The NBN roll out debacle continues on the NSW North Coast

This is what NBN Co said in its May 2014 Fixed Wireless and Satellite Review: Final Report about the planned 'fast' broadband roll-out in regional areas:

The challenges of geography and population density mean that outside of city centres, NBN Co has planned a combination of interwoven fixed line, fixed wireless and satellite technologies.

Over ~600 fixed line 'islands' are located in high density areas outside major capitals, such as major country towns.

This Review focuses on areas outside those fixed line 'islands', which are to be served by either fixed wireless or satellite.

Based on the best currently available data the Review estimates there will be ~1,020,000 premises in the non-fixed line footprint by 2021, being ~8 percent of the then total of 12.7 million premises.

NBN Co's fixed wireless network uses TD-LTE technology, with current specifications designed for the 2.3GHz spectrum band.

To completely cover a geographic area, NBN Co needs more towers than a notional radius and typical mobile network operator (MNO) grid suggest because although towers have a theoretical range of ~14km, line-of-sight (LOS) is required to all premises.

On average, each tower is only able to reach about 20 percent of the area within that 14km radius.

The specific location of towers is a critical decision and moving them as little as a few hundred metres can make a large difference to the number of premises they can reach.

NBN Co's satellite program is based around both an interim satellite service and a long term satellite service.

The Interim Satellite Service (ISS) currently in place involves NBN Co leasing capacity from IPSTAR and Optus Satellite.

In the meantime, NBN Co is developing its Long-Term Satellite Service (LTSS) by building two identical satellites to provide broadband services.

Both satellites are scheduled to launch in CY15.

The two satellites will work on the Ka band, a high frequency spectrum particularly suited to telecommunications.

They will cover the entire Australian mainland and islands through 101 dedicated 'spot beams'.

Each satellite beam has a different capacity in terms of maximum bandwidth, which is split across all end-users in the beam, and cannot be changed.

The highest-capacity beam can serve ~15,000 premises, while the 20 lowest capacity beams can serve an average of ~700 premises each.

NBN Co admits that its national fixed wireless network will not have the capacity to meet expected demand in seven year’s time, with around 200,000 of the planned one million premises in the wireless and satellite footprint not able to be served with faster broadband.

 Internet users in the NSW Northern Rivers region will smile cynically when reading fixed wireless details, knowing full well that local topography in the seven local government areas would result in NBN Co having to erect between est. 1,600-1,700 high wireless towers (see example left) with each tower only serving an est. 14km line-of-sight range – and, leaving aside future capacity problems, that still would not guarantee reliable fast wireless broadband coverage to most of the people living on the coastal side of the Great Dividing Range, from the Clarence Valley up to the NSW-Qld border.

So what did NBN Co announce this month?

Why, it is beginning to roll out fixed wireless across the Northern Rivers! Including to the City of Grafton in the Clarence Valley and in the Lismore area.

See here for locations, but readers should be prepare for disappointment ahead of the mouse click.

There will probably be further disappointment if anyone bothers to read Liberal MP for Wentworth and Minister for Communications Malcolm Turnbull’s response to the NBN review report.

* Photograph from ABC News

That political buffoon masquerading as the NSW Nationals MP for Clarence strikes again

Photo from ABC North Coast NSW

THEN

Member for Clarence Chris Gulaptis will take his implacable opposition to the sale of electricity poles and wires to a party room meeting on the issue ahead of the June 17 State budget. [The Daily Examiner, 6 June 2014]

NOW

Nationals MP for Clarence Chris Gulaptis has voted with his party to back the State Government's proposed sell-off of electricity infrastructure.

[The Daily Examiner, 13 June 2014]

NSW National Party must look after regional interests in proposed energy infrastructure sell-off, says Greens

Since Mike Baird became NSW Premier further privatisation of the state's energy infrastructure is back on the political agenda.

Recognising that they have been asleep at the wheel since the last state election and, realising that the next is less a year away, the North Coast Nationals woke and began to weakly posture for the voters' benefit.

