Forced Council mergers are a breach of faith - what about their poor behaviour in parliament

I spoke out in parliament against the dishonest and shoddy process of forced Council mergers being undertaken by the NSW Liberal Government.

This process is a breach of faith with the people of NSW and a betrayal of everyone who believed the Liberal Party and National Party who promised in writing there would be no forced amalgamations. No wonder people are disillusioned with politicians like Mike Baird who is just like Tony Abbott. Written promises by the Liberals mean nothing.

Just have a look in parliament at the behaviour of the Liberal/National government members in the House. Their behaviour says it all.

https://youtu.be/9bfl6hW8UxY

Government cuts to the public service have left it a shell of its former self

More cuts to the NSW public service by the Liberals in NSW. For 30 years I have witnessed the long term degradation of the public service through endless cuts robbing the public service of their talent and expertise to such an extent that can't replace a toilet roll without a consultants report and outsourcing the responsibility to the private sector.

It might be a tongue in cheek remark, but the structural decay of the public service, owing largely to successive and deep cuts and 'efficiencies' in the bureaucracy, has meant that the expertise and knowledge that Government's rely on to execute their agenda has been slowly whittled away, to the point that departments are forced to outsource to consultants and private contractors because they simply lack the knowledge and manpower to do their jobs.

Projects like WestConnex, the Light Rail and the Metro should be part of a long-term carefully developed plan for the future of NSW, not the result of outsourcing to the private sector. This loss of expertise in the public service has meant that the private sector are deciding the projects they want to build and where they want to build them which depend upon profit, not good public policy

The public service, often maligned by portions of the media and public figures, are essential to the ongoing operation and stability of the government of the State. They are the Government's expertise and we can't afford to keeping cutting the State's experts from our departments. I made some observations in parliament in relation to this just last week. See what you think. 
https://youtu.be/DpDpSQZisME

Waterloo Metro Station in the wrong place - ridiculous

The NSW Liberal Government’s newly announced location for the proposed Sydney Metro railway station at Waterloo as ‘short-sighted’, and demonstrates complete lack on insight on to how to solve Sydney's Transport problems.

The proposed site for the new Sydney Metro railway station will be built underground between Botany Road and Cope Street, south of Raglan Street. It showns again the Baird Government is running blind when it comes to providing public transport infrastructure for Sydney and the commuting public.

Why you would place a railway station just 10 minutes’ walk north of Redfern Railway Station and 10 minutes’ walk south of Green Square Railway Station is beyond me?

The proposed location is also within 100 metres of a bus stop located on Botany Road that service commuters with direct runs to and from Central and other city centres.

The underground Metro station would be better placed around the vicinity of Danks Street and Crystal Street, Waterloo, where the influx of thousands of new residents in high density apartments have meant current bus services do not have the capacity to  meet demand.

Tens of thousands of new residents have moved into the vicinity of Danks Street, Bourke Street and Crystal Street. I am inundated with calls from residents living around the Bourke Street and Dank Street precincts for more bus services because they are tired of having to fight for a spot on a bus each morning.

Placing the Sydney Metro railway station around the Danks Street and Crystal Street precinct would provide residents with much needed public transport options and remove cars from gridlocked street.

Danks Street and Crystal Street is also a short 10 minute walk from East Village, Zetland, where fifty thousand of new residents are slated to move in, again with limited options for public transport.

The Ministers making these decisions haven’t taken the time to look at what the community needs and have got it wrong again.

Government Must Extend Auditor General’s Powers to Social Housing

The NSW Auditor General’s Power to be extended to maintain confidence in Social Housing. The Auditor General does not currently have the power to investigate whether the public is receiving value for money where the NSW Liberal Government has divested public sector assets and/or contracting services.

With the expectation that a significant stock of public housing assets will be transferred to non-government organisations it is essential that the Government acts now to ensure the public maintains full confidence in our social housing programs.

The independent office of the Auditor General should have its powers of investigation extended to permit the financial and performance audit of any private sector or not-for-profit organisation which has been the beneficiary of a government asset or contract.

The Audit Office has long argued for this extension of powers across various submissions to the NSW Government.

The problem is we don’t know if taxpayers are seeing any value for money. The NSW Government hasn’t undertaken a proper cost-benefit or performance review to determine if transferring the operation of public housing to private operators is effective. 

I’m not totally opposed to extending contracts, when it can be shown to to of benefit, to private and not-for-profit operators, but the public and the Parliament have a right to know the facts. It’s imperative that the public maintains confidence in social housing and the Government should act immediately to give the Auditor General the scope needed to properly relay this information to the Parliament.”

Further development in Green Square must stop

I am becoming seriously concerned with the continued massive population expansion and the massive proposed increase in density in the area known as Green Square. The largest urban revitalisation project, I would venture, ever undertaken in this country is occurring several precincts, including Victoria Park, North Rosebery, Zetland and Green Square. This was subject to a speech to parliament recently, the video of which you can watch here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kBXkE6FflTU&feature=youtu.be

The sum of these developments is anticipated, upon completion, to house some 60,000 residents. That is 60,000 new residents. I am talking about an average density of 20,000 people per square kilometre. To put that in perspective, a square kilometre in the City of Melbourne houses around 8,000 people. 

