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- 24 February 2004
Minister for Transport Services
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Page: 6402
Motion of Censure
Debate resumed from an earlier hour.
The Hon. PATRICIA FORSYTHE [5.05 p.m.]: Prior to question time I indicated that I would share with the House some of the answers of the Minister the Transport Services in response to legitimate questions asked by honourable members during question time. I want to demonstrate the contempt with which he holds the House and his lack of willingness to accept scrutiny in relation to relevant issues in his portfolio.
The Hon. Michael Costa: I plead guilty.
The Hon. PATRICIA FORSYTHE: I note the interjection. Every Opposition member and, I suspect, every crossbench member would have a story to tell about being insulted by the Minister for Transport Services after asking fair and legitimate questions about his portfolio. The Minister is not prepared to answer questions that are legitimately put to him. He is not prepared to take responsibility for actions within his portfolio. He presides over his portfolio as if nothing that occurs in it is in any way as a result of his decisions—it is always about the actions of other people, never his own actions. Quite frankly, that is not good enough. The Minister is the one who gets the white car and the salary.
The Hon. Michael Costa: It is silver.
The Hon. PATRICIA FORSYTHE: He gets a silver car. It is time he took responsibility for his portfolio. Today we have heard an extensive list of problems in his portfolio. In particular, I refer to paragraph (w) of the motion: the closure of the city circle stations on 5 February 2004 and the subsequent flow-on, delay to and cancellation of rail services throughout CityRail and CountryLink networks. Today the Minister for Emergency Services said that emergency services stand ready to deal with terrorism. They may well stand ready, but quite frankly the broader transport system does not. If there is a concern about a gas leak of course the trains on the underground system are stopped and it is investigated. That is not the basis of our criticism; the basis of our criticism is that the system lacked any apparent and appropriate capacity to deal with such a crisis. If there was a risk management strategy, it was completely lost on the New South Wales public. The day after that gas leak I received an email from a senior, well-respected citizen of Newcastle, with whom I had had lunch the previous day. He attempted to return to Newcastle on the train system. He did the right thing and travelled to Sydney by train. He did not catch the 2.17 p.m. train, as was his intention. He stated:
When I got to Town Hall Station, I found it closed and blocked off, so walked to Central, getting there are about 3 p.m. in order to catch the 3.12. The indicator at Central said the Newcastle train departed from Platform 5; when I got there, I found what looked like 1,000 people on the Platform. An announcement was made that no-one could understand.
About 3.30, an announcement was made … that the Newcastle train would depart from Platform 7. Mad dash by about 1,000 people to Platform 7, where there was a 4-carriage train. Needless to say, it filled to overflowing like the Tokyo subway. People everywhere, standing and sitting in the aisles, etc. About 3.40, the guard announced that there would be another 4 carriages joining the train, so that those standing could move. Nothing happened. About 3.50, the guard announced that the Newcastle train would now leave from Platform 8. Another mad dash.
The train on Platform 8 was at least of 8 carriages. Most people found seats, though some were left standing. At 4.00 p.m., the train left Central with the guard announcing that it would stop at Redfern, Strathfield, then ALL STATIONS TO NEWCASTLE. At stations where the platform was not long enough for an 8-carriage train (i.e., most of them) the train would stop twice—once for the people in the first 6 carriages and then again for the people in the last two carriages.
I arrived at Newcastle slightly after 8 p.m. The train journey from hell!
This is a litany of mistakes and uncertainty, and of the travelling public being left bewildered, in many cases without connections at the other end and in a real sense of chaos. A train that is to start from platform 7 is rescheduled to leave from another platform, with a litany of messages being given by people unable to tell the travelling public what is going on. It may well be that emergency services stand ready. The rail system does not. The issue is not whether those trains ran on time but whether there was in place an appropriate system to deal with the crisis when it occurred. The evidence from train travellers, whether on the CityRail network or attempting to get country rail services, is that the system failed dismally on that day.
At the end of the day, the Minister has to take responsibility for those sorts of failures. In addition to those incidents is the uncertainty about the services and erosion of the confidence of the people of New South Wales in the transport system presided over by the Minister. That is why we are debating a censure motion. Over the coming weeks I will be sharing with the House a number of petitions from people in the community of Bungendore. When all of those petitions are presented they will have the signatures of virtually every adult in Bungendore. That is a measure of the feeling of the people of that area about the potential of the Minister and his Government cutting their rail services. They will have sent a clear message to the Government.