This week the NSW Greens re-entered the fray:

Media Release Wednesday June 10

Wires and poles; the National Party must look after regional interests

Carol Vernon, Greens candidate in Oxley said:

"We await the results of today's cross party meeting between the Liberal party and their coalition partners, The Nationals.

"Will Premier Mike Baird and the Liberals convince the Nationals to go along with their plan to sell or lease the state owned wires and poles?

"Already Andrew Stoner seems convinced, however, some National Party members are holding out. Will their resolution fade under Liberal Party pressure, as it usually does?

John Kaye, Greens MP has said:

"Long term leasing of the poles and wires is privatisation by another name with the same impacts on household power bills, jobs and the state's economy.

"Either way, Premier Mike Baird wants to cash in the goose that lays the golden eggs.

"The wires and poles provide $1 billion in dividends and another $500 million in tax equivalent payments each year to the state.

Carol Vernon said:

"Premier Baird is being deceptive when he compares NSW electricity prices with other states that have not invested as much in infrastructure. He cannot validly argue that prices will fall with privatisation.

"This is just a ploy and we will soon pay more as private companies pursue their main goal, that is to make profits, even at the expense of infrastructure maintenance and quality services.

"Once again regional NSW energy users, especially local business, will pay more.

Received from secretary@mncg.nsw.greens.org.au.

#MyBroadbandvReality: turning an online survey into an effective political tool

On 20 February 2014 blogger and tweeter Noely Neate posted an online survey which sought readers views on their own broadband connections.

Clever Noely just didn’t tell the blogosphere and twitterverse about the survey results – she, along with Paul Davis, Pascal Grosvenor, Caitlin Neate and others, turned these results into an effective political tool which contained the voices of over 800 Australians.

What the survey revealed about the New South Wales broadband experience:

Credit: Paul Davis @davispg

Other state and territory graphs can be found here.

It wasn’t too long before this move began to be noticed by the political caste in Canberra:

Transcript extract from Senate Select Committee public hearing, Sydney NSW,12 March 2013

Along the way Noely et al demonstrated to the Senate Select Committee on the National Broadband Network that the Internet is not just used for downloading movies, playing games or looking at funny cat videos and, that ordinary people across the country use it in increasingly sophisticated ways:

In fact this submission was collaboratively edited across three time zones, two continents, in real time: Paul’s in Tokyo, Pascal’s in Sydney, and Cait and Noely in QLD, with other collaborators from across Australia assisting with reviews; collaborative creation made possible by using cloud-based Google technologies. This submission is an example of productivity gains through availability of Broadband, noting Noely’s broadband connection dropped numerous times during this process.

The submission (No 52):

#MyBroadbandvReality (PDF 2833 KB)  Attachment 1 (PDF 1054 KB) 

AUSTRALIAN NATIONAL BROADBAND NETWORK: Keeping copper wire in ground on coastal flood plains

The Abbott Government intends that the last section of the National Broadband Network which enters an Internet users premises will remain the original copper wire installed by Telstra – unless the user is rich enough to pay for the laying of optic fibre between the street node box and their residence/business.

Giving evidence before the Senate Select Committee on the National Broadband Network last week, NBN Chairman and Acting CEO Dr Ziggy Switkowski on the subject of fault levels on Telstra’s copper wire-based telecommunications system:

I am certainly familiar with the issue in the sense that long periods of drought tend to be associated with lower fault levels than seasons that are very, very wet. The difference might be two or three per cent out of a 10 per cent to 15 per cent base. I am just guessing here or trying to remember.......

Northern Rivers communities will be alarmed at this statement, given the number of floods and heavy rain periods the region experiences. 

Because what Dr. Switkowski statement indicates is that there is little hope that the Abbott broadband scheme will see any improvement in the rate of server dropouts or in upload/download speeds for Internet users on the NSW North Coast.

Malcolm Turnbull gets told by one NBN lobby group in his own backyard

One petition signature every 3.5 seconds. Are you listening Malcolm Turnbull? We want Labor's NBN!

