"... I had ambition not only to go farther than any one had been before, but as far as it was possible for man to go ..."

                                                                                James Cook

• We shall reduce urban traffic congestion by developing innovative and affordable transport infrastructure covering every town (with population > 10 000 ) Australia wide. Under this scheme all urban streets, roads, freeways and toll ways shall have uniform and uninterrupted speed limits (please note that these limits shall not penalize you if you decide to go any slower ... ) All urban residential streets shall have a speed limit of 40 km/h (colour code – red). This shall provide adequate safety for everyone – pedestrian or driver, children or elderly. Other streets in business and industrial districts (incl. service roads) shall have a limit of 60 km/h (colour code magenta). A network of roads (usually having 2 or more lines in larger cities) shall serve all urban streets ensuring that any point of every street is within 2 km distance to the nearest road (in this way everyone living on the most remote end of the street shall travel for no more than 3...4 minutes to get to the road). These roads shall have a speed limit of 80 km/h (colour code yellow) with no exceptions (schools, shopping centres, hospitals and other facilities shall ensure the safety of their own staff, customers, patients, pupils etc. by providing  off-street access and parking, pedestrian barriers, subways, overpasses, fencing and other safety measures not interfering with the traffic) All roads shall be linked to highways ensuring that no point on the road is more than 10 km from the nearest  highway (about 10 min. max. travel time from nearest road). Highways shall have an uninterrupted speed limit of 100 km/h (colour code green) and join with the national road system where speed limits may be higher.
• We shall also extend our network of freeways (we’re deeply committed to building freeways and no toll ways) joining most of our population, industrial,  tourism and other centres. Urban freeways shall have a uniform speed limit of 120 km/h (color code blue) and also join with the national road system where speed limits may be higher or not applicable.
• We shall encourage cycling as healthy personal transport alternative. More funding will be available for bike paths and other cycling facilities.
• Free and simple annual roadworthy tests for all vehicles older than 7 years (excluding ones still covered by manufacturer’s warranty) will reduce pollution and improve safety on our roads.
• The use of cleaner (hybrid, fuel cell, hydrogen, electric, etc.) and smaller vehicles will be encouraged by substantially reduced registration fees. Correspondingly “Gas guzzlers” (cars with combustion engines over 4 litre displacement) shall pay much higher registration fees.
•  We shall stop the avalanche of speed cameras invading our streets and set up realistic tolerances (say 10 km/h instead of the current 3 km/h in some states) for speeding. We believe that the current speed camera proliferation is aimed at revenues and cheap political propaganda rather than improving our life and safety on the road. Getting a $100+ fine for 4 km/h over the limit is unfair and alienates many good drivers. Most of our road problems and serious accidents are caused by alcohol, drugs and a small hoon minority who have no respect for any rules or limits, whatever they are. Penalties for drivers who have no such respect shall be seriously increased. Instead of installing more speed cameras we shall introduce intelligent synchronized countdown traffic lights (having large digital display showing remaining time of each light) which shall ease traffic congestion  and also reduce cycle times, petrol consumption and pollution. They are much cheaper than cameras and used with great success (for the benefit of the drivers and not the state revenue office) overseas. 
• We recognize that affordable road transport is a vital necessity for everyone. We shall do our best to facilitate transport and restrain the ever-rising petrol prices. We shall introduce legislation allowing the petrol companies to change their prices no more than once every month (rather than changing prices every day...).. Price change for each one of the 4 major companies (i.e. Shell, BP, Mobil and Caltex) shall only be allowed during a particular week of the month (e.g. week 1 – Shell, Week 2 – BP, week 3 – Mobil and week 4 – Caltex).
• Petrol taxes are substantial revenue source for many governments all over the world. Australia is no exception and our motorists pay dearly for the luxury of getting from A to B. Instead of just rising more tax revenue due to the ever-rising petrol prices we shall reimburse the fuel taxes for the first 1000 l of fuel for every private vehicle registered in the country (subject to at least 10 000 km annual mileage). This rebate shall practically make essential transport (e.g. to and from work, shopping, etc.)  tax free and affirm our principle that transport is as vital as health, food or education. If you have no car and/or chose to rely on public transport (which often is much better alternative) you’re not going to miss out. The same amount of money shall be available to reimburse part of your annual ticket costs (subject to proof of minimum annual expenditure on public transport).
• We shall ensure that all major airports have efficient and affordable public transport. Currently many of us pay astronomical taxi and parking prices every time we have to fly.

