Paul Fletcher (Bradfield, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Amidst the long catalogue of outrages perpetrated on the Upper North Shore by the New South Wales state Labor government we have had, recently, one that really ranks as amongst the very worst. The fig trees at Wahroonga station have stood there for approximately 100 years. They are well loved and they are a well-known feature of Wahroonga station and yet, extraordinarily enough, RailCorp, the state government’s body responsible for administering the infrastructure of the railway system in Sydney, decreed that the fig trees needed to be chopped down. Their stated rationale was pedestrian safety. Apparently, it was simply unsafe to have these fig trees there and they need to be chainsawed out of existence. No explanation was given as to how they had managed to stand for the previous 100 years without compromising the safety of pedestrians.

It is a shameful demonstration of the complete, arrogant disregard of this state government bureaucracy for the desires of the local community. Constituents of mine protested. They stood in front of the trees trying to prevent this outrage being perpetrated, ultimately to no avail. Tragically, the 100-year-old fig trees at Wahroonga railway station are no more, a disgraceful act by the New South Wales state Labor government and RailCorp. (Time expired)