Cheltenham Railway Station

Mr GREG SMITH (Epping) [1.55 p.m.]: I do not think this is an organised conspiracy against the transport department, but I refer to the outrageous attack on the commuters of Cheltenham by RailCorp blocking access to the waiting room on Cheltenham station. This RailCorp decision, like so many others, was made without any consultation and, once again, shows the State Government's contempt for the commuters of Cheltenham. Blocking off the waiting room at Cheltenham without any meaningful notification or consultation is ridiculous, and I will not tolerate such a vicious assault on my electorate; neither will the good people of Cheltenham and especially not the worthy Beecroft-Cheltenham Civic Trust. The first information commuters had about these changes was when they arrived at Cheltenham station and went to take a seat in the waiting room and saw it all boarded up.

Is this what counts as consultation for this State Government? It has put up a wall, again. People can draw their own inference. There was not even a sign on the construction site to tell commuters what was going on behind the plywood boarding. Commuters were left to gather what was happening for themselves. When residents called RailCorp they gained little information and were usually met with a run-around. When my office contacted RailCorp it took days to get a reply as to what was going on, and it was quite aggressive. This is not good enough when it comes to notification. With significant changes such as this the community should be informed and invited to make representations, not be left out in the cold and told nothing. Cheltenham station already has few areas undercover and protected from the elements, and the loss of the waiting room is a severe blow to local commuters and the station's amenity.

In wet weather a lot of people wait in the waiting room for cars to approach the parking area—there is very little parking area—and to get into the car so that they do not get wet. It is ridiculous for the Government to turn a waiting room, which services the public, into a communications room. While new facilities at Cheltenham station are welcomed, they cannot come at the expense of putting commuters out in the cold. There are plenty of places in close proximity to Cheltenham station where a communications room could be established without jeopardising the amenity of local commuters. It could be added on to where the staff have their rooms. However, the Government, by its actions, seems hell bent on jeopardising the amenity of local commuters at Cheltenham rather than expanding services at the station.

I have written to the Minister for Transport and requested that he outline the State Government's plans for the station, and demanded that the waiting room not be lost to commuters. Unfortunately, it seems the Government's actions have rendered the waiting room already lost. It is now time the Government committed to building a new waiting room for Cheltenham commuters, and providing them with protection from the elements. Hopefully, the Minister will finally commit to Cheltenham residents and provide them with this valuable amenity. Unfortunately, the people of Cheltenham and Beecroft have often been victims of the work of RailCorp and the Transport Infrastructure Development Corporation [TIDC]. First the residents were traumatised a couple of years ago by plans to send the north-west rail link through the village green, which would have had a devastating impact on the local environment and community. After more than 800 submissions were made TIDC withdrew that proposal.

Recently the community has been inconvenienced by the redevelopment of the Copeland Road bridge. This project should have been finished months ago but, because of the Government's inability to deliver infrastructure, the people of Cheltenham are still living with the inconvenience. I thank the President of the Beecroft-Cheltenham Civic Trust, Colin Johnston, the former president, Caroline Watt, and the former Hornsby councillor and deputy mayor, Felicity Findlay, for their tireless efforts in standing up for the community on this issue. Their work is a great credit to the community and the care that Cheltenham residents have for their local environment.

Commuters at Cheltenham already put up with the latest running trains on the network, thanks to Labor, and they will not even be able to sit under cover while forced to wait for their train. This simply is not good enough. Minister Campbell must make a commitment to Cheltenham commuters. We have had news today that we will be penalised if we drive over the Sydney Harbour Bridge or through the harbour tunnel during working hours. People in other areas of Sydney are not so penalised. Again, it is not fair to tax people who do not live in Labor electorates and who are not provided with proper public transport. In particular, the residents of the north-west have been let down badly. Approximately 300,000 people reside there, with no proper public transport. The Government talk about 100 buses. It needs 1,000 buses! Where will it get drivers from anyway? Those people cannot be discriminated against forever.