The Hon. Michael Costa: You know we are not going to cut their services, so you run a scare campaign.
The Hon. PATRICIA FORSYTHE: Is that what the Minister calls it? Was it as part of a scare campaign that the honourable member for Monaro issued a press release dated 3 December 2003—prepared for him by a member of this place, perhaps by the Hon. Amanda Fazio—headed "Country Labor presents a plan to save CountryLink trains". Clearly, the honourable member for Monaro thought those services would be cut. To save them from what? Rather, to save them from whom? To save them from their own Government.
The Hon. Michael Costa: Amend the motion to one of no confidence.
The Hon. PATRICIA FORSYTHE: I look forward to the Minister amending the motion if he feels so strongly that it is appropriate for the House to debate a no confidence motion in relation to him on this occasion. Earlier the Minister referred to scare campaigns. Some of his colleagues are so scared that they talk about the need for a plan to save CountryLink trains. Those services are in danger only because the Minister placed them in danger. The honourable member for Monaro even presided over a public meeting. In a press release of 28 October he spoke about motions carried at the Queanbeyan train service public meeting. We know that hundreds of people from Queanbeyan and surrounding areas gathered on that occasion because the Minister had not given them any assurances about the future of their services. The threat to services is not only at Bungendore and Queanbeyan; it is also to services in the Southern Highlands.
At the end of January a group of more than 90 packed the Wingecarribee council theatrette. There was standing room only at that public meeting convened by rail users Colin Williams and Del Dempster. Why did they need to hold that meeting, Minister? Is it because he has not been able to give them any assurances about the future of train services in that region? They highlighted the Government's plan to axe services to Bundanoon, forcing Bundanoon residents from 30 May to use Goulburn trains or drive to Moss Vale to catch a train. They spoke about a lack of ticketing facilities at smaller stations, and the lack of access to CountryLink due to incompatible ticketing systems. At the same public meeting angry and frustrated people highlighted the loss of one of three of their CountryLink services. I could go into all of the resolutions carried on that day.
The Hon. Michael Costa: Are those the services that the Coalition cut when it was in government?
The Hon. PATRICIA FORSYTHE: You are the Minister, and your Government has been in office for about nine years. This is the record of the Minister and of the Carr Government's nine years in office.
The Hon. Michael Costa: We have not cut one train. You're joking!
The Hon. PATRICIA FORSYTHE: Timetables have been amended during your period in office.
The Hon. Michael Costa: We are talking about timetables now?
The Hon. PATRICIA FORSYTHE: "Amended" means that services do not run. You terminate trains at Campbelltown. The 6.13 from Bowral terminates at Campbelltown.
The Hon. Michael Costa: You were a member in this place during the Greiner Government.
The Hon. PATRICIA FORSYTHE: The Minister has not been able to give the community assurances that their services will be protected. It was CityRail last week and it will be CountryLink in the future. Clearly, it will be next to go off the rails. The Minister shakes his head, but he has not given the people of New South Wales the assurances they need about the future of their services.
The Hon. Michael Costa: Who signed the contract with Maintrain? It was the Greiner Government. That was the contractor that did the maintenance on the trains. But I will point all this out.
The Hon. PATRICIA FORSYTHE: Insufficient drivers have been trained. The motion refers to the net effect of the so-called recruitment campaign conducted between 2000 and 2004. It was two additional drivers. Today we have heard a litany of problems caused under the watch of the present Minister for Transport Services. Ferry services are impacted by strikes. There were collisions between the ferry Lady Herron and the RiverCat Betty Cuthbert. There has been a litany of ferry service problems. In January Taronga Zoo launched a significant media campaign.
The Hon. Jan Burnswoods: Was Mr Costa the Minister?
The Hon. PATRICIA FORSYTHE: The honourable member has not heard the end of the story. In January a significant and costly media campaign encouraged tourists and those on holidays to visit the zoo. People responded to the advertisements and the next day they turned up at Circular Quay to use the ferries to visit the zoo, but the ticketing system—
The Hon. Jan Burnswoods: It was Australia Day.
The Hon. PATRICIA FORSYTHE: No, it was not Australia Day. Channel 9 ran the series of advertisements during one of the televised games of cricket—the highest rating period—to get the community to visit the zoo. When hundreds and hundreds of people responded to the advertisements we had chaos at Circular Quay because there is no whole-of-government approach to these sorts of issues. Clearly, the ferry system was operating on a holiday timetable and, therefore, it was not able to respond to the Government's actions. The Government does not understand that the flow-on effect of such a media campaign might be that people want to use ferries to visit the zoo.
