Matt Thistlethwaite (Kingsford Smith, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for the Republic) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The New South Wales Liberal government is cutting 25 bus routes in the community that I represent and is privatising the bus network in the east of Sydney. It is a disgraceful betrayal by the New South Wales Liberal government of the people of the eastern suburbs. Twenty-five bus routes will be cut and twenty-three routes will be modified, leaving commuters in the lurch. It shows that the Liberals don't understand the importance of good public transport services to the everyday lives of people in our community.

A couple of weeks ago, I met Beverley, a pensioner who lives in Pagewood. Beverley doesn't drive. She relies on the 310 bus service to do her shopping and her monthly visit to the State Library—her outing once a month. The New South Wales Liberal government is cutting the 310 bus service. Students have been emailing me, telling me they won't be able to get to school anymore on the bus. Members of the community who use the bus to get to work and people who use it to do their shopping will be stranded.

The New South Wales Liberal government has just made life a whole lot harder for people in my electorate by cutting these bus services. As many of the locals have pointed out, it means that they'll now just drive to get to where they need to go, increasing carbon pollution and congestion on our roads. It doesn't make sense. The New South Wales Premier lied to the people of our community when she promised before the last election that she would not privatise the bus network in the east of Sydney. She's gone back on that commitment. It's a disgraceful betrayal of the people of the east, and I call on the New South Wales government to reverse this awful decision.