Computerworld 11 September 2013:

An internet petition set up by a Liberal-voting student to save Labor's national broadband network (NBN) has become Australia's largest ever online petition.

The internet appeal is roaring along, but still has some way to go before becoming Australia's largest ever petition, which was submitted to federal parliament with 792,985 signatures in 2000 calling for an end to rising beer prices.

The NBN petition calls on the incoming coalition government to scrap its plans to create a fibre-to-the-node (FTTN) network in place of Labor's existing fibre-to-the-home (FTTH) approach.

Created by Queenslander Nick Paine on Change.org less than five days ago, the petition overtook Australia's previous biggest online petition just after 11am (AEST) on Wednesday with 116,281 signatures. The prior one had 116,280 names.

That's one signature every 3.5 seconds.

The former frontrunner was a campaign to pressure advertisers to boycott radio shock jock Alan Jones in 2012 after he said former PM Julia Gillard's father "died of shame".

Mr Paine, 20, is a supporter of the coalition, but says no party is perfect.

"I personally just don't believe their policy reflects the best option for Australia and I don't think it reflects in general the majority of Australians' views," he said.

"There's no reason to just sit back and see what happens, you've got to try it out and stand up for what you believe in."

Mr Paine said it was the first online petition he's started.

The petition can be signed at change.org/nbn -- or share it on Facebook by clicking here.

Australian Federal Election 2013: the hypocrisy is galling

Have a good look at the woman on the right in the dark jacket in this photograph of the National Broadband Network (fibre directly to premises) and see Federal Liberal Party MP Louise Markus trying for some of the limelight associated with a national optic fibre digital network she intends to help cripple if re-elected as the Member for Macquarie.

Hollow promise - Abbott announces $12M funding promise for Penrith Sports Centre which has already received this money from the Rudd Government

Australian Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Infrastructure and Transport Anthony Albanese, media release, 11 June 2013:

The Federal Labor Government today announced it would contribute $12 million towards the development of the Western Sydney Community and Sports Centre in Penrith.

The Western Sydney Community and Sports Centre will deliver a state-of-the-art community hub that will enhance social and sporting opportunities to the people of Western Sydney.

Minister for Regional Development and Local Government Anthony Albanese said the community and sports centre will link to the existing Penrith Panthers NRL club facilities and deliver a massive boost to all sports in the region.

“The project includes the construction of an elite sports centre with a gym, a facility for sports science and medicine study and a sports hall for indoor sports, school sports and other events,” he said…..

The project is expected to be complete by mid-2016. Funding is being provided through Round Four of the Regional Development Australia Fund.

Western Sydney Community and Sports Centre (PDF 203 KB) Regional Development Australia Fund (RDA) - Round Four:

Opposition Leader Tony Abbott, Liberal Party NSW media release, 13 August 2013  :

The Coalition will provide $12 million towards the building of the Western Sydney Community and Sports Centre in Penrith.

The commitment was made by Liberal Candidate for Lindsay, Fiona Scott and the Leader of the Opposition, Tony Abbott during a visit to Penrith by Mr Abbott.

As Mr. Abbott's election promises grow increasingly desperate, readers might like to click on this expanding map to see if Liberal-Nationals promises in their own electorates are already covered by RDA grants.

Dowell, George and Saffin call for Telstra to invest in digital infrastructure for Lismore

Lismore Mayor Cr Jenny Dowell, Federal Member for Page Janelle Saffin and State Member for Lismore Thomas George with copies of the community petition outside Telstra’s Goonellabah Call Centre

Bipartisan call for Telstra to invest in digital infrastructure for Lismore

PAGE MP Janelle Saffin, Lismore MP Thomas George and Lismore Mayor Cr Jenny Dowell have called on Telstra to make a $3.4-million investment in digital infrastructure to compensate for closing its Goonellabah Call Centre later next month.

