NSW Government Urged To Release Costings On Promises

BY JARROD MELMETH

The state opposition is calling on the NSW Government to come clean about how it plans to pay for their promises leading up to the state election.

Labor says the Government's Pre-election Budget Update confirmed that the state net worth has fallen by $2.4 billion, the surplus has fallen by $273 million and the Berejiklian Government has not announced a single savings or revenue measure.

Shadow Minister for Finance and Member for Cessnock Clayton Barr said the government are making promises which cannot be funded by the existing budget.

"For the last 8 years, the way that the government has balanced the books has essentially been to sell the farm; you sell the kitchen sink, sell the caravan, sell the boat, sell the trailer.

"They have sold everything in New South Wales to, what they call to balance the books. It is a furphy. Eventually, you run out of things to sell.

"Going forward they're continuing to make promises they cannot afford which means they have to keep on selling stuff," Mr Barr said.

Labor says they have had all of their policies and promises costed by the parliamentary budget office and Mr Barr says he "challenges the government to do the same."

Blame game for Newcastle's bus drivers

BY JESSICA ROUSE

Newcastle's transport operator are facing blame from all sides for workers being underpaid and mismanaged.

Transport Minister, Andrew Constance has put operator Keolis Downer on notice after bus drivers were again underpaid this week. They've reportedly failed to pay more than a dozen drivers their correct pay and entitlements.

It comes after more than 70 workers were underpaid last month.

But the Rail, Tram and Bus Union (RBTU) are today putting the blame on Andrew Constance saying it's another example of his incompetence. The union is labeling the situation as disgusting and claim from day one workers haven't been paid correctly.

"The Transport Minister is the one who came out and announced privatisation and what a wonderful beast it was going to be and how things would improve and he's obviously given the tender to a company who can't put in place a payroll system that can correctly pay their employees," said President of the Tram and Bus union division of the RTBU David Woollams.

The RBTU have taken the issue to the Fair Work Commission to have a system put in place whereby the workers, once they realise they've been underpaid, can go to Keolis Downer and get the pay rectified.

"Workers shouldn't have to be doing that in the first instance, You can accept you know a couple of dollars here and so forth - but not when we're talking about $500 dollars. Most of us just live from pay to pay," said David Woollmans.

Keolis Downer's CEo Campbell Mason is hitting back at the union, saying they're working to fix the problem before the end of business today.

"It is our highest priority to correct those underpayments, there will be an off-cycle payroll made today to correct those payments but we are very apologetic to our staff and we appreciate how frustrating it is. And it is our highest priority to get the system fixed so we don't have a recurrence of these types of problems," said Campbell Mason.

He isn't passing any blame onto the Transport Minister.

"The Minister has made clear it is for us, Keolis Downer, to fix this problem and he's right it is our payroll and its up to us to get it fixed and its our highest priority to get it fixed."

Three decades of sell-offs in the Hunter

BY IAN CROUCH and JESSICA ROUSE

It's been revealed the Hunter has chipped in billions of dollars to state coffers for almost three decades to state coffers.

The region has contributed more than $20 billion which includes big-ticket assets such as the Port of Newcastle for $1.75 billion topping the list, and the Bayswater and Liddel power stations for about $1.5 billion.

The sell-off started in 1990 with the sale of Kooragang Coal Loader for $20 million.

Since the Coalition government came into power in 2011, about $50 billion worth of public assets have been privatised.

Port of Newcastle Image abc.net.au

Brisbane bus driver attack raises concerns for Hunter drivers

BY JARROD MELMETH

State Member for Wallsend, Sonia Hornery, is calling on the Transport Minster to address safety concerns raised by Newcastle bus drivers following the death of Manmeet Alisher, a Brisbane bus driver who died after being set alight when a boarding passenger launched an "incendiary device" at him. 

Drivers across the Hunter have been calling for improved safety conditions for a number of years following a string of incidents including a bus driver who was violently assaulted after ordering a 28-year-old man off the bus in Raymond Terrace for drinking alcohol on board in 2014.

The number of assaults on Hunter bus drivers has increased in recent years with reports of drivers being verbally assaulted, spat on or physically attacked. 

