Just because little has been publicly heard from new DTP Secretary Jeroen Weimar since he took over two months ago does not mean he has been idle. Indeed it's been the contrary with much private work, the pre-requisite to public success, being completed.
This work has included a strategic review, addressing questions such as how best to restore DTP's central role in the transport policy framework, reviving its public standing and reposition it to become, in premier Jacinta Allan's words, a builder not a blocker.
It's nothing short of a complete 'go revolution' for a department that's long needed something like it.
A 'dep sec diet'?
Having a staff of thousands to write business cases that too often failed to win state budget backing or draft strategies no one reads was the first bit of junk for Jeroen to jettison.
It's nothing short of a complete 'go revolution' for a department that's long needed something like it.
A 'dep sec diet'?
Having a staff of thousands to write business cases that too often failed to win state budget backing or draft strategies no one reads was the first bit of junk for Jeroen to jettison.
Taking ideas from the Yanks but lingo from the Brits, Source Savings or Sod Off is said to be the survival priority for the department's deputy secretaries as the state struggles to find offsets for North East Link's $10 billion budget blowout.
Thus, to avoid potential embarrassment, the organisation chart listing dep secs was quietly deleted from the DTP website sometime between January 8 and February 25 2025 so the nosy public has to wait for the annual report (or lurk Linked-In) to see whose gone.
Each dep sec cut can buy about $400k in extra program funding from their employment costs saved. That excludes even more freed from supernumerary send-offs and time savings accruing from processes that have to be, by necessity, leaner. While those who remain may gain broader responsibilities this is partly mitigated by them having exponentially fewer meetings, as illustrated below.
Sources close to the Secretary said that with 'razor gang' Silver Review staffing cuts looming, it was better to be on the front foot rather than effectively being under Treasury administration (as happened in the 1990s with the Transport Reform Unit).
Enter 'The Green Light People'
Thus, to avoid potential embarrassment, the organisation chart listing dep secs was quietly deleted from the DTP website sometime between January 8 and February 25 2025 so the nosy public has to wait for the annual report (or lurk Linked-In) to see whose gone.
Each dep sec cut can buy about $400k in extra program funding from their employment costs saved. That excludes even more freed from supernumerary send-offs and time savings accruing from processes that have to be, by necessity, leaner. While those who remain may gain broader responsibilities this is partly mitigated by them having exponentially fewer meetings, as illustrated below.
Enter 'The Green Light People'
The above may seem pretty dire if you were a targeted executive. But DTP leadership is very alive to the need to maintain morale internally and community standing externally. Full transparency requires a message that works for both internal self-talk and external engagement.
That's best articulated by DTP becoming The Green Light People
That's best articulated by DTP becoming The Green Light People
The new DTP will facilitate, not fumble.
The new DTP will catalyse, not clog-up.
The new DTP will revitalise, not retard.
Above all the new DTP will build and not block.
Green Light will replace Red Tape in everything the Department does.
Green Light's three key directions in the DTP portfolio include:
Housing and Planning: The Green Light principle is most obviously topical for tacking Victoria's housing affordability crisis. At its core the new Plan for Victoria is about saying yes to more.
Transport: the narrative here is about keeping people moving. First emphasis will be on cutting waiting at intersections (through shorter traffic light cycles), faster end-to-end public transport (through higher frequency partly funded by service reform) and improving railway reliability (by fixing unreliable recurring track and signal faults). A smaller but stronger DTP will also veto planned rail shutdowns that disrupt too many passengers.
Cost of Living: An overarching theme across all of government for next month's state budget, with implications for DTP explained here.
Branding to convey 'Vision Go'
For maximum transparency there will be no difference between internal and public-facing branding. After 20 years of obsessive branding and rebranding between 1998 and 2018, public transport (especially) went through a period of 'brandlessness' with little or no branding appearing. This opposite extreme led to a loss of network identity and confidence.
Green Light People branding will restore transport network pride and the sense that there's someone competent looking after the system and helping you go. You'll recognise this by the green light triangle progressively appearing on drivers licences, the public transport network (example below) and completed housing projects.
Summary
Delightful in both simplicity and profoundness, The Green Light People gives a new focus that the Department of Transport and Planning has lacked and needed for years.
To mark the launch it is understood that DTP staff will enjoy a long morning tea, with this strictly concluding at noon today.
The new DTP will catalyse, not clog-up.
The new DTP will revitalise, not retard.
Above all the new DTP will build and not block.
Green Light will replace Red Tape in everything the Department does.
Green Light's three key directions in the DTP portfolio include:
Housing and Planning: The Green Light principle is most obviously topical for tacking Victoria's housing affordability crisis. At its core the new Plan for Victoria is about saying yes to more.
Transport: the narrative here is about keeping people moving. First emphasis will be on cutting waiting at intersections (through shorter traffic light cycles), faster end-to-end public transport (through higher frequency partly funded by service reform) and improving railway reliability (by fixing unreliable recurring track and signal faults). A smaller but stronger DTP will also veto planned rail shutdowns that disrupt too many passengers.
Cost of Living: An overarching theme across all of government for next month's state budget, with implications for DTP explained here.
Branding to convey 'Vision Go'
For maximum transparency there will be no difference between internal and public-facing branding. After 20 years of obsessive branding and rebranding between 1998 and 2018, public transport (especially) went through a period of 'brandlessness' with little or no branding appearing. This opposite extreme led to a loss of network identity and confidence.
Green Light People branding will restore transport network pride and the sense that there's someone competent looking after the system and helping you go. You'll recognise this by the green light triangle progressively appearing on drivers licences, the public transport network (example below) and completed housing projects.
QR codes will be installed at intersections to allow walkers to report waits of more than 60 seconds and drivers more than 120 seconds. The volume of requests thus received will dictate funding for "Vision Go" speed-up treatments. This will be done in a similar mechanism to the community-driven 'Pick My Project' scheme trialled before the 2018 state election.
Delightful in both simplicity and profoundness, The Green Light People gives a new focus that the Department of Transport and Planning has lacked and needed for years.
To mark the launch it is understood that DTP staff will enjoy a long morning tea, with this strictly concluding at noon today.
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