Whether it is tourists on that occasion or commuters last week in Sydney, people vote with their feet and will not use those services again. Last week we saw chaos on the roads because people were not prepared to wait, as they had to wait, for trains that were not running. A headline in one of the newspapers on 13 January read "Packed in like sardines: Chaos on harbour ferries". People were packed in because the system could not cope with the Government adopting a positive and proactive approach to encourage tourism in Sydney. Somebody forgot to tell Sydney Ferries. It was a complete breakdown in the whole-of-government approach. At the end of the day the Minister has to take some responsibility for this.
The Hon. Michael Costa: I take total responsibility.
The Hon. PATRICIA FORSYTHE: He has to take responsibility for the chaos last week.
The Hon. Michael Costa: But I don't engage in stunts, nor do I waste people's time.
The Hon. PATRICIA FORSYTHE: So he does take responsibility for last week.
The Hon. Michael Costa: Absolutely!
The Hon. PATRICIA FORSYTHE: That is worth getting on the record.
The Hon. Michael Costa: It is already on the record. If you had bothered to research the record you would have seen that. You are just wasting everybody's time. You got caught out by Egan. You pulled a stunt and you got caught out. You are wasting everybody's time.
The Hon. PATRICIA FORSYTHE: I have been looking for the opportunity to share with the House information I have from one commuter in Newcastle that reflects what people across New South Wales have been saying to the Opposition day after day, whether it is because of incidents such as the gas leak or wider issues, such as the chaos of last week because the Government could not solve the problem of driver shortages or because no plan was in place when a significant advertising campaign was introduced in January. The system is in chaos. The community is voting with its feet. Many people will never again use the train system, the bus system or the ferry service because they are not reliable. Public transport must be reliable, safe and efficient. None of those things can be said about those services during the time of this Minister.
The Hon. AMANDA FAZIO [5.23 p.m.]: I will speak briefly in this debate. I will leave it to the Minister for Transport Services to respond to the substantive arguments in the motion moved by the Leader of the Opposition. The Hon. Patricia Forsythe was incorrect when she stated that I had written a press release for the honourable member for Monaro, who is more than capable of preparing his own press releases. I have never prepared a press release for Steve Whan. I know that the Hon. Greg Pearce will have all of his desires answered when the Hon. Michael Costa responds in detail to this matter.
The Hon. DUNCAN GAY (Deputy Leader of the Opposition) [5.24 p.m.]: This censure motion is about accountability. I will detail when the Minister for Transport Services has not been accountable to the House.
The Hon. Michael Costa: Good. I want to hear it. No-one else has.
The Hon. DUNCAN GAY: I will detail 40 questions that have been asked of the Minister when he said he would give an answer, but did not give an answer nor did he give an answer to the people who asked it. I will detail 94 times when the Minister has been asked questions on accountability, and used inferences, imputations, and derogatory and offensive expressions in response to those questions without notice. I will detail with his own work why the Minister should be censured: he does not believe he is accountable to this House for his role. The Minister is responsible for transport in this State, but he is not properly carrying out his duties. On 3 December the Hon. Charlie Lynn asked a question on the Thirroul—
The Hon. Amanda Fazio: Point of order: My point of order relates to relevance. The very detailed 2½-page censure motion against the Minister for Transport Services moved by the Hon. Michael Gallacher gives chapter and verse the alleged failures of the Minister during the discharge of his responsibilities in his portfolio. Nowhere in the motion was the Minister's response to questions without notice or upon notice in this House. Therefore, I ask that you rule on the point of relevance that the issues raised by the Hon. Duncan Gay, an allegation that many questions have not been answered satisfactorily, are not within the scope of the censure motion placed before the Chamber by the Hon. Michael Gallacher.
The Hon. Don Harwin: To the point of order: Paragraph 2 of the motion refers to the accountability of this Government and the Minister. It is clearly covered and, therefore, the honourable member's comments are relevant.
[[ltab]][[ltab]The DEPUTY-PRESIDENT (The Hon. Tony Burke): Order! The honourable member is in order.