Sonia Hornery says everyone deserves a safe working environment and bus drivers have been subjected to increasing levels of violence.

"The Government need to be protecting our drivers much better than they are. Our bus drivers, particularly at night, are saying it's not safe for them, they're on their own and are at the whim of the best behaviour of commuters." 

Ms Hornery also believes with the privatisation of public transport in the Hunter pending, the Government needs to ensure safety is given priority as private bus fleets have been shown to have even fewer safety measures in place in their vehicles.

"The Government is just about to privatise and sell off Newcastle Buses so they need to make sure that our fleet is as safe as possible."

Richard Allsop from The Institute of Public Affairs wrote in the Assessing the results of privatisation report which assesses Victoria's Privatisation of public transport "Safety improved faster after privatisation than before privatisation for all classes of accidents."

Ms Hornery will be taking the issue with her to Parliament next week and will be writing to the Minister for Transport to seek a commitment to improving the safety of Hunter bus drivers.

Newcastle buses. 

Wallsend MP, Sonia Hornery.

Rally to Save Maitland Hospital

BY SARAH BARONOWSKI

Hundreds of health workers, unionists and community members are expected to join together at Maitland Park this Sunday to protest the privatisation of Maitland Hospital.

The "Keep Our Hospitals Public" rally will be held from 12 noon to 2pm with the hopes of bringing the community together on this issue.

NSW Health Services Union Secretary, Gerard Hayes. [Image:Image: http://www.2gb.com/article/gerard-hayes-%E2%80%93
-secretary-health-services-union]

NSW Health Services Union Secretary, Gerard Hayes says it is important for people to band together. 

"No individual can win this, this is a community issue," he said. "They own that hospital. It's not for the government to give away but the only way we can fight this is by coming together as a community.

"We need to ensure that services at Maitland hospital are maintained and extended, not moved to John Hunter hospital and that profits don't come before services that the community need."

According to Mr. Hayes, this decision has not been made in the interest of the wider community.

"This is an attack on regional NSW," he said. "The private sector is about making money.

"We cannot get to a point that if you're wealthy, you can access services and if you don't then you either have to go on a waiting list or maybe go to Newcastle."

He says a hospital is not for the government to profit from and asks for a change in direction.

"The fact of the matter is what goes on in the hospital is the responsibility of Health," he said.

"It is not the responsibility or to be abdicated to the private sector."

The rally will continue to be advertised over the next couple of days and Gerard Hayes encourages people to come along.

Lake Macquarie Sport & Recreation Camps Set To Be Privatised

BY IAN CROUCH

 Privatisation appears to be on the cards for Lake Macquarie's two Sport and Recreation camps.

There are reports the state government is interested in leasing out the Myuna Bay and Point Wolstoncroft centres and has been quietly sounding out private operators.

The two centres are among 8 of the 11 camps whcih the government is looking to be run be the private sector.

Sports Minister, Stuart Ayres admits the government is looking at ways to improve services, but denies the camps are going to be sold.


However staff have been told the option of leasing the centres is a real possibility.

Shadow Sports Minister, Lynda Voltz says it's just another example of the government selling off public assests.

"We are getting to a point where the Mike Baird government is selling everything that isn't nailed down. It's got to be a concern for future generations that the government no longer has control of the assets that have been built up for us," she said.

Lynda Voltz

Newcastle hits back at Baird Privatisation Plans

Image courtesy of Darren Pateman via The Herald

 Newcastle Council has voted against the privatisation of the the local transport services, flying in the face of the recommendations made by the State Government.

Lake Macquaire Council distanced themselves from the plans which would see public buses, light trains and ferries moved over to the private sector.

The proposal is also opposed by both Labor and Green MP's.

Hunter Unions Secretary Daniel Wallace has also expressed his concern over the plan saying "we know from examples in Sydney that bus drivers are pushed to miss stops to keep time tables".

"Today [Tuesday, December 9th] we've just written to the Premier requesting a meeting, here in the Hunter Region to talk about what we can do to avoid privatisation and provide exactly what he said, improved services to the region".