After 12 years, NSW needs more than ‘Sorry’

Peter Debnam's Blog - Thursday, 15th March 2007

On a daily basis, Morris Iemma and John Watkins apologise to the people of NSW for their failure to manage our transport system.

But after twelve years of Labor, sorry is just not good enough.

Everyone remembers the success of the public transport system during the Olympic Games in 2000.  I believe Sydney commuters deserve the same level of reliability and quality we gave the rest of world – not just for the Olympics, but every day.

Under Labor, the part time Transport Minister John Watkins wears a blindfold.

While hundreds of bureaucrats in dozens of agencies all do their own thing, our transport system lurches from one crisis to the next. This is why we have regular transport chaos when anything goes wrong, as it did last night.

The Liberal/Nationals will end Labor’s ‘sorry’ policy on public transport and pull together operational and management responsibility for planning and integrating Sydney’s diverse transport modes, to ensure the best possible connections, inter-operability and ticketing.

We have already said that we will change how Government is run in NSW and reduce the number of Departments and Agencies from around 33 to 9.

As part of a new Transport and Utilities Services Department we will establish a dedicated Transport Services Coordination Authority (TSCA) modelled on the successful Olympic Coordination Authority.

Sydney relies on a combination of heavy and light rail, busses, ferries, taxis and private cars. These modes also link with airports, bicycle routes and foot traffic, and our system includes public and private sector providers.

We will draw together the operational responsibilities of scattered bureaucracies in a single body tasked to ensure that our transport system is coordinated to world class standards – just as it was in the Olympics.

These include, City Rail, CountryLink, RTA, Sydney Ferries, Sydney Ports Corporation, Public Transport Ticketing Corporation, State Transit Services, Ministry of Transport (former Transport Coordination Authority), Tow Truck Authority, Major event management.

The TSCA will also work closely with critical private transport providers such as Sydney Airports Corporation, the Taxi Council, the Bus and Coach Association and cycling and recreation groups.

The TSCA will also coordinate with emergency services, police and federal authorities to ensure transport security management.

In 2003 Bob Carr and Morris Iemma rejected expert attempts from experienced top level Olympic managers to make the Olympic transport coordination system permanent.

Labor was not prepared to make the tough decisions to improve our transport system, and we are now enduring Labor’s 12 year legacy of failure.

Sorry Morris, but after twelve years, Labor has had long enough. It’s time to fix NSW.

Regards,

Peter Debnam

CLICK HERE TO LEAVE A COMMENT ON THE DAILY TELEGRAPH WEBSITE