The Hon. DUNCAN GAY: Had the honourable member and the Minister read this and a lot of other things, we would not be here today. On 3 December the Hon. Charlie Lynn asked a question about the Thirroul tunnel. The Minister's response was, "If the Hon. Charlie Lynn provides me with details of his question, I will obtain a response from the Minister and inform him accordingly." Action: none. On 3 December Mr Ian Cohen asked a question about Bago State Forest logging. The Minister said, "I am happy to obtain advice on the matter and return to the House with the details." No details. On 3 December the Hon. Patricia Forsythe asked a question about the Powerhouse Museum Eveleigh site. The Minister's response was, "I do not have detailed information on this. However, I will take advice and ensure that a process is put in place to resolve these matters and report back to the House on the matter." Action: none. On 2 December the Leader of the Opposition asked a question about taxi and hire car licences. The Minister said, "I am happy to provide those details", but of course he has not.
On 19 November the Leader of the Opposition asked a question about ports freight strategy, to which the Minister's response was, "I do not have a response to the honourable member's question. However, I am happy to take that question on notice." Response: zilch. On 13 November 2003 the Hon. Charlie Lynn asked a question about the Independent Pricing and Regulatory Tribunal private bus operators recommendations, and the Minister replied:
I am not aware of the information. If the Hon. Charlie Lynn provides my office with the information I will look into the matter.
The Minister has not done so. On 12 November 2003 the Hon. John Tingle asked a question related to photography on trains, to which the Minister replied:
I do not know the details of the incident referred to by the honourable member, but I will obtain advice.
The Minister has not done that, and there are 14 other examples of the Minister's failure to follow up. The Minister hates what I am saying. He wants to take points of order. The Minister challenged the Opposition to bring on this debate, and when we have, he shows himself to be a wimp.
The Hon. Michael Costa: Point of order: These statements are inaccurate. I provided information on every one of these questions.
[[ltab]][[ltab]The DEPUTY-PRESIDENT (The Hon. Tony Burke): Order! There is no point of order.
The Hon. DUNCAN GAY: On 28 October 2003, the Hon. David Oldfield asked a question about Wagga Wagga taxidriver safety, and the Minister replied, "I will advise the House of the council's action in due course." Of course, "due course" has not happened yet. Also on 28 October a question was asked relating to CountryLink and the Minister replied, "If the honourable member can produce the memo, I am certainly happy to get advice on it." He has not done so.
The Hon. Michael Costa: Point of order: The honourable member did not provide the memo.
[[ltab]][[ltab]The DEPUTY-PRESIDENT (The Hon. Tony Burke): Order! There is no point of order.
The Hon. DUNCAN GAY: It is interesting that the Minister now wants to give us answers, but he has not wanted to give us any answers previously. The Minister has challenged the Opposition to produce the goods, and when we do, he is a world-class wimp. He has not been doing his job and the Opposition has caught him out. The Minister's contempt has been exposed. On 1 July 2003 a question was asked relating to the Stanwell Park viaduct, and on 4 December 2002 the Hon. Don Harwin asked a question to which the Minister replied, "... I will certainly seek advice...", and we are still waiting for that advice.
On 4 December 2002 Reverend the Hon. Dr Gordon Moyes asked a question relating to pedestrian fatalities, and the Minister said, "That is a detailed question. I will get advice and come back to the House." The Minister has not done so. On 20 November 2002 the Hon. James Samios asked a question relating to DNA testing policy, to which the Minister replied:
I am not aware of the examples raised by the Hon. James Samios, and I will get some information about them.
On 12 December 2002 the Hon. Helen Sham-Ho asked a question relating to Fairfield police local area command. The Minister said, "I will take that question on notice because it involves some detail." Again, the Minister did not provide an answer. On 5 September 2002 the Hon. Don Harwin asked a question relating to car rebirthing. The Minister replied:
I am happy to take the question on notice and provide a detailed answer if the honourable member has something more specific to add.
No details were provided. Does the Minister's tactic ring a bell? Not since the Hon. Eddie Obeid was a Minister have honourable members seen such a disregard for the House. The Minister says that he will follow up questions, but I have a list of 40 questions that were not answered.
The Hon. Michael Gallacher: Bring Eddie back!
The Hon. DUNCAN GAY: Members of the Opposition say, "Bring Eddie back." The Hon. Eddie Obeid was probably more accountable to the House than the Hon. Michael Costa has been. The Hon. Eddie Obeid gave the House next to nothing, but the Hon. Michael Costa is giving even less than that. Every now and then the Hon. Michael Costa gives a reply, but 40 questions dating back to 28 November 2001 remain unanswered. On 28 November 2001 the Hon. John Ryan asked a question relating to police rosters, and the Minister has not provided the information. The House has been waiting a long time. The Minister has not confined his contempt solely to his current portfolio responsibilities, he is a serial offender. He entered this Chamber with an attitude of arrogance and he has not lost it. He shows blatant disregard for the Parliament and for the people of New South Wales.