In a bipartisan front last Friday, the local politicians met with Telstra executives Peter Jamieson and Sue Passmore at the call centre to put forward a package of proposed initiatives and to hand over a community petition, signed by almost 6000 local residents, condemning the imminent retrenchment of 116 staff.

“First and foremost, our concerns remain very much with the affected staff and their families, and we were able to meet with staff to check on their welfare and to see whether they needed further assistance with redundancy, transfer or searching for alternative employment,” the politicians said in a joint statement.

“The call centre has been operating for 20 years and the economic impact of its closure is the direct loss of 116 local jobs, amounting to $3.4 million in salaries annually, and a flow-on impact to a further 290 local people’s jobs and incomes, amounting to about $11.9 million annually,” they said.

“Our proposal requests that Telstra CEO David Thodey and his corporation invest an additional year’s worth of salaries ($3.4 million) in a partnership with Lismore City Council to retrain affected workers, build new digital infrastructure to double or better broadband access speeds, and improve local businesses use of broadband.

“We are also asking Telstra to leave the call centre’s internal infrastructure intact to reduce any start-up costs should Lismore Council be able to attract another business to the purpose-built location.”

Ms Saffin, Mr George and Cr Dowell pointed to a recent council-funded study by the Digital Economy Group which found that the Gold Coast had far higher ratios of fixed and mobile broadband infrastructure than Lismore per head of population and by land area.

“As a regional area, we are particularly vulnerable to natural disasters – major floods, storms and bushfires -- relying on critical infrastructure to co-ordinate emergency services responses and keep people in contact during times of crisis,” they said.

“With so few towers in Lismore per head of population, the existing towers become congested easily and this is a matter of public safety and concern. We need to build community resilience wherever we can.”

Mr Thodey and his management team have been given two weeks (by Friday, October 5) to respond as to whether they will support the Lismore community with a digital infrastructure investment package.

Monday, September 24, 2012. Media Contact: Peter Ellem 0437 303 875.

Lismore City Council Digital Infrastructure Assessment Report - September 2012

One of the painful truths many on the North Coast and the rest of NSW have to live with

Being a NSW region high on the aging demographic tree and lower on the average weekly household income scale, with a consistently higher than national or state unemployment levels, there is often real pain attached those quarterly electricity bills for many local people.

So it was good to see the Prime Minister articulate the some of the difficulties faced,  in her keynote speech to the Energy Policy Institute at a gathering of the worst power industry price gougers at the Sydney Intercontinental Hotel on 7 August 2012:

People are paying a lot more – in some states, bills have gone up almost a thousand dollars in just a few years.

It is very clear that working Australians, pensioners, the sick, the aged, people who need the most help, the people Labor Governments are elected to represent. These are the people who are feeling the most pressure.

Meanwhile, some states, like New South Wales and Queensland, are doing very well out of this financially and their revenue from some electricity assets is growing much faster than in the private sector.......

As a recent AGL Energy review noted, while wealthier households can cut power costs through more efficient devices and solar panels, the poorest customers are exposed to the full cost of the increases.

As a Labor Prime Minister, I feel very deeply concerned about the plight of pensioners and poorer families who spend a greater proportion of their income on power.

The less disposable income you have, the harder it is to manage large lumpy bills, like power bills.

And buying clean energy appliances – everything from new and more efficient whitegoods to rooftop solar panels – is plainly easier if you earn more........

Fifty per cent price increases in many states over four years – linked to demonstrable inefficiencies in resource allocation in the market.

Or in this state, New South Wales – nearly seventy per cent increases.

With half the extra cost due to increased network charges.

People are paying much more for the so-called “poles and wires” – not to produce electricity but just to move it around the system.

A long term trend of price increases like this cannot be sustained.

Not economically, not socially. No market can sustain this, let alone a market which delivers one of the essentials of life.

It’s a huge cost to our economy.

Full transcript of the Prime Minister's speech is here.

Premier Barry O'Farrell, Energy Minister Chris Hartcher et al may huff and puff all they like, but Julia Gillard is speaking a solid truth

Pacific Highway upgrade at Urunga to start in 2013

Australian Road Assessment Program

highway network based on 2009 data

The Bellingen Shire Courier Sun 21 January 2012:

Construction of a by-pass of Urunga is now expected to commence early next year.

