“The cabinet team I have unveiled reflects the priorities that we will pursue as a government.”

The words of Humza Yousaf as he announced his new cabinet earlier this year told as much in what was not important to the new First Minister as what was.

Space could be found for a shiny new Minister for Independence– such a revolutionary concept you wonder why it never occurred to either Alex Salmond or Nicola Sturgeon.

The MV Lord of the Isles approaching Oban. The removal of the ferry from South Uist to the mainland to cover another route has led to widespread unrest in the islands as residents and businesses are pushed to despair over the chaos at CalMac. PIC: The Carlisle Kid/geograph.org

Demoted from a Cabinet Secretary position to a mere minister, however, it materialised that transport was no longer a priority. People in the Highlands and Islands would have been forgiven for wondering how much less of a priority transport could possibly become.

Now, after less than three months the First Minister has u-turned and moved transport back to a Cabinet-level responsibility. It would be nice to believe that this was done with good governance in mind and a recognition of a mistake having been made. I suspect, however, that sheer embarrassment may have been the stronger motivator.

Almost every element of our transport network in Scotland is in some sort of disarray, from rail to road to ferries. Fiona Hyslop will have a low bar to clear to surpass her predecessors – but a mountain to climb to get services back on track.

ScotRail of course seamlessly passed from private to public ownership – in the sense that there was no discernible change to the constant disruption of our train network.

Meanwhile, this week saw a damning report by civil engineers claiming it was known “for years” that the dualling of the A9 would not be complete by 2025. They labelled Transport Scotland “the worst client to work for in the UK”.

Then, there is the ferry fiasco.

The start of June saw some of the biggest protests ever seen in the Western Isles over the threadbare state of the ferry network. Over 500 islanders turned out in South Uist to show their deep anger with the way that their connections to the mainland have been chipped away.

A community that had reached the end of its tether, tired of no one in government listening to them. Not for one party or brand of politics, but because they felt that there was a total disconnect with those who are supposed to represent their needs.

It would not take much to trigger similar demonstrations in other island communities. On Islay (the island of my birth) the frustration is palpable. The Islay and Jura Marketing Group collate data about the loss of income for local businesses in the tourism sector, but freely admit that “this is just a

fraction of the real losses”. Meanwhile it remains to be seen what use the data collated will ever be put to.

Imagine how different it could all be if, instead of a government that said to islanders “present us with the evidence of how badly we are doing”, we had one with the political maturity to admit their mistakes and do something about it themselves.

Instead, when it comes to transport planning islanders, are always the last to be heard. If anyone wondered what difference it made who chaired and sat on boards for companies like CalMac, its sister company CMAL or Highlands and Islands Airports Limited, they need wonder no longer.

The disconnect is there for all to see. Boards stuffed with professional quangocrats – hardly any of whom boast any island connections – simply do not seem to understand the importance of the service that they are charged with providing. Worse still there is little evidence that they have a stomach for passing bad news up the line to their ministerial bosses – the gatekeepers to their next appointment.

Viewed from the Northern Isles we can be sympathetic while our government funded lifeline ferry service continues to run more reliably. We also know, however, that the problems of the Western Isles today could easily become ours in years to come, if we do not act now to design our future services.

I fear that the fundamental nature of the transport problem for the Highlands and Islands has still not quite been grasped in Bute House. Somehow, the best answers for our communities’ needs are always assumed to be found somewhere in the Central Belt.

Perhaps that is about to change. Between Fiona Hyslop as minister and Mairi McAllan as Cabinet Secretary, all the diverse transport needs of Scotland will now be represented – from Linlithgow to Clydesdale.

It is fair to ask how we will see meaningful progress on ferries, A9 dualling and the like – to say nothing of long-term opportunities like fixed links for the isles – if the people in charge of transport only see it from a Central Belt perspective.

Transport matters wherever you are, but in the Highlands and Islands it is existential. In our communities, if you get transport right then most other issues will fall into place.

We have not been getting transport right for some time. Restoring transport to a Cabinet-level position as the First Minister has done is a start, but nothing more.

The shift must be more than symbolic. From tourism to exports, from fishing to farming, from health to education – the growth and eventually the survival of these communities is at stake.

Something fundamental has got to give. Highlanders and islanders know it. One way or another, ministers in Holyrood will learn the lesson for themselves.

Alistair Carmichael is the Liberal Democrat MP for Orkney and Shetland

The transport struggles of the Highlands and Islands won't be fixed in the Central Belt