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Action for Public Transport (N.S.W.) Inc.

State Opposition's Transport policy

posted Wednesday 5 February 2003
On 4 February 2003, as a preamble to the forthcoming state election on 22 March, the state opposition spokesman on transport, Peter Debnam, MP, addressed the Institution of Engineers on the Liberal / National Party policy on public transport.

"One of the things we have to come to terms with is giving priority to public transport" he said. He compared current public transport funding with what he termed a "roads blow-out". He put a high priority on the safety of the state's railways, observing that there was an "extraordinary culture" of conservatism and denial within the rail bureaucracy. He observed that while the community had placed a high value on on-time running, the public had assumed, incorrectly, that the rail system was safe. He feels the current state of rail infrastructure is very poor, and he wants to do an audit and find the money to fix it. He targeted Treasury as one of the problems in public transport funding.

He was critical of the current decision-makers for turning their backs on light rail, asserting that the CBD and the south-eastern suburbs were prime candidates for light rail.

He said he wanted to encourage innovation, and greater involvement of the private sector, but his proposals to revert to separate authorities for different modes were not well accepted by the audience.



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