NSW: Labor continue their love affair with roads
SP Newsletter No.307
The NSW Labor Party, led by Kristina Keneally, is facing a State election and almost certain defeat in less than 12 months time. Not least in the electorate’s minds will be the shambles that passes for public transport. July 2009 saw a major reorganisation of government departments and the creation of thirteen “super departments” one of which is NSW Transport & Infrastructure.
Long suffering public transport users in Sydney will tell anyone that cares to listen that there is absolutely nothing “super” about the public transport network. The latest victim of this department is the scrapping of the CBD Metro, which was to be a rail link between Central Station and the harbour development site Barangaroo.
The abandonment of the CBD Metro project follows hot on the heels of the scrapping of other proposed rail links that were to service the people in the southwest and northwest of the Sydney CBD.
The scrapping of the CBD Metro alone will cost NSW taxpayers upwards of $330 million and at least 350 jobs. These are conservative estimates and do not include the compensation which will be sought by businesses who will be adversely affected by the cancellation of the project.
All of these projects are part of what the NSW Government has called the Metropolitan Transport Plan (MTP). The MTP was unveiled in late February as a 10 year plan with a budget of $50 billion.
The MTP contains an outline to revive the previously cancelled Northwest rail link but work on this line is not scheduled to begin until 2017 - a staggering 10 years later that when the project was first announced! The MTP as it stands is heavily biased in favour of roads with $22 billion of the $50 billion budget earmarked for new and bigger roads.
This is at a time when the Sydney rail, bus and ferry services are in dire need of investment. With one eye firmly planted on next years state election the MTP promises voters particularly in western Sydney the prospect of an improved public transport service, but they are just that, promises with little, if any, substance. As the people of NSW have learned in other areas such as health and education, the Labor Party are not averse to breaking promises. So why should transport be any different?
The MTP contains no measures which will assist in the effort to reduce the number of trips taken in private motor vehicles. The projected figures for these journeys are staggering with 16 million trips per day forecast for 2020, while journeys taken by bus and train are forecast at 1.3 million and 1.2 million per day respectively.
Time and again it has been proven that people resort to using their private vehicles because they find the public transport services unsatisfactory. Obviously this has adverse effects on the environment. There are plans in the MTP to improve bus and train services but they are nothing when compared to what is planned for roads. There is only $5 billion pledged for these services which is less than 25% of the total pledged to road infrastructure.
The Labor Party in NSW have indicated their penchant for privatisation in a number of areas, the power industry and the prison service being two stand out examples. This love affair with the profiteers can be seen in the MTP as well.
The MTP provides for $500 million to be given as a grant to private operator Veolia to upgrade and extend the Sydney light rail line. This element of the MTP is the only one with a definite start date and schedule of work. This illustrates the paucity of ideas coming from Labor; they would rather hand over the running of what is an essential public service to a private operator whose only motivation is profit and to whom provision of service is only a secondary consideration.
The public transport system should be exactly that - ‘public’. The system in NSW needs investment first and foremost and not hand outs to private operators. If the system is to reach its full potential it needs to be publicly owned and democratically run. Only on this basis will we be able to provide people with accessible and reliable public transport going into the next decade.
May Day action in support of Tamil refugees
Rally: 12 noon Saturday May 1st 2010 outside Trades Hall, corner of Lygon & Victoria Streets Carlton South.
At this rally Indigenous elders will welcome the Merak refugees to Australia with Original Nation Passports. They will be joined by representatives from the trade union movement, refugee rights groups and the Tamil community.
For more information see: Protest against vile ill-treatment of refugees in Indonesia
http://www.socialistworld.net/doc/4230
For more information contact Mel on 0400588202.
Upcoming SP meetings
The Melbourne Branch of the Socialist Party meets every Wednesday 7pm at Trades Hall on the corner of Lygon & Victoria Streets Carlton South. Upcoming meetings include:
28/4 – The politics of ANZAC Day
5/5 – The struggle for socialism in Venezuela
12/5 – Chile 1973: Lessons for today
19/5 – The fight doe GLBTI rights
26/5 – The 1905 Russian Revolution
For more information or for details of meetings in other parts of Australia contact our National Office on 03 9639 9111.
News links:
Nigeria: “Threat to My Life”
http://www.socialistworld.net/doc/4225
Volcanoes, Chaos and the Case for Socialism
http://www.socialistworld.net/doc/4227
Sri Lanka: General election 2010
http://www.socialistworld.net/doc/4231
Join the Socialist Party
If you agree with what you have read in our newsletter or on our website you should consider joining SP. The Socialist Party has branches in Melbourne, Sydney, Newcastle and Perth as well as members and supporters in all other states.
We are involved in trade union work and student work. We also run community, anti-war and environmental campaigns. But most of all we want to build a party that will fight to get rid of the capitalist system, the system that is at the root of all of these problems. We fight for socialism - a system that will bring an end to wars, poverty and environmental destruction. To join SP contact our National Office on 03 9639 9111 and we will send you a membership application form.
Subscribe to ‘The Socialist’ newspaper!
Support the Socialist Party by subscribing to our monthly newspaper ‘The Socialist’. Subscription rates are only $10 per year or $20 solidarity price. You will receive 11 copies per year delivered to your door every month. You will also receive our email newsletter every week and you will know that you are supporting an organisation that is at the fore of fighting against the capitalist system. To subscribe to ‘The Socialist’ contact our National Office on 03 9639 9111 and we will send you a subscription form.
Socialist Party contact details
Melbourne: Phone Anthony on 0396399111.
Sydney: Phone Gary on 0297287727.
Newcastle: Phone Samantha on 0249681545.
Adelaide: Phone David on 0883441474.
Perth: Phone John on 0894020728.
Rest of Australia: Phone our National Office on 0396399111.
Rest of the world: Phone our International Office on ++ 44 20 8988 8760.
The Socialist Party is the Australian section of the Committee for a Workers’ International (CWI). The CWI is organised in over 40 countries across the world.
http://www.sp.org.au
http://www.socialistworld.net
http://www.myspace.com/socialistpartyaustralia
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=20461960776
