OUTBACK ADVENTURER RAIL SERVICE
Mr BECKROGE: I address my question without notice to the Premier. What information does the Premier have on the Outback Adventurer rail service that runs between Sydney and Broken Hill?
Mr CARR: No wonder the Leader of the Opposition is restive. I will come to his role in this
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story before long. The Labor Party made a commitment at the last election to restore rail services to Broken Hill and Griffiths. Country trains are running again as a result of our policies.
Mr SPEAKER: Order! A number of members are on three calls to order. If they continue to interject I will direct the Serjeant-at-Arms to remove them.
Mr CARR: We are proud that the rail service was restored, in particular to that gallant city of Broken Hill, a special community in New South Wales. A National Party member in another place said in the Barrier Daily Truth on 3 October:
The rail service was of absolute importance to the service of the city.
Imagine the shattering blow to the morale of Broken Hill when the Leader of the Opposition arrived and made remarks of a different character about this rail service. However, we can hail this as the first policy declaration made by the honourable gentleman as Leader of the Opposition. It is most important.
Mr SPEAKER: Order! The Leader of the Opposition will remain silent.
Mr CARR: He arrived in Broken Hill on 2 October. He was interviewed by that great newspaper the Barrier Daily Truth on 3 October and was asked whether he could say that a coalition government would "keep the Outback Adventurer". He said, "What’s the Outback Adventurer?"
Mr SPEAKER: Order! If the Leader of the Opposition wishes to correct what the Premier is saying he can use the forms of the House.
Mr CARR: He was told that it was the choo choo train that goes to Broken Hill. His next response was to object to the question. He said that they should not ask him that because "we are not even in government". So we have a new rule: no questions about policy to the Leader of the Opposition.
Mr SPEAKER: Order! Having called the honourable member for North Shore to order on three occasions, I direct the Serjeant-at-Arms to remove her.
[The honourable member for North Shore left the Chamber, accompanied by the Serjeant-at-Arms.]
Mr CARR: He said, "We are not even in government". That was a blinding revelation. That line was obviously written for him by the member for Northcott who presided over the Opposition’s campaign at the last election. The article then goes on to say that under pressure the Leader of the Opposition said "he had given his answer and was critical of the line of questioning because it was a media beat-up". A very simple question was asked, "Are you going to maintain the rail service or not", and he objected that it was a media beat-up, the Opposition was not even in government, why should he be required to give an assurance.
Mr Collins: In the Labor paper.
Mr CARR: Why did the Leader of the Opposition allow himself to be interviewed by them? Can there be any faith that the rail service would continue if the coalition was to be elected to government? It is an overwhelming likelihood that if the Government changed, as it did in 1988, that rail service would go. So, lost in the desert the Leader of the Opposition gave the game away. The rail service will go if the Labor Government goes. He could not give the assurance that the people of Broken Hill begged for, and thus demonstrated his great indifference to the welfare of that gallant community.
He was there, he was asked and refused to provide the assurance. When he was at Broken Hill it was the perfect opportunity for him to make a commitment but he failed to provide the assurance. Instead, he complained that the question was a media beat-up. Let the word go out from this time and place to friend and foe alike that if there is a change in government the first community to be picked on and to suffer would be that most gallant and greatest of New South Wales communities, the great little city of Broken Hill.