- Home
- Hansard & Papers
- Legislative Assembly
- 16 September 2003
Armidale Rail Service
Printing Tips |
Print selected text
| Full Day Hansard Transcript
« Prior Item |
Item 33 of 42
| Next Item »
Page: 3360
Mr TORBAY (Northern Tablelands) [6.07 p.m.]: It is with a sense of deja vu that I speak about the plan of the Minister for Transport Services, Michael Costa, to cut the CountryLink rail service between Tamworth and Armidale. My community is angry because it has faced this scenario before: the same service was cut in 1989 and restored by the Coalition Government in 1993. The script is the same as it was in 1989, as are the production values; only the cast has changed. I challenge the Minister to identify these remarks:
I believe that the changes which we have made to the State's rail services must be viewed within the context of the State Rail Authority's huge operating losses, and the consequent need for significant improvements in efficiency and productivity to enable the State Rail Authority to survive and compete with road coaches …
During our time in office, we have had to make a number of hard decisions such as cutting rail services in order to cut the massive $46 billion debt incurred by the previous administration …
I am confident, however, that in the long run, our policies will achieve a marked improvement in the State's economy and thereby generate better facilities and more efficient service for the people of New South Wales.
They are direct quotes from a letter written by the then Deputy Premier and Minister for State Development and Public Works, the Hon. Wal Murray, addressed to Mr Jeff Watson of Lynland Park, Armidale in March 1990. The people of Armidale and the region waited for those better facilities and more efficient alternative services, but they did not arrive. We are still waiting. This statement was made on 10 October 1993:
… there is going to be a train to Armidale. Is that not marvellous? Is the Government not great? Is Bruce Baird not wonderful for providing a train to Armidale? No. He should not have taken it away in the first place.
The speaker was Brian Langton, the Labor Member for Kogarah and the shadow Minister at that time.
The rhetoric being used by the Minister for Transport Services to justify the recommendations of the Parry report is identical to that used by the Hon. Wal Murray in 1990. He should be charged with plagiarism; he should have acknowledged the Hon. Wal Murray's words. My community agrees with Brian Langton's analysis that the services should not have been removed in the first place.
Members of the Northern Tablelands community, particularly the New England Local Government Group, have made many representations to me regarding the state of the rail infrastructure on the Armidale to Tamworth link. They point out with some justification that there has been little maintenance and few efficiencies and that the level of service has declined. Many people who depend on this rail service now strongly believe that the Government has indulged in a deliberate tactic to justify the cuts proposed in the Parry report and previously.
A meeting I called in Armidale this week was attended by many community leaders, including my colleague the honourable member for Tamworth, the mayors of Armidale Dumaresq and Walcha and representatives of Friends of the Northern Railway and New England Rail. Matthew Tierney, a member of Friends of the Northern Railway and a veteran of the previous battle to restore the local train service, told us that in the 14 years since the first rail closure the cost of the CountryLink service had declined from $206.6 million a year to $149 million a year. However, the passenger fare contribution has increased from 19 per cent to 32 per cent in the same period. That is a good result compared to the CityRail result.
In that period the costs incurred by CityRail services have been an unmitigated disaster. They have soared from $498 million in 1989 to an unbelievable $1,347 million this year. The passenger contribution through fares at the same time dropped from 33 per cent to 31 per cent. Anyone looking at these comparative figures would have to assume that in economic terms, which seem to be the only criteria being used by the Minister for Transport Services, CountryLink's performance has been far superior. Country people in my region and beyond justifiably believe that the cuts signalled in the Parry report have been proposed because of the hopelessly inept management of the CityRail service. People are angry that cuts have been made to a popular means of public transport at a time when, because of lack of competition, prices for regional air services are ridiculously high and the highways are clogged with more and more road transport. Replacing the Armidale rail link with buses is not an option. The people of the Northern Tablelands reject that proposition. They call on the Government to reverse its decision and to look after the people of country New South Wales.
Last modified 05/12/2007 16:31:56 : Update this page