Queanbeyan Rail Services

About this Item
Speakers - Cochran Mr Peter; Photios Mr Michael
Business - Private Members Statements

QUEANBEYAN RAIL SERVICES

Mr COCHRAN (Monaro) [5.36]: I rise on behalf of the residents of Queanbeyan to allay the fears, anxieties and concerns raised by a scare campaign being undertaken by local branches of the Australian Labor Party, the Mayor of Queanbeyan, Frank Pangallo, and others associated with an effort to discredit the State Rail Authority and its employees in Queanbeyan and the surrounding area. The campaign of misinformation is not in the best interests of the people of Queanbeyan and the tourist potential of the area. Local business houses have expressed grave concern to me in regard to the future of Queanbeyan railway station.

Mayor Pangallo and Labor members of the local council continually misstate the truth in the local media. They have led people to believe that Queanbeyan railway station will remain unmanned following the introduction of Xplorer train services and that the station will not receive major upgrading. They have claimed that the Xplorer service will not start before Christmas. All sorts of rumours and innuendo have been expressed in the local media. What has been peddled in the community is blatant lies purely for political gain. The people involved have no concern whatsoever for Queanbeyan. It is dreadful, to say the least, that people should engage in such tactics simply to score cheap political points.

For example, recently the mayor of Queanbeyan distributed a press release in which he said that it was quite apparent that the needs of Queanbeyan rail commuters had been completely ignored by the New South Wales Government. I do not know how a responsible mayor of a city the size of Queanbeyan - 27,000-odd people - could make such a statement when he knows full well that the new Xplorer train is about to be introduced to service in Queanbeyan. A major upgrading program is being undertaken at the railway station. An article in the Queanbeyan Age, not attributed to me but to Mr Bob Hall, Chairman of the Heritage Committee of the Australia Capital Territory, division of the Australian Railway Historical Society, stated:

The State Rail Authority has already agreed to fund a professional paint analysis of the building. They have further agreed to paint the exterior of the station building once a colour scheme has been agreed to.

Mr Hall was responding to comments made about the station on Monday by the Mayor of Queanbeyan, Councillor Frank Pangallo. A litany of other allegations have been made about this issue. It is a disgraceful set of circumstances and people have become confused about them. The mayor and those members of the Labor Party who have conducted this campaign should hang their heads in shame. They should try to promote a more positive approach to what is after all a major investment by the New South Wales Government in public transport in the southeast region of this State.

Negotiations have been taking place for some time with the rail historical society on provision of a ticketing office - no doubt manned by members of that society - at Queanbeyan railway station. The rail historical society, the lessee of that building, will use the station building and its facilities for the benefit of the tourist industry in the surrounding area. The society will run an historic train from Queanbeyan to Michelago and provide a ticketing service. The station will be upgraded. The new Xplorer train is on track. The people of Queanbeyan will live happily ever after, but the Australian Labor Party will not because all its fantasies will fall in a heap.

Mr PHOTIOS (Ermington - Minister for Multicultural and Ethnic Affairs, and Minister Assisting the Minister for Justice) [5.41]: The honourable member for Monaro is well known for his championing of public transport in Queanbeyan. This issue really begs the question about the motives of the Mayor of Queanbeyan. It is a grave matter indeed that a mayor should jeopardise the success of a new and enhanced program in his own city. That behaviour suggests that the mayor is working against the interests of Queanbeyan people and almost begs the question as to the real motives of the Australian Labor Party. Is that party flying a kite for its own policy?

Is the Australian Labor Party suggesting that the new Xplorer service will not continue if one day an Australian Labor Party government gains office? Is that party really asking the New South Wales Government to discontinue its current expansion and updating of programs, both of a capital nature in station upgrading and of a service nature in the new Xplorer service, which will come soon to Queanbeyan despite the best efforts of the Mayor of Queanbeyan to stop it? I join with the honourable member for Monaro in expressing concern about the real motives of the ALP mayor of Queanbeyan. Is the mayor suggesting that ALP policy is to cut back rail service in the face of enhanced delivery of services for which the honourable member for Monaro has fought hard?

Page 4992

Last modified 05/12/2007 16:27:22 : Update this page