The Hon. Michael Costa: I have not lost it. It is growing.
The Hon. DUNCAN GAY: As the Minister indicates, that disregard is growing, and so is his arrogance. That is an indication of the contempt with which the Minister treats this House. I have provided the House with a detailed list of unanswered questions and I could add even more, but I fear I will run out of time, because I want to mention the 94 members of this House whom the Minister denigrated instead of answering their questions. On 4 December 2003 the Hon. Don Harwin asked a question relating to rail drug evaluation unit officers, and the Minister replied:
It is absurd for the Opposition to ask these detailed questions. All Ministers are confronted by this complete waste of time. I am sure that if the Opposition were ever to get into government—a highly unlikely prospect given the way that honourable members opposite perform—it would be confronted...
This is another example of a non-answer in the form of denigration of the honourable member who asked the question. On 3 December 2003 the Hon. Lee Rhiannon asked a question related to the ports growth plan, to which the Minister replied, "We certainly do not have a five-year plan a la the Stalinist Gosplan approach to five-year plans." That was another example of denigration of the honourable member instead of answering the question. On the same day Mr Ian Cohen asked a question relating to Bago State Forest logging, and the Minister replied in part:
... I would be surprised if the facts presented by the member are correct... I apologise if the honourable member took some umbrage at what I said. It was not directed at him; it was directed at his two lunatic friends, because I know that he is a genuine tree lover.
The honourable member asked a fair question, but he received denigration in response; yet the Minister expects this House not to censure him. On 2 December 2003 the Leader of the Opposition asked a question relating to taxi and hire car licences and the Minister replied, "This is a completely ridiculous question...". On 2 December 2003 the Hon. Catherine Cusack asked a question relating to rail infrastructure maintenance and the Minister said:
It is a terrible question, but I will answer it... It is interesting to note that every time there is a problem with the rail system the Leader of the Opposition, the shadow Minister, gets up like a jack-in-the-box to make an ill-informed comment on matters about which he has no understanding.
The Minister replied with denigration, not with an answer.
The Hon. Michael Costa: That was a fairly accurate answer.
The Hon. DUNCAN GAY: That comment shows the Minister's arrogance. The Minister is facing the censure of this House. He does not realise that a Minister in this State must be accountable for his actions. It is bad enough that the Minister's performance is very ordinary, but it is worse that he cannot accept accountability or accept that he has a responsibility to answer questions asked by the Opposition. The Minister's failure to acknowledge his responsibility will work against him when the House votes on this motion. On 18 November 2003 the Leader of the Opposition asked a perfectly proper question about Seniors public transport concessions, and the Minister replied:
The Leader of the Opposition has made a fool of himself by constantly putting out press releases stating, "Costa refuses to rule out" this and that. On that basis, he might as well say that I rule out the proposition that he is very foolish in the way he asks questions.
The Minister did not answer the question, he just reverted to more slagging of members who ask questions. On 18 November 2003 the Hon. Catherine Cusack asked a question relating to the North Coast rail sleeper project, and the Minister replied:
I thought this was going to be a serious question. Again, the research done by the Opposition leader leaves a lot to be desired... In relation to the sleeper program, the chief executive of the State Rail Authority issued a press release, which I suggest researchers of the Opposition obtain. I will not refer to matters that are on the public record; I will not do their research for them.
On 11 November 2003 the Leader of the Opposition asked a question relating to the Waterfall rail accident inquiry. The Minister replied, "This is a completely absurd question." The Minister's response on that occasion is typical of his responses to questions. On 12 November 2003 the Hon. Lee Rhiannon asked a question relating to ports freight strategy, and the Minister replied:
She should have gone back to 1966 when I believed in the tooth fairy. I was 10 years old at the time. Today I do not believe in the tooth fairy, but she still does, I gather from the political position she holds. She may want to go back to 1956, the year I was born. I was saying things like "ga ga", which is an appropriate response to questions from the Greens.
The Hon. Michael Costa: Ha, ha. I think that is a great answer.
The Hon. DUNCAN GAY: The Minister laughs; he thinks this is funny. On 28 October 2003 the Hon. Greg Pearce asked a question relating to the Millennium trains. The Minister replied:
To the Hon. John Ryan—no, you could not do it, but I notice that you are not wearing white shirts any more. I told you about the white shirts.