Following negotiations between the Australian and NSW Governments a bypass of Urunga is a step closer, with construction companies interested in designing and upgrading the Urunga to Nambucca Heads section of the Pacific Highway having until February 23 to register their details with the Roads and Maritime Services (RMS).

Federal Infrastructure and Transport Minister, Anthony Albanese said this 22 kilometre section is part of the larger 42 kilometre Urunga to Warrell Creek project and is another important step in upgrading the Pacific Highway between Port Macquarie and Raleigh.

“Once completed in 2016, the Urunga to Nambucca Heads upgrade will deliver safer, smoother driving conditions for the 15,000 motorists and truck drivers who use this section of the Pacific Highway each and every day,” said Mr Albanese.

The upgrade of the Urunga to Nambucca Heads section had been agreed between Ministers Albanese and Gay before they became aware of a news story on the issue which aired on Channel 9 last week…….

Rating New South Wales’ Highway Network for Risk 2011 – PDF download

NBN mapping for NSW North Coast

Go to NBN CO for interactive mapping showing national broadband coverage by anticipated type in each state and region.

Saffin invites Inquiry Into The Operation Of The Insurance Industry During Disaster Events to hear evidence on the NSW North Coast

Media release from the office of Janelle Saffin, Federal Labor MP for Page, on Thursday 16 June 2011:

PAGE MP Janelle Saffin has welcomed a new inquiry into how the insurance industry responds to natural disasters, including floods, storms and bushfires regularly experienced by Northern Rivers residents.

Ms Saffin has wasted no time in inviting the House of Representatives Standing Committee Chair, Graham Perrett MP, to hold public hearings in her electorate during the second half of this year.

“Our region is frequently affected by floods, storms and bushfires, sometimes several times a year, and there always is a mountain of paper work and phone calls for policy-holders to navigate,” she said.

“Some of my constituents have been less than satisfied with their insurance companies’ handling of claims or unacceptably long delays in having those claims assessed and finalised.

“This new inquiry will provide the insurance industry and consumers will an opportunity to make submissions on how the system can be streamlined or improved.”

The inquiry will examine the insurance industry in respect to extreme weather events, which due to Climate Change, are becoming more common.

It will consider:

· The information provided to consumers about claims processing arrangements.

· The timeliness of claims processing.

· The impact of third-party consultants on timeframes for claims processing, and

· External and internal dispute resolution processes.

Ms Saffin urged policy-holders who had made a disaster-related claim in the past five years to participate in the Committee’s on-line survey by visiting www.aph.gov.au/house/committee/spla/insurance/index.htm

Full terms of reference for the inquiry can also be found at this website. Individuals and organisations are invited to make submissions to the inquiry by Friday, July 15, 2011.

----------------------------

This Standing Committee on Social Policy and Legal Affairs inquiry is also conducting an online survey:

To gauge community concerns relating to this inquiry, the Committee is conducting an online survey. The survey is targeting members of the community who have made a disaster-related claim on their insurance policies in the last 5 years.

Tell us about your experience of dealing with insurance companies in relation to disaster-related claims here.

Oakeshott and Saffin tell O'Farrell it's time to get busy on the Pacific Highway upgrade

The Federal Government is committed to completing the job on the Pacific Highway by 2016 and, in fact, on 21 October 2010 during question time the Prime Minister gave that commitment. We will work with it every step of the way to finish the job—this missing link—on the Pacific Highway. [Andrew Stoner, NSW Nationals Leader, NSW Hansard 9 May 2011]

That O'Farrell post-Budget dummy spit on 12 May 2011 and Hartsuyker's recent silliness over federal funding for the Pacific Highway upgrade finds two NSW North Coast federal politicians less than amused.