I accept that an increasing number of people want to move into the city. Who can blame them? Sydney is one of the most beautiful cities in the world. Increasing the housing density is an obvious and logical solution. While I do not oppose development, I do oppose carelessness, and that is exactly how I would characterise the haphazard, piecemeal planning policies of successive NSW governments. These policies have not only caused unbelievable traffic gridlock but failed to address the infrastructure needs of new and existing residents.

One cannot plan for and build increased housing density without planning for the associated infrastructure. Green Square is an example of planning failure. The largest urban revitalisation project in this country is an example of planning failure. The increased housing density has been created without infrastructure, and huge increases are still to come. Apart from gridlocked streets, the schools and hospitals are full, ambulances cannot get through the streets, people cannot get on buses at peak periods and buses cannot move in the streets. It is an example of how planning has not worked.

Planning for future population density must include planning for infrastructure to support that population. Roads, public transport, schools, hospitals, water and sewerage, social services and associated infrastructure must also be planned and paid for. In Green Square the population density has increased without a corresponding increase in infrastructure. There is no funding for that infrastructure. There are no plans or solutions. It is not a solution to suggest that a light rail network could be built in the never-never. The solution is to plan and to fund. Funding can be partly by developer contributions. There must be an understanding of the infrastructure that is needed. 

Every school in my electorate is full, including Catholic and independent schools. The primary schools and all but one high school are at capacity. There is increasing demand for the Minister for Education to fund inner-city schools. People are crying out for places for their children as families move into areas where there is high population density. A moratorium on any further population density increases is needed right now. That will give the Government time to catch up. Without that, the current intolerable situation will become worse.

If you look at the skyline from the Eastern Distributor you will see the cranes in the air, that is fine, but what is happening on the ground is not fine. The million dollar apartments sold in Zetland without car parking will be the ghettos of tomorrow unless infrastructure is constructed and supported. There is nothing wrong with increasing population density, but this is an example of planning failure by successive governments that have stupidly handed the decision to developers.

Exhibition period of 'New M5 WestConnex' EIS must be extended

After the NSW Government waited for Parliament to rise before releasing the ‘New M5 WestConnex’ Environmental Impact Statement (EIS), I have written to the Minister for Planning, Rob Stokes MP, who under part 5.1 of the Environmental Planning and Assessment Act 1979 has carriage of the EIS consultation phase, to request an extension.

I have for months been requesting detailed studies about the impact of flow on traffic from the Minister for Roads Duncan Gay[1] and I now demand that the Government allocates sufficient time for local Councils to do the work that questionable engineering firm AECOM[2] and the Government failed to do in the EIS.

The EIS released by the Government on Friday does not contain any detailed long term traffic studies of the flow on impact of traffic emerging from the St Peters interchange into the suburbs of Mascot, Eastlakes, Kensington, Kingsford, Erskineville and Alexandria, not to mention other areas, such as to the inner city or to the east.

The EIS for instance mentions the widening of Euston Road to six lanes, but does not study the impact that those six lanes worth of additional traffic will have on suburban roads. It doesn’t consider the impact of traffic from the 60,000 new residences in the Green Square Precinct, the University of NSW traffic or even airport traffic.

They’re attempting to bury the EIS under a pile of Christmas wrap and fireworks.

The timing of this report makes the Government’s desire to avoid scrutiny plain as day. Apart from confirming our worst suspicions of this project, the EIS has raised serious questions about the viability of this project.

The Government must extend the exhibition period to allow for detailed analysis by Councils, town planners, traffic engineers and residents. Ultimately the least the Government could do is give people in our Councils, with meaningful qualifications and experience the time necessary to submit a substantive response.

This is what happens when a Government outsources its responsibilities to investment bankers. The WestConnex will be a catastrophe for our local roads. You can download a copy of my letter to the Minister here.

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[1] https://www.parliament.nsw.gov.au/prod/parlment/HansArt.nsf/V3Key/LA20151022063?open&refNavID=HA8_1 Ron Hoenig MP, Parliament of NSW, Legislative Assembly – Hansard “WestConnex” 22/10/2015 5:56PM.

[2] http://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/aecom-pays-280m-to-settle-toll-road-dispute/story-e6frg8zx-1227537726314?sv=59b34c17fb75023cd98cdf92ee49afd4

$17bn for 30 Seconds - Most Expensive Traffic Jam in Australia’s History

With a $17bn price tag, the Government can’t afford to get this one wrong. The WestConnex EIS released yesterday  by the NSW Government shows that the $17bn WestConnex is the most expensive traffic jam in Australia’s History.

Contained on page viii of the ‘New M5’ Environmental Impact Statement’s Executive summary is the traffic modelling which the Government is relying on the validate the entire WestConnex Project.

Yet this traffic modelling, by AECOM, an engineering firm who recently had to pay $280 million to settle a lawsuit for a similar project (see) shows traffic can be expected to improve in the St Peters area by as much as 30 seconds to one minute during peak hours.

The situation doesn’t improve for commuters relying on bus travel, with a number of services expected to see a 20% or more increase in travel times.

Roads in the St Peters/Alexandria community are already in a perpetual state of traffic gridlock.

This is the most expensive traffic jam in the country’s history.The Government is wasting $17bn on turning our local roads into glorified parking lots.

Spending $17bn of taxpayer money to improve commute times by 30 seconds isn’t just irresponsible it’s idiotic.The fact that bus services will experience delays of 20% or more is just beyond belief. At least the Government is consistent about they handle major infrastructure projects.

This is what happens when a Government outsources its responsibilities to investment bankers. This document highlights the true incompetence of the Liberal Government