That was the Minister's response to a question about Millennium trains, so how can anyone take this Minister seriously? The Hon. Patricia Forsythe asked a question about the Canberra and Queanbeyan rail services, in response to which the Minister said:
I acknowledge the interjection from Dennis Denuto about cutting services.
Later, in response to a point of order, the Minister said:
To the point of order: I clearly remember that on a previous occasion the honourable member expressed some pride because I had used the same description when referring to him. On that occasion he informed the House that Dennis Denuto had in fact won his case; he said that he has the same legal skills as Dennis Denuto.
And on he goes. The Minister did not answer a further 94 questions. I am sure that every crossbench and Opposition member of the House has been denigrated by the Minister after having asked proper questions. I am not sure whether this term is parliamentary–and I will stand corrected if it is not—but he really is the ultimate smart-arse. And that is the attitude he has adopted, rather than responding seriously to things that happen in this State. I will quote from the 94 unanswered questions at random. On 22 May 2003 the Hon. Melinda Pavey asked the Minister a question about timber railway sleepers. The Minister answered:
The honourable member should relax. She is always jumping up, all excited because she has been able to ask a question … As a member on our back bench once said to me, "If we run out of logs, we can always use National Party members".
Minister, what a good response to a serious question! That is an example of why he is in trouble, but he does not realise it. As we debate the censure motion he is still acting like a buffoon. On 8 May 2003 the Hon. Tony Burke asked the Minister a question about Stoney Creek Bridge. The Minister answered:
That letter was written by an engineer, not a couple of clowns running around the bridge, operating in a reckless manner and endangering public safety.
The Hon. Greg Pearce asked a question about the Newcastle to Woodville Junction Rail Line, to which the Minister replied:
It is a new Parliament and Dennis Denuto asks the same sorts of questions. I do not mind answering the question, which was full of invective and spleen, but it is absolute nonsense.
On 6 May 2003 the Leader of the Opposition asked a question about State Rail Authority infringement notices quotas.
The Hon. Michael Costa: Waste of time.
The Hon. DUNCAN GAY: The Minister might not like this, but he asked the Opposition to provide details. He has tried to take points of order against us. We are debating this motion because he will not answer important questions. He wastes the time of the House during question time, and that is why the motion of censure was moved. The Opposition will do you over slowly, cobber; you are going to hate every one of these quotations. If I do not finish listing the 94 questions, some of my colleagues will detail them. They are not good reading, nor are they good listening. The Minister has been a fool, and has been caught out. His staff have been worried about him and tried to pull him into line, but he keeps escaping from them. No wonder his staff have changed. The Hon. Melinda Pavey asked the Minister a question about the King Bros bus group. The Minister replied:
What an absurd question. It is an allegation of a statement with no attribution, yet I am required to somehow express knowledge of it and discuss whether it was appropriate. I do not know who made that statement. Unless the Hon. Melinda Pavey can provide some additional information, she should not waste our time. I know it might have taken her hours to write the question, but it is a real fizzer.
That is hardly the answer people would want. On 30 April 2003 the Hon. John Ryan asked a question about the Menangle Bridge closure and an investigation by the ICAC, to which the Minister replied:
In the spirit of ensuring that the public is fully satisfied and that the Opposition does not continue to make ill-informed statements that undermine confidence in the rail system, I will take that question on notice and provide a detailed answer.
Of course, no detailed answer has been given.
Reverend the Hon. Fred Nile: Point of order: The Deputy Leader of the Opposition used a term that he said may not be parliamentary, and which he would not normally use in the House. I believe that term is unparliamentary and should be withdrawn.
[[ltab]][[ltab]The DEPUTY-PRESIDENT (The Hon. Tony Burke): That would certainly assist the Chair.
The Hon. DUNCAN GAY: I withdraw the term.
Reverend the Hon. Fred Nile: I do not want you to set a precedent.
The Hon. DUNCAN GAY: I accept that. However, honourable members should be aware of what caused me to use that term, and who caused it! It is appalling that this House has been held in contempt by the Minister. On 4 December 2002 the Hon. Rick Colless asked a question about single-officer police stations. The Minister does not like what is happening, he has left the House. He challenged us to substantiate the motion, and when we serve up his own words he walks out.
