be linked with public transport ie by carrying them on trains. Buses and trams should also make this option available, but it should certainly be possible for people with small folding bikes.

What governments need to do is create a safer environment for people to ride ie make roads safer for cyclists. This can be done very cheaply using a variety of measures but it needs a change in government mindset at all levels to do this and that is something the community should be demanding now. Government should be reminded that if this can be achieved in cities like Copenhagen where 62% of Copenhageners choose to bike to work and study Melbourne can get many more people on bikes instead of cars if we create the right environment for bike travel.