The Transport Matters Party was an

Australian political party The politics of Australia has a mild two-party system, with two dominant political groupings in the Australian political system, the Australian Labor Party and the Liberal Party of Australia. Federally, 12 of the 151 members of the lower house ( ...

active in

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Queen Victoria (1819–1901), Queen of the United Kingdom and Empress of India * Victoria (state), a state of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, a provincial capital * Victoria, Seychelles, the capi ...

. The party was registered with the

Victorian Electoral Commission The Victorian Electoral Commission (VEC), formerly the State Electoral Office, is the statutory body responsible for the running of state, municipal and various non-government elections in Victoria, Australia. Independence It is an independen ...

on 30 April 2018, after an application was received by the VEC on 9 January 2018. Co-founder Rod Barton announced on 23 June 2023 that the party would disband after an unsuccessful membership drive. It was formally dissolved on 28 July 2023.

History

The party was co-founded by Rod Barton and André Baruch, both hire car operators. Most of the party's members are taxi drivers or taxi licence owners involved in a

class action lawsuit A class action A class action is a form of lawsuit. Class Action may also refer to: * ''Class Action'' (film), 1991, starring Gene Hackman and Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio * Class Action (band), a garage house band * "Class Action" (''Teenage R ...

against

Uber Uber Technologies, Inc. is an American multinational transportation company that provides Ridesharing company, ride-hailing services, courier services, food delivery, and freight transport. It is headquartered in San Francisco, California, a ...

for loss of income between 2014 and 2017, when the company operated in Victoria as an

illegal taxi operation Illegal taxicabs, sometimes known as pirate taxis, gypsy cabs, or jitney cabs, are taxis and other vehicles for hire that operate illegally because they do not have proper licenses, permits, registrations, and accreditations, safety inspections, ve ...

. Uber was legalised in Victoria in August 2017 following the deregulation of the taxi/ride-share industry in the state. In May 2019, more than 6,000 taxi and car-hire drivers, operators and licence owners across four states commenced the class action in the Victorian Supreme Court. Transport Matters was registered federally on 24 March 2020. However, the party was voluntarily de-registered federally on 16 December 2021, having never competed at a federal election.

Policies

The party described itself as possessing a centre-left policy agenda; in addition to the party's core focus on transport, it also championed environmental issues and small business interests. The party advocated for major transport projects including the East West Link, the

North East Link The North East Link is an under construction 10–kilometre tolled highway scheme in Melbourne, Australia. It will connect the Metropolitan Ring Road at Greensborough, Victoria, Greensborough with the Eastern Freeway (Melbourne), Easter ...

, the

West Gate Tunnel The West Gate Tunnel, formerly known as the Western Distributor, is a four kilometre toll road currently under construction in Melbourne, Australia, to link the West Gate Freeway at Yarraville with the Port of Melbourne and CityLink at Dock ...

, the

Suburban Rail Loop The Suburban Rail Loop (SRL) is a rapid transit system currently under construction in Melbourne, the capital of Victoria (Australia), Victoria and second largest city of Australia. The system is divided into four distinct sections. The two ma ...

and a fully publicly-owned Melbourne Airport rail line. The party's policy priorities included: * Commercial Passenger Vehicle Industry * Addressing Homelessness * Free Tram Zone * Regional Bus Services * Improving the Transport and Infrastructure Network * Public Transport

Commercial Passenger Vehicle Industry

* Opposed to the

deregulation Deregulation is the process of removing or reducing state regulations, typically in the economic sphere. It is the repeal of governmental regulation of the economy. It became common in advanced industrial economies in the 1970s and 1980s, as a ...

of the

vehicle for hire A vehicle for hire is a vehicle providing private transport or shared transport for a fee, in which passengers are generally free to choose their points or approximate points of origin and destination, unlike public transport, and which t ...

taxicab A taxi, also known as a taxicab or simply a cab, is a type of vehicle for hire with a Driving, driver, used by a single passenger or small group of passengers, often for a non-shared ride. A taxicab conveys passengers between locations of thei ...

and hire car industry in Victoria. * That perpetual taxi and hire car licence holders in Victoria are fully compensated for the compulsory acquisition of their property (licences). * That Uber entered the Victorian industry illegally in 2017. * Improve driver income. * Introduce environmentally sustainable vehicle fleet. * Minimum ANCAP 5 Star safety rating for commercial passenger vehicles (CPVs). * Compulsory road worthy certificate required with license renewal. * Proof of insurance. * Identification on vehicle that you are a Commercial Passenger Vehicle. * That CPVs should be exempt from tolls.

Homelessness

* The party supports housing first as 'it is important that every Australian has access to safe, stable and affordable housing." * Additional crisis and transitional housing. * Additional resources including housing, social works and mental health workers. * Early intervention through the provision of additional wrap around services at the crisis and transitional housing stage. * Need for additional mental health nurses and psychologists.

Public Transport

* Public transport should be free for all passengers under the age of 18 or over the age of 65. * Should be free for full-time students. * Should be reduced for post-graduate students. * Victoria's Free Tram Zone should be extended to include major inner-city hospitals and academic precincts. * Provision of safe bike storage at every bus, train and tram stop. * Real time GPS information at every tram, train and bus stop. * A full review of the bus services in the outer suburbs should be conducted to improve the network.

Bicycle Infrastructure

* The party supports the 'One Meter apart' policy to protect cyclists from traffic. * Community consultation for the implementation of bike lanes. * Inclusion of mountain bike trails and bike parks in local council areas. * Educating young Australians on bike safety. * Supports the implementation of legislation to protect pedestrians injured by cyclists.

Other Areas

* Improving rural and regional towns ability to connect by looking into alternative bus network and public transport options. * Removing toll roads and making them publicly owned. * Increasing transparency between government departments and the public to improve outcomes. * Improving Australia's take up of electric and hydrogen vehicles and power.

Electoral history

At the

2018 Victorian state election The 2018 Victorian state election was held on Saturday, 24 November 2018 to elect the 59th Parliament of Victoria. All 88 seats in the Legislative Assembly (lower house) and all 40 seats in the Legislative Council (upper house) were up for elect ...

, the party was the beneficiary of a highly convoluted series of preference flows in the

group voting ticket A group voting ticket (GVT) is a shortcut for voters in a Ranked voting systems, preferential voting system, where a voter can indicate support for a list of candidates instead of marking preferences for individual candidates. For multi-member ele ...

for the

Legislative Council A legislative council is the legislature, or one of the legislative chambers, of a nation, colony, or subnational division such as a province or state. It was commonly used to label unicameral or upper house legislative bodies in the Brit ...

organised by

Glenn Druery Glenn William Druery is an Australian political strategist, electoral campaigner and ultra-distance cyclist. He has played a leading role in the electoral success of various micro and minor parties in Australia since the mid-1990s. He acquired ...

. With these beneficial preferences it was estimated that the party could get elected on less than 0.3% of the vote in the

Eastern Metropolitan Region North-Eastern Metropolitan Region, previously Eastern Metropolitan Region between 2006 and 2022, is one of the eight electoral regions of Victoria, Australia, which elects five members to the Victorian Legislative Council (also referred to as t ...

. Ultimately, the party polled 0.62% of the vote and Barton was elected to the Legislative Council for a four-year term.

Victorian Legislative Council

External links

Transport Matters Party

References

{{Political parties in Victoria (Australia) 2018 establishments in Australia 2023 disestablishments in Australia Political parties established in 2018 Political parties disestablished in 2023 Political parties in Victoria (state)