The Minister has walked out of the House during a censure motion. That is an indication that he has walked away from everything he has tried in this State. He was moved out of Police before his problems caught up with him. Watkins has those problems at the moment. The Minister has refused to answer questions in his current portfolio as he did when he had the Police portfolio. Since he entered this House he has treated it with contempt. He took a certain course to get a white ministerial car, and he was in a position to help the people of New South Wales. Instead he treated question time and Parliament with contempt, and for that he should be censured. [Time expired.]
The Hon. GREG PEARCE [5.44 p.m.]: It is in quite extraordinary circumstances that I address this motion of censure of the Minister for Transport Services. The Minister has shown such contempt for the House and for the people of New South Wales that he has left the Chamber and is not even listening to the debate on the motion. That in itself, in my view, is sufficient reason to censure the Minister. He has no idea of ministerial responsibility or accountability, and he should be censured. The Minister deserves censure because in less than a year he has achieved what his predecessors, slippery Carl Scully and the corrupt Brian Langton, failed to achieve in eight years. The Minister has brought the State's rail system to a grinding halt. He has done that with the connivance and support of Premier Carr and Treasurer Egan.
Scully and Carr have been incompetent. I do not need to repeat the cost overruns and delays in the major public transport projects that they tried to deliver to the State—the Millennium train and the bus transitways, to name a couple. Scully and Carr have been negligent, allowing the rundown of infrastructure in the State in a way that will take decades to recover—when they are removed from office and if someone has an opportunity to attend to that neglect. Scully and Carr have been dishonest, they have covered up the true state of rail infrastructure, and they have conned the public. It is worth reminding the House of the Christie report. On 25 February 2002 an article by Darren Goodsir and Joseph Kerr on the front page of the Sydney Morning Herald stated:
Sydney's rail system is perilously close to "strangulation" because of soaring passenger numbers and recurring track and train faults, confidential reports warn.
The findings, kept secret for more than a year, say "operational paralysis" can be avoided only by adding new lines and up to 80 stations, buying 770 carriages worth $2.2 billion and spending at least $20 billion in the next decade on urgent maintenance.
The State Government has suppressed the documents, written last year by its former rail supremo Ron Christie, because of their explosive revelations about the deteriorating network, CBD congestion and safety concerns.
This is despite Mr Christie recommending that the reports be released to stimulate public debate on public transport priorities and funding options.
"The system is rapidly approaching gridlock," he found. "This is already manifest in the extreme day-to-day sensitivity of the rail services to even the most minor of disruptive incidents.
"The system is not capable of consistently attaining public expectations because key infrastructure has not been adequately maintained.
So the Government was warned at least a year before February 2002. And the public was told of these problems in February 2002. The Government has continued to hide those findings and it has failed to make the necessary commitment to infrastructure. The predictions in that report about this Minister have come to pass. In less than 12 months this Minister has created the chaos in the State Rail network that we have seen in the past few weeks. He brought the system to a halt. For good measure, or perhaps for further punishment, the ferries have even ground to a halt. This Minister's bullying, incompetence and inexperience have led him, panicking, to make knee-jerk decisions.
Let us not forget that less than a year ago this Minister's predecessor, slippery Carl Scully, announced, or secretly issued, this Government's transport policy after the election. That policy included the additional expenditure of $192 million on transport, including 80 new carriages for Sydney's rail system, the duplication of the Cronulla rail line, and other items. A quick look at this Minister's record reveals that he has already broken all his predecessor's promises. But his record is even worse than that. Honourable members should remember that he was the fellow who, as the former Minister for Police, dispatched Peter Ryan with his $450,000 payoff. The police service is so underresourced and unprepared that it led to the Redfern riot last week.
The new Minister for Police, Minister Watkins, admitted to operational failures, police underresourcing, and the need for a parliamentary inquiry into policing generally, particularly in the Redfern area and into the performance of this Government. Those problems were exacerbated under the watch of the former Minister for Police. What is the record of the Minister in his current portfolio? The first thing that was apparent was that he had no idea about the way in which this Government's finances work. In his first few days in his portfolio he tried to attack the Opposition in relation to its $120 million election campaign commitment for urgent rail maintenance. He said that the Coalition's election campaign commitment was unfunded. We know now that the Opposition's commitment was essential. More than $120 million must be spent urgently on rail maintenance.
In one of his first utterances, the Minister demonstrated his complete ignorance about the way in which government in this State is funded. When we pointed out to him that the funding was to come from uncommitted capital expenditure in the public enterprise trading sector, he scurried away because no doubt he had been told by someone on his staff that that was how the funding promise was to be met. His next big problem was the Millennium train. To give him some credit in relation to this issue, he was not entirely responsible for the Millennium train problems. However, once he got his fingers into the pie he made sure that what was already a disaster became catastrophic. All honourable members would recall that the Millennium trains were three years late and $100 million-plus over budget, with more to be spent in due course.
