Ed Gannon: Bush communities driven crazy by urban ignorance

Ed Gannon
May 11, 2017
Herald Sun

SOME people just don’t get what it is like to live out of the city. Take the latest health push to get us all out of cars, for instance.

Deakin University researchers want the fuel excise to rise 10 cents a litre to deter people from driving and force them to use public transport. 

RISING PETROL PRICES COULD FIGHT OBESITY, DEAKIN RESEARCHERS SAY

The Deakin Health Economics study found people who walked, cycled or used public transport had a lower body mass index than those who drove to work.

So the obesity solution is to increase road travel costs in conjunction with increased investment in public transport, cycling and walking infrastructure, it found.

OK, well, this one has more holes in it than your typical country road. The researchers appear unaware that for most people who live outside the major cities, there is little or no public transport. 

Hell, there is barely any public transport for people in places such as Melton, Werribee and Cranbourne, let alone Kaniva, Moyhu and Orbost.

And then there are those who live on farms, whose only interaction with public transport is reading in the paper how bad it is for everyone else. 

You know this plan is not going to fly when even doctors say it is dumb idea.

“This plan would not help … all it would do is become an added cost that would further disadvantage rural and regional communities,” Rural Doctors Association of Australia chief executive officer Peta Rutherford told The Weekly Times. 

Rural Councils Victoria chairman Rob Gersch said the idea was unrealistic and “did not make any sense” for rural communities and Victorian Farmers Federation president David Jochinke said the idea was “nonsensical” and “came from people who clearly do not understand what it is like to live with the tyranny of distance”. 

A colleague from the UK this week wrote of how a recent visit to South Africa reinforced to him how it is much easier to be holier than thou on animal liberation issues when you live in a prosperous Western economy with abundant food.

Go to a struggling country where people starve and see what animal protein really means.

In the same way, it is very easy to mount an argument for higher fuel costs if you can walk 100 metres to catch a tram that will drop you off a few metres from your workplace.

The car, while increasingly considered an evil in some pockets of our society, is a necessity for nearly everyone in rural Australia. Without it, there would be no country. 

And that’s without taking into account what a rise in fuel costs would do to the price of food, because God forbid we have a rail system that could actually cart the produce currently forced on to thousands of trucks.

The Deakin study is the second call in as many weeks that would hit country people more than others, with a senior cop calling for the road limit on rural roads to drop to 70kmh.

While the road safety sentiment is admirable, it would punish those who live in rural areas who have no option but to drive.

Plus it overlooks the fact a great many vehicle accidents involve drivers who would never pay attention to a 70kmh limit in the first place.

Again, it is easier to propose such speed limits when nearly all your driving is done in the city peak crawl or on 50kmh suburban streets.

There is a difference between living in the city and living in the country.

Sure, ditch the car in Brunswick. But don’t except the family that live 20km from Murtoa to have to do the same.

The Deakin study is the second call in as many weeks that would hit country people more than others, with a senior cop calling for the road limit on rural roads to drop to 70kmh. 

While the road safety sentiment is admirable, it would punish those who live in rural areas who have no option but to drive.

Plus it overlooks the fact a great many vehicle accidents involve drivers who would never pay attention to a 70kmh limit in the first place.

Again, it is easier to propose such speed limits when nearly all your driving is done in the city peak crawl or on 50kmh suburban streets.

There is a difference between living in the city and living in the country.

Sure, ditch the car in Brunswick. But don’t expect the family that live 20km from Murtoa to have to do the same