Across the state on every day of the school year, thousands of children travel on government-funded buses to get to school.

This allows parents to get to work in nearby towns or work on the family farm, without an often hours-long commute to get their children to school.

For regional areas, government-funded contracts with local bus companies provide these services.

Over 600 of these buses operate under the Evergreen Contract Model, making regional living more sustainable for families, supporting vital industries, and ensuring access to education for children.

Regional bus drivers, who safely transport tens of thousands of children over hundreds of thousands of kilometres every year, provide a friendly face and are well-known to the community.

These contracts roll over every five years and provide irreplaceable support to the local economy.

Recently, the Cook Labor Government decided to tear up regional bus contracts, in favour of a competitive Tendered Contract Model.

This shift towards competitive contracts is likely to result in small regional companies losing business to larger metro companies, while regional towns lose the operators who have cared for their children for generations.

BusWA – the representative body for bus-related workers and operators in WA – called the move “a continuation of a metro-centric focus at the expense of the regions”.

These contract changes have been marketed as an attempt by the Government to save marginally on costs, at the expense of regional businesses, at a time when the government has made metropolitan public transport free on Sundays and has spent $13 billion on METRONET.  

The WA Liberals know the importance of supporting the families that maintain regional economies.

Evergreen bus contracts provide a significant financial stimulus to regional small businesses and create an environment where local staff can interact with local children.

These bus services should be working with the community, for the community.

Only a WA Liberal Government will ensure it.

The WA Liberals believe locally-owned regional businesses can, and should, be trusted to provide regional services.

Roger Cook’s callous decision to protect his $13 billion pet project, METRONET, at the cost of small regional businesses is another example of the Cook Labor Government’s misguided priorities for Western Australia.

At a time when it’s never been tougher to live in regional Western Australia, regional communities deserve a government that will ensure their key services are protected.

Evergreen bus contracts provide robust solutions to the challenges faced by service operators, and eliminate the inefficiencies and uncertainties associated with the current mix of contract types.

Unfortunately, Labor’s rollback on Evergreen contracts ignores these benefits to regional development and economic fairness.

No community should be left behind.

A WA Liberal Government will convert all school bus contracts to the Evergreen Contract Model to ensure regional communities are provided with contractual certainty.

Providing certainty around the livelihoods of regional families and small businesses is imperative at a time when the increasing cost of living and regional neglect by the Cook Labor Government has left many communities struggling.

This approach supports the long-term delivery of essential public services and provides regional development and economic fairness, ensuring no community is left behind.

The Evergreen Contract Model also allows for contracts to be rolled back as needed, at a small financial cost.

Western Australians living in, and relying on, regional  communities deserve a government that prioritises their livelihoods by supporting local, Evergreen contracts.

Only the WA Liberal Party will do what is best for regional businesses and schools in Western Australia.