Independent MP For Lyne Rob Oakeshott in the House of Representatives Hansard 12 May 2011:

This $1 billion of extra and new money into the Pacific Highway project does lay down a challenge. It reaches out to New South Wales to match that commitment in what has been traditionally a fifty-fifty funding agreement for what is a very important nation-building project. The challenge is there for the New South Wales government in its first budget after campaigning heavily on this issue, visiting sites such as the site of the Clybucca bus crash and making plenty of noise that it would commit to a 2016 completion date. It will not get there unless it matches the funding that was in the Commonwealth budget. Unless an extra $2 billion goes into this project, the Pacific Highway dual carriageway will not be completed by 2016......
Personally, I have done all that I can at my level to ensure full completion of this project by 2016. We should not sneeze at $1 billion of extra money. I have read comments over the last 48 hours from members of this chamber who are local members on this highway not only sneezing at this money—
I know the member for Page is not,is not, but there are some who are really trying to bag this project and the money going in. They should be focusing on the importance of this money to getting the job done......
I reach out to Barry O'Farrell to do the deal—let us get this project done. Through cooperation, let us do what former governments—state and federal, Labor and Liberal—have failed to achieve.

Labor MP for PageJanelle Saffin in a medai release on 19 May 2011:

I would have thought the State Government would have been cheering about this substantial new investment in the highway, but instead they appear to be baulking at the request for $750 million in matching NSW funding..
Just before the State Election, Nationals MP Andrew Stoner, then shadow Roads Minister, said ‘The NSW Liberals and Nationals would immediately fast track the upgrade of the Pacific Highway if elected in March.’
Just last month Mr Stoner, now Deputy Premier, said on ABC Radio: “Barry O’Farrell and I want to make sure that the State Government is a help and not a hindrance to finishing the job.....
The State National Party MPs must get their Liberal coalition partners to honour the commitment to this vital infrastructure.
This is not the time for hesitation from the State Government.

Saffin tells Parliament 'Not a drop' from the Clarence River

Bravo to Federal Labor’s Janelle Saffin who really is in tune with her electorate in this 18 October 2010 media release.

Saffin tells Parliament -- ‘Not a drop’

PAGE MP Janelle Saffin made it clear on the first day of the Parliamentary session that she would be vigilant on protecting the Clarence River against water raiders.

Ms Saffin today told Parliament that a lot of people are talking about wanting to get their hands on water from the Clarence River.

But she said the message from the local community in response to those looking at river diversion under the Murray-Darling Basin plan is this – “Not a drop”.

“Engineering-wise, we can do anything -- we can do marvels -- but in terms of the environment and also the viability of the Clarence, it would be a disaster.

“The catchment area of the Clarence River falls within 100 kilometres of the New South Wales coastal strip.

“Our industries are fishing -- we have a huge commercial fishing industry -- and agriculture, and the economy is heavily underpinned by that commercial fishing.

“There is also forestry and tourism. It is all worth a lot to us.

“This debate is one of those debates that come up ever now and then.”

Ms Saffin said that right across her electorate thousands of cars display the ‘not a drop’ bumper stickers, part of a Daily Examiner campaign against Coalition water policy in 2007.

Following her statement in the House, Ms Saffin said she did not want to alarm people but she wanted to be up front on the first sitting day on this important issue.

“I also want to thank the local people who sent me good information on the issue this morning,” Ms Saffin said.

“The idea of diverting the Clarence River inland won’t stand up to closer public scrutiny.”

Has Abbott joined the coastal river water raiders?

This is Tony Abbott speaking at the Official Coalition Election Campaign Launch on 8 August 2010:

The Coalition will end Labor's procrastination and fully and finally implement the Howard/Turnbull/Anderson plan for the Murray Darling basin.

NSW North Coast residents will no doubt recall that in 2006-07 the Howard Government (with Malcolm Turnbull as Water Minister) was actively exploring the possibility of damming and diverting fresh water from the Clarence River catchment and then piping this water into either the lower part of the Queensland section or the upper part of the New South Wales section of the Murray Darling Basin river system, with a view to providing water to inland irrigators, mines, power stations and, as an afterthought, to increase environmental flow.

