But when three becomes six, the result can be anything but harmless.
I have heard that the State Government's 3% budget cut across the board will somehow become 6% for public transport and that this will be achieved through severe service reductions after 8pm.
This would effectively mean that anyone without a driver's licence can't go out in the evening unless they live close to a train station (and want to go somewhere that is also close to a train station) or can afford to use a taxi (if they can get one, which is problematic in the evenings, especially Friday and weekends). This would increase the social isolation of disadvantaged groups in the community and those who are unable to or choose not to own or drive a car. This group includes systematic over-representation of women, seniors, people with disabilities and teenagers.
No doubt it will be buried in the overall message - and the Public Transport Authority will be left to make the announcement about service reductions (and take the flack - unfairly).
Perhaps it doesn't actually breach the accessible public transport action plan (which is enforceable through the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission and the Federal Court), as the service cuts will apply to everyone without discrimination, but it is certainly not in keeping with the spirit of it. The practical effects of such cuts in services would certainly be discriminatory.
Ironic, really, that the much-vaunted action plan, which was the first substantial public transport action plan accepted by the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission, was signed by the previous Liberal/National Government in 1996. Now we have its successor seriously considering subverting the spirit, if not the letter, of that agreement - and potentially facing embarrassment in the Federal Court.
Ironic, also, that the new Minister for Transport is also the Minister for Disability Services - and therefore has a dual interest in this matter.
Perhaps someone should remind the Treasurer (and the rest of the bean-counters in the Barnett Government) of the statement that Albert Einstein had on the wall of his office at Princeton University:
Not everything that counts can be counted, and not everything that can be counted counts.
