02.22
I really should be surprised by this. The simple fact of the matter is that regional New South Wales is always ignored by our state government. What the Premier (Princess KiKi herself, Kristina Keneally) announced as a “NSW Transport Blueprint” is nothing more a repeat of the last 10 years’ worth of plans for Sydney and a message to the rest of the state that all they’re going to see of it is the bill. Once again, the vast majority of the state has been forgotten during the planning of the state’s transport expansion.
Now, I realise that Sydney is, by some margin, the largest city in the state and that their transport problems are numerous. But to act as though it’s the only place that needs millions of dollars spent on improving the public transport system is just ludicrous.
While the state government are busy focusing on what’s important to the areas where they live (read: Sydney), the rest of New South Wales appears to have been largely forgotten. What makes this worse, is that along with not getting anything out of the government, we’re still going to be lumped with the $30 car registration levy to pay for all the fucking around they’ve been doing in Sydney over the last decade. That is just the ultimate slap in the face for the other few million people that don’t live in Sydney and wouldn’t have derived any benefit from the CBD Metro if it had been built. It’s just shit.
This has been a problem with the NSW government for a long time now. They seem to think of themselves as some sort of extended Sydney City Council, forgetting that there’s the rest of NSW that they’re also responsible for. Hopefully, the next government will see things differently and act in the best interests of the entire state, not just the city where they live.
I agree. I am a transport development worker from regional NSW and have spent nearly a decade advocating for the needs of rural areas. Yes I know that we need a sensible, future driven land use and transport planning process but why can’t it be for the whole state not just Sydney? Similarly for the MyZone fare system. If I want to travel a similar distance covered by the mytrain3 ticket, can only do this by bus as we no longer have a train, instead of paying $4.60 i would pay $10.50.
The inequities between metro and rural transport is unconscionable. This is NOT a State government at all.
This sounds rather familiar. While I live in the UK, I am originally from rural western australia. Leaving aside the fact that W.A. tends to be forgotten by the rest of the country (delayed sporting telecasts for example – even when the cricket is at the f***ing WACA for heaven’s sakes!!) but there are similar problems within the state. Would the state govt dare expect the Perth firefighters to work for nothing? Of course not, but in the north west – where the heat and dryness can often mean fires in summer – my brother and his friends have been fighting them for years on the back of a 3 day training course and for no pay. Not even a thank you a lot of the time.
They don’t complain, it’s just the way people are in small towns – they help one another out because they can, but would the city fire fire fighters do the same thing? Not a chance.
And it’s not just the firefighters – our town only had a doctor once a week and the nearest hospital was a 30 minute flight away in a plane that could only carry 2 people lying down, after the plane prep which could take up to an hour. You just pray there is not major emergency involving more than 2 people. The state govt needs to put a bit more money into emergency services in rural W.A.
Wow, if I knew I was going to go on this long I would have made some coffee.