Bullet train

It’s tempting to treat the newly-rechristened Bullet Train for Australia Party as something of an oddball joke since, well, it’s called the Bullet Train for Australia Party.

Where Labor and the Liberals stand on the central ideologies of Western political philosophy, the Bullet Train Party evokes a particularly speedy form of public transport. During the recent ACT elections, when it was still just the Bullet Train for Canberra Party, the newest entrant to national politics seemed happy to play up its gadfly image, eschewing traditional politics in favour of social media and declaring itself the “least annoying party.”

But the Bullet Train Party is serious about policy, even if it only has one of them. And after winning around four per cent of the ACT vote it may not be on the brink of taking over parliament, but party leaders say they’ve already succeeded in influencing the national discussion. As party president Tim Bohm tells Australian Aviation, that’s exactly the party’s aim in entering politics.