Source: Federated Farmers
Federated Farmers is calling for Chris Hipkins and the Labour Party to urgently release more detail on their campaign promise to restore rural school bus routes.
“It’s great to see Labour talking about rural school buses, but the devil is always going to be in the detail,” Federated Farmers rural education spokesperson Greg Anderson says.
“Unfortunately, that detail is completely missing from their announcement today. All it says is they will restore rural school buses – but what does that actually look like?
“If Labour is talking about fixing some of the fundamental flaws in the rural school bus eligibility criteria, then farming families are going to want to hear more about that.
“But if they’re just promoting a Band-Aid solution to try and score political points during an election campaign, that’s not going to be well received in rural New Zealand.”
Anderson says a number of rural school bus routes have been cut under the current Government – but similar cuts happened when Labour was last in power.
“The school bus system is actually working well for most rural communities, but for those who have lost their local route, it places huge pressure on families.
“It’s those same families who are going to be looking at this policy announcement and wondering if Labour will deliver a long-term solution that gives them certainty.
“Labour needs to provide detail about what routes they plan to restore, when they will do it, and whether they will be making changes to the eligibility rules for everyone.”
Anderson says any changes to the school bus system need to be practical, affordable, and actually improve access to education for rural families.
“Federated Farmers wants to see the minimum number of students required for a rural school bus route to operate halved from eight to four.
“That would be a commonsense solution that protects existing bus routes and restores access for some communities without costing the taxpayer a fortune.
“Rural communities deserve certainty on this policy announcement. Labour needs to front up with the detail to show they’re not just taking farmers for a ride.”