Greens’ $8 billion scheme for 50 cent fares across Australia comes with costing questions

January 30, 2025 journo

The Greens are proposing the federal government pay more than $8 billion to states and territories over four years to reduce public transport fares to 50¢ across the country, in an ambitious attempt to campaign on lowering the cost of commuting.

However, the forecast cost of $2.6 billion in the first year would likely blow out as in Victoria alone the Melbourne Transport Union predicted the state made $900 million last year from fare costs and Queensland predicted its 50¢ fare program would cost the state $300 million in its first year.

Inspired by the Queensland fare program, Greens Leader Adam Bandt has released costings on what it would take for the federal government to subsidise every state and territory government to make public transport cheaper.

The costings commissioned by the Parliamentary Budget Office predict the subsidy would cost almost $30 billion over the next decade.

The expensive pledge comes as the left-wing party hopes that this year’s election will deliver a minority government, anticipating more leverage to get its ambitious policies through parliament.

Bandt said some of the costs could be offset through his “Robin Hood reforms” – a pledge from August to impose a 40 per cent tax on excessive profits of major corporations.

“With poll after poll indicating we’re headed towards a minority parliament, if people vote Greens we can get cost-of-living relief like 50¢ fares. Greens pressure got 50¢ fares in Queensland, and now we want it for everyone,” he said in a statement.

“I could see the government backing this. It’s very doable … Anthony Albanese is on the record supporting funding public transport.”

In 2013, when Albanese was transport minister, he told a doorstop interview if the federal government did not invest in urban transport there would be increased congestion on roads and pressure on cities.

The PBO costings do not have a breakdown of how much it would cost per state, but reached an $8.1 billion projection over four years from predictions of how much each state and territory would lose if fares were 50¢.

Based on current public transport costs in the major cities, the Greens predicted a full-time worker in Melbourne would save $2400 a year, in Sydney they would save $2160, in Perth $2006 and in Adelaide $1872.

In 2023, the Greens campaigned for public transport to be completely free, arguing it would cost the federal budget $2.2 billion for the year. The party still has ambitions to make transportation free, but commissioned costings on 50¢ fares because of the Queensland policy.

Former Labor Queensland premier Steven Miles announced the 50¢ fare policy as a six-month trial from August last year, before the state election in October. It was then made permanent by the state’s Coalition government after they took office.

However, data obtained by this masthead in November revealed the uptake of public transport had reduced. In the first month, motorway traffic fell 1.3 per cent but went back up 0.5 per cent the following month.

“It’s the rebound effect,” Griffith University researcher Abraham Leung said at the time.

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