The Millennium trains were rushed into service for the March election. Breakdowns then occurred and safety issues were revealed. Honourable members will recall the problem relating to the lack of power in the system that needed $30 million or $50 million to fix it up. Under the watch of this Minister there were more delays in train deliveries and problems with commissioning the trains. The 40-year-old rattlers were not replaced and the Millennium trains did not deliver a new capacity. The creaking, overcrowded system prevailed. As soon as the Minister realised there was a problem—it took him a couple of months to do so—he pulled the trains out of service. He then got into the blame game and started to blame CityRail management. I again refer briefly to some of his comments. On 2 April he said:
What we've got is a management problem and those problems need to be addressed...
He then said:
I come from a railway background and have heard these complaints for a long time.
The Minister had heard these complaints for a long time, but what did he do about it? He panicked, took the Millennium trains out of service, and did not know what else to do other than blame management. He continued along those lines for several months. In August he expanded the blame game and included managers of the State Rail Authority and the Rail Infrastructure Corporation [RIC]. He started sacking people. He sacked, amongst others, John Cowling, the boss of RIC and arranged to give Mr Cowling $350,000 to go away. The Minister was quoted in the Newcastle Herald on 1 August as stating:
I lay fully the blame for these problems at the feet of management and the board...
When the Minister was asked why Mr Carl Scully should not be blamed he said:
I've said all along this is not an issue for casting blame.
That is just incredible! As we all know, the Minister told everyone in the gallery that Carl Scully was really to blame until he was reigned in by the Premier and told that he really had to stop that. He then sacked as many people as he could and, as he no longer could blame management, he started to blame EDI, the Millennium train contractor. In an article in the Newcastle Herald in July he said:
The problems lay solely at the feet of the EDI and its subcontractors...
He continued with that line throughout August. As he did not know what else to do he started to lay down deadlines to get the Millennium trains fixed. Early in August he told EDI that it had a 10-day deadline to mend the troubled MiLemon trains. Later, in August, he changed that to a 15-day deadline. In all that time the public of New South Wales were suffering from overcrowded trains. Money had been lost on the Millennium trains and, just to cap off the Minister's incompetence, during the period the Millennium trains were parked in Eveleigh railway yards, the Minister was paying EDI about $1 million a month to maintain them.
I do not know whether that stopped, because this Minister does not account to the Parliament for what he has been doing, but on CityRail's own admission it paid maintenance of about $2.6 million to June 2003 on the MiLemon trains that were parked in that maintenance area. People know what this Minister has been up to. They have recognised his habit of sacking public servants. As soon as Vince Graham was involved he became the front man for all these problems. It is interesting to read some of the commentaries of some of the players around the place. A newspaper article on 15 August 2003 states:
Rod Cameron, head of ANOP Research Services and a former ALP pollster, said the government's strategy—
he was referring to the MiLemon trains—
was one of "trying to maximise the extent to which the blame is shifted away from the government" by publicly voicing its issues with the manufacturer.
It has been the practice of this Government to blame people whenever anything goes wrong. It does not deal with the issues or accept any responsibility for them. The Millennium train issue has not been referred to since the end of October 2003, when the Chief Executive Officer of Downer EDI, the manufacturer of the Millennium train, went public and told shareholders at an annual general meeting that the MiLemon train had been rushed into service before the election to assist the Government in putting forward its spin and continuing its con of the public in this State.
The Minister's knee-jerk reaction also involved cancelling part of the Parramatta to Epping rail link. There were jobs for the boys, with Barrie Unsworth doing a review of bus services. I will not repeat some of the comments by the Deputy Leader of the Opposition about the performances of the Minister for Transport Services in this place. In addition to his buffoonery and arrogance, the Minister is incredibly evasive. I refer honourable members to question time on 30 October 2003, when the Hon. Patricia Forsythe requested the Minister to give an undertaking that rolling stock would remain available to continue rail services to Canberra, and rural and regional communities such as Goulburn, Tarago, Bungendore and Queanbeyan. The Minister responded by saying:
This question is out of order having regard to the standing orders. The question clearly seeks to canvass an opinion from me.
The Minister took a point of order in an attempt to avoid answering the question.
Pursuant to resolution business interrupted.
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