The bigger picture

The political question of who can move, where, and on whose terms is one of the central political questions of any society. The political conditions of mobility have shaped human history continuously, and contemporary transport in Australia inherits multiple intersecting political histories. 

The British geographer Tim Cresswell has documented in detail how the political conditions of mobility are not neutral. The political project of organising who moves, who is stopped, who is permitted to drive, who is permitted to walk, who has access to public transport, and who is left without options, operates as a continuous political project. The argument reaches Australian transport through the political conditions of car-dependent suburbs, of public transport politics, of policing of mobile populations, and of the political settlement on driver licensing.

The American sociologist Mimi Sheller has developed what she calls mobility justice, the political argument that the political conditions of who can move, who is excluded from movement, and who absorbs the costs of others' movement, are inseparable from broader political contests about equity, climate, and global political economy. The argument reaches Australian transport through the political conditions of car dependency, of public transport equity, of climate transition, and of the political conditions of migrant drivers.

The colonial transfer

Transport in colonial Australia inherited British political settlements about roads, rail, and shipping. The British political tradition of road building, of railway investment, of port infrastructure, was transmitted into Australia through colonial governments and modified through local political contests about distance, terrain, and frontier conditions.

What that political vision excluded is part of the history. First Nations Country had its own political conditions of movement, including songlines, trade routes, and seasonal movements developed over millennia. The colonial transport infrastructure was built across this prior political geography, often deliberately disregarding it. The political legacy of dispossession through transport infrastructure continues to do political work in contemporary transport projects on Country. 

The political conditions of Australian railways, built through the second half of the nineteenth century, reflected British political settlements about rail finance, gauge standardisation (or lack thereof), and the political relationship between rail and regional development. The political legacy of differing rail gauges between states, the political contests about national rail policy, and the political conditions of regional rail decline, reach contemporary transport workers.

The post-war mass mobility settlement

The post-war political settlement reshaped Australian transport. The political idea that ordinary Australians should own cars, that suburbs should be designed around private vehicles, and that public transport should be subordinated to road investment, operated as a political settlement, with political consequences flowing rather than as a natural commercial outcome.

The political consequences for Australian cities were significant. Melbourne, Sydney, Adelaide, and Perth all expanded outward into car-dependent suburbs, with public transport investment systematically deprioritised in most periods. The political settlement that put cars at the centre of Australian life produced the conditions for trucking, taxi, and freight industries to develop at scale.

The political deprioritisation of public transport in most Australian states for most of the twentieth century operated as a political settlement that benefited the automotive industry, road builders, oil companies, and outer-suburban developers, and politically disadvantaged inner-city residents, working-class commuters, women without licences, and people with disability.

The neoliberal turn and privatisation

From the 1980s, a different political settlement began to assert itself in Australian transport. State-owned transport authorities were corporatised or privatised. Toll roads emerged as a major Australian infrastructure form, with public-private partnership arrangements that have proven politically contested. Public transport investment, particularly in inner-city rail and tram, has been uneven across jurisdictions.

The political legacy is significant. Australian transport workers operate under conditions established by these political decisions. The political contests about toll roads, about public transport coverage, about driver licensing, all reflect this political settlement.

The gig economy political moment

The political conversation about gig economy work in transport, particularly in rideshare, food delivery, and last-mile delivery, has been one of the most consequential political moments for the sector in recent decades. The political question of whether platform workers are employees or contractors, what protections they are entitled to, and how the political conditions of gig work should be regulated, has moved through tribunals, courts, and parliaments.

The political settlement remains unresolved. Federal political attention has been rising and state-level decisions are being made, but the political contests are ongoing.

The present moment

Climate transition politics, migrant driver conditions, and the political contest about public transport investment are reshaping transport now.

The climate transition arrives through the political idea that internal combustion vehicles must be replaced by electric ones, an idea won by decades of climate movement organising. The pace and pattern of the transition is being decided largely outside Australia, in Brussels, Beijing, Sacramento, and Tokyo, and Australian transport operators are absorbing decisions they did not make.

The political contest about migrant driver conditions has been intensifying through federal regulation and reaching operators continuously. Driver licensing, qualification recognition, and visa-conditional work all sit inside this political contest.

The political contest about public transport investment versus road investment is sharpening at state level and reaching transport workers as workforce decisions. The political question of how Australian cities are reorganised for climate transition will be answered, in part, by the political contests being fought now.