Anyone living in rural and regional New South Wales on a limited budget knows how important the last vestiges of public transport are when it comes to accessing health care and maintaining family contact, let alone being able to shop with wider choice of goods or competitive prices.
The Combined Pensioners and Superannuants Association of NSW has been pointing out the advantages of regional rail for years.
So it is with some dismay that I realised that the Rees Government is seeking to pave the way to sell-off an estimated 3,000 klms of existing and closed rail corridors - corridors which should remain in the future public transport planning mix if only on the grounds of social equity and climate change mitigation.
This legislative move has been described by others as a fire sale for developers and this would not be an inaccurate description.
There is one NSW North Coast Federal MP, Labor's Janelle Saffin, who is doing something about one closed rail corridor in the Page electorate according to The Far North Coaster on 3 October 2009.
If you don't want a For Sale billboard on the Casino to Murwillumbah line you can sign a petition asking that this line be quarantined and kept in public ownership until the completion of the Integrated Regional Transport Plan for the Northern Rivers and south-east Queensland:
The petition can be signed at Ms Saffin's electorate office – 63 Molesworth Street, Lismore – during normal business hours or when her mobile office visits the Lismore Car Boot Market this Sunday.
She has also arranged for Minister Campbell's office to accept separate emailed letters of protest.
These can be sent to david@campbell.minister.nsw.gov.au and should be copied to Ms Saffin's policy adviser peter.ellem@aph.gov.au
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