Other North Coast rivers were also being considered by Howard, Turnbull and Anderson.

A brief history of proposals to raid the Clarence River catchment:
Clarence Valley Council Mayoral Minute CLARENCE RIVER DIVERSION, April 2007
Dam the Clarence? No Way? June 2007
Dam the neighbours, April 2007
Clarence River dam proposal slammed as deceptive, August 2009

As the road toll mounts we're still waiting, Kristina..........

As the annual road toll on the NSW North Coast leg of the Pacific Highway steadily mounts, local mayors and the media are still waiting for Premier Kristina Keneally or her designated ministerial representative to undertake an inspection by car along the worst of this route.

The invitation has been on the table since early February this year and the Premier appears to have committed her minister to a full inspection according to a March 2010 media report.

The inspection is overdue to say the least.

A short visit to Coffs Harbour in late March by Regional Development Minister Ian McDonald trying a snow job on the mayors and burbling on about "cost-benefit analysis" being needed before highway upgrades can occur just doesn't cut the political mustard - especially as scandal has since seen him go from office and parliament.

The NSW Government has been responding to these road deaths with sad shaking of heads for years now.

In 2005 Keneally's mentor, then Roads Minister Joe Tripodi, was telling ABC TV Stateline:

I am very conscious of the many tragic deaths on the Pacific Highway. One death on our roads is one death too many, and my heart goes to the families and friends who have suffered this terrible loss.

The NSW road toll for 2010 as of 16 June was 213 deaths. As in past years, too many of these were on the Pacific Highway.

In certain quarters local tempers are becoming rather frayed and we are still waiting, Kristina.........

Photograph of 2007 Coffs Harbour area fatality at The Sydney Morning Herald (top left ) and 2010 Tabbimobile area fatalities at The Daily Examiner (bottom right)

Saffin and Page stay on track

It's good to see two local politicians from opposite sides of the political spectrum come out in favour of public transport on the NSW North Coast.
Although one has to wonder if a wider regional rail service will ever come to pass given the lack of political will prevailing in the NSW Parliament.

The Northern Star on 24 April 2010:

A NEW train line linking Ballina with the Casino-Murwillumbah branch line will have to be built to help the Northern Rivers cope with its booming population, Ballina MP Don Page has said.
Mr Page said he would like to see a new train line running from Byron Bay to Ballina, taking in Lennox Head along the way, and then from Ballina to Lismore, taking in the plateau communities of Alstonville and Wollongbar, to help the region cope with massive growth expected between now and 2036.
The idea has won the support of Federal Page MP Janelle Saffin, who said she wanted itincluded in the integrated transport plan being developed for the region.
She said regular, affordable public transport, already a sore point in the region, was going to become critical as the region’s population grew and aged over the next 26 years.
“Transport is such a critical issue and I see it as becoming more important with the increasing of our population and of our senior population,” Ms Saffin said.
Government figures predict the Northern Rivers’ population will grow by about 70,000 between now and 2036, mostly between Ballina and the Tweed. At the same time, the population is expected to age dramatically, with the number of people aged 65 and over set to nearly treble in some areas, while the number of children aged 14 or under declines slightly.

Daily Examiner editor issues another public invitation to NSW Premier Kristina Keneally

Last Friday The Daily Examiner editor, David Bancroft, expressed an opinion shared by many on the NSW North Coast:

IT'S a pity NSW Opposition Leader Barry O'Farrell had not arrived on the North Coast a little earlier yesterday to inspect the section of Pacific Highway between Ballina and Coffs Harbour that we believe needs urgent and major upgrading.

If he had, he would have been able to see for himself the carnage that happens all too regularly on this section of highway.

Sadly, another person lost their life on the highway yesterday and lives will continue to be lost until the entire section of the highway is divided carriageway.

Currently the NSW Government has no plans - at least for the next five years - to make any large sections of the highway in this area divided.

And while it remains undivided, vehicles will continue to crash head