• Visiting Australia or travelling overseas is a nuisance for all motorists (Australian and international alike). Our traffic/road signs don’t conform to the International system of traffic signs (based on the UN Vienna Convention on Road Signs and Signals) which is used in most of the world. This creates a lot of confusion and seriously compromises road safety. We shall adopt the International system and make life safer and easier for all road users and pedestrians. This measure shall also benefit tourism, transport and many other industries.

  See the International road signs at the Australian Automobile Association website: http://www.raa.net/download.asp?file=documents%5Cdocument_1537.pdf

Just as it was more than a century ago, today our rail system is still poorly planned and highly inefficient; lacking foresight, attention and investment. Our passenger trains still struggle to reach 60 km/h average speed, while our fastest ones can’t even compete with a Chinese freight train. Modern achievements like the European TGV and ICE, China’s maglev or the Japanese bullet trains seem to be well beyond the wildest dreams of our politicians and engineers.

We shall work toward improving the standards of our rail system and bring it in line with its modern European, American and Asian counterparts (please note this is a long term goal). Railroads are vital for the development of the country and a must for many industries. Although our low population density can’t justify building an extensive passenger and freight network in most of the country we believe that for the bigger part of the SE coast (e.g.  Adelaide – Melbourne – Canberra – Sydney – Brisbane – Cairns) and parts of the west such service shall be very beneficial.

We shall assemble a multinational team of experts to review the entire rail network and develop a master plan for the future. The goal shall be to provide reliable transport link between the major population and industrial centres which is considerably faster and vastly more economical than road transport. Fast passenger trains (travelling at 200 -300 km/h) shall be viable and cleaner alternative to airplanes for short distance travel (up to 1000 km) Such objectives can be achieved in just over a decade and at surprisingly economical prices (compared with freeways and most other roads).

We are also committed to extend and improve the suburban rail networks around the country. We shall ensure that every major urban development is serviced by safe, reliable, fast and affordable public transport.  Modern, simple and user-friendly ticketing systems shall be developed and implemented on a national level.

Most of our imports and exports rely on efficient and reliable ports and ships, and our competitiveness in the world markets is heavily affected by any problems in this area. It is a shame that practically all of our imports and exports are carried by foreign flagged ships. This fact is proof of our government’s inability to solve purely bureaucratic problems and liberalise our shipping industry. If we ship only half of our exports we shall employ thousands of people and keep billions of dollars in our hands. It seems we can produce world class fast ferries, yachts and sailors, but when it comes to larger craft we are stranded on our own Great Bureaucratic Reef.  The recent collapse of ANL is just another proof of this fact. A future Federalist government will introduce some radical reforms in order to create and sustain our own shipping lines, for the benefit of the whole nation.

Flying is our only option if we are to venture outside our secluded Down Under. On a relative scale we are one of the most remote nations in the world. If we have to make our pilgrimage to most of our ancestor’s homelands or trade partners, we often have to go half way around the globe. This fact shall make us aware that we are heavily dependent on a healthy aviation and every effort in improving our facilities and airlines is well worth it. Unfortunately the last few years have seen the demise of several new or well-established Australian airlines due to lack of government support, a security crisis and other reasons. We shall bring back all the support and security the industry needs to prosper and defeat the tyranny of distance.

Our aviation policy shall be aimed at a safe and financially viable industry with the highest participation levels possible. We shall refresh our outdated regulation and safety practices, and incorporate many new systems and ideas (based on local and overseas experience) in cooperation with the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO). These new approaches shall boost the popularity of aviation and create thousands of extra jobs and millions of dollars in revenue. The decline in both business and private flying (e.g. around 1990 we had nearly 580 000 flying hours, while in 2006 they slumped to 390 000) shall be reversed and soon Australia will be amongst the world leaders in flight training, business and recreational aviation.