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Mr THOMAS GEORGE (Lismore) [5.23 p.m.]: Tonight I wish to speak about a problem similar to one I first highlighted in this House in June 2004. I refer to the lack of security and the lack of facilities at country railway stations available for use by CountryLink bus and/or train passengers. In June 2004 I highlighted a problem at Casino that Mrs Murphy wrote to me about. It related to a night when some young people were put off a train at Casino and became a nuisance in the community which, because it does not have 24-hour policing, led to further problems. I have now had raised with me another matter involving CountryLink buses that provide a transport service where CountryLink train services are cancelled and replaced with CountryLink buses.
An elderly Casino resident, Mrs Queenie Gill, was travelling to Sydney by train to see her family. I compliment the bus company for running 45 minutes early when it arrived at the station. That left this 78-year-old lady at a station that was unattended and had no security, and at a time when no-one else was at the station. This small country station where passengers were dropped off by bus has no public phones from which she could ring her family to say she had arrived early, and she did not have a mobile phone. Here she was at a station without any way of getting a message to her family.
As she stood at the station a young gentleman appeared on a pushbike, and the inevitable happened: he stole her handbag. Mrs Gill was in no position to chase the young man. The specially-made handbag had been given to her on her 75th birthday by the family; it had all her private cards, banking details and so on. That caused her major concerns. The next day the family went back to the area, were able to find the young fellow, performed a citizen's arrest, I am informed by the family, and retrieved the handbag—but none of the contents. They were happy to get mother's favourite handbag back. This event emphasises concerns about CountryLink bus services picking up and dropping off people at centres that do not have facilities. When people arrive at Lismore station, where the bus picks up passengers to take to Casino to rejoin the XPT service to Sydney, unless CountryLink staff are on duty, they do not have any of the usual facilities.
Though some of us arrive just in time to be picked up, others who are well organised like to be half an hour early. Naturally, they would like to have the normal facilities that other travellers use before going on a long bus journey. Those facilities are not available at Lismore station. People therefore walk across the road to the closest facilities, which are in the hotel. This lack of station facilities is causing major concern for a lot of travellers in Lismore. Doug Hogon and Jeff Walsh of the Station Hotel generously provide the facility. Some travellers might have a drink, but nine times out of 10 they have water or lemonade. They are still welcome to use the hotel's facilities. In this day and age, when all businesses are accountable for water use, this is a problem. Nevertheless, the hotel is providing facilities that are not available at the station at times when they are needed. I call on the Minister to address these issues.