Cessnock Public Transport

Mr KERRY HICKEY (Cessnock) [1.48 p.m.]: Madam Deputy Speaker, as you come from Cessnock you will relate to my private member's statement on the importance of transport to the community of Cessnock. Cessnock has no public transport system; it relies heavily upon the private transport system provided by Rover Coaches, which is under the management of Mr Aaron Lewis who presently is surveying people at the Morisset railway station to determine whether there should be a bus service from Cessnock to Morisset. The Ministry for Transport has requested, and expects, that the hardworking providers of transport across the whole of regional and rural New South Wales will demonstrate a need for a bus service from Cessnock to Morisset.

I have raised this issue many times in this House. We have petitions and statements from community members about the need for a transport service between Cessnock and Morisset. The survey is being conducted not only at Morisset railway station but also at Maitland railway station, where commuters are expected to fill in a form explaining why they travel to Sydney. As the local member I have the misfortune—or fortune, I suppose—to travel by rail to the Cessnock electorate on occasions. The trip from Central Station to Cessnock is six hours and another hour is spent on the bus from Maitland to Cessnock. If the transport ministry bestowed upon Cessnock electorate a route to Morisset the trip would be shortened to three hours.

This is where the lunacy lies. Bureaucrats in the Ministry of Transport are arguing the need for these services. We have the community and the transport provider on side. The Chief Executive Officer of Rover Coaches has streamlined his business. He has cut many thousands of kilometres from his routes for the benefit of the business. Private transport providers are expected to do that. Now the ministry is saying that, because Rover Coaches streamlined its business before it was asked to do so, it must streamline the business even further before it can be given more kilometres to run a service between Cessnock and Morisset.

The Cessnock electorate has many communities that were built on poppet heads, which were built on top of mines. Villages such as Ellalong, Paxton and Millfield sprung up around the mines. The people in those villages, who are mostly elderly, need transport in the Cessnock community. To streamline his business the owner of Rover Coaches has had to cut services to the community. How bizarre is that? The Ministry of Transport needs to look at what this provider has done to get the substantive business he has today. He has streamlined and he has made cuts to make an extremely good business. Now the bureaucrats are saying, "Because you've done all that we won't allow you to open another route. We won't give you more kilometres." How bizarre is that for a community that is six hours travelling time from Sydney? It takes local residents six hours to get to medical appointments in Sydney for major health problems. Frankly, that is bizarre.

We may be providing community transport and other aspects of transport in the community, but this bus route is needed now. The community has been waiting years for this service. The Ministry of Transport should provide either a bus service or a train service to Cessnock—the lines are there. The community should not be suffering or going without. It deserves better. I ask the Minister responsible to look at what the Ministry of Transport is doing to this provider and ensure that my community receives the same delivery of service as that of many communities across the Sydney electorates.

Mrs KARYN PALUZZANO (Penrith—Parliamentary Secretary) [1.53 p.m.]: I thank the member for Cessnock for speaking so passionately about bus services in his area. Much can be said about bus services in rural and regional New South Wales, particularly in relation to the network of communities. It is vital to have connections between communities. Similarly, in the Penrith electorate and the lower Blue Mountains, roads connect many communities, and vast distances must often be travelled to get to medical appointments. Private operators provide bus services in the Penrith and Cessnock electorates. I commend the bus service operator, Rover Coaches, for surveying local residents.

At present a similar survey is being conducted in Penrith by Westbus. The constituents and bus users of Penrith have until about 8 December to complete a survey and tell the Ministry of Transport what they require. As the member for Cessnock articulated, bus users know what is commonsense in their area. They know where they need to get to and when they need to get there. The member for Cessnock acknowledged community transport. The great community transport scheme in my area assists commuters to get to medical appointments. I commend the member for Cessnock, and I look forward to further instalments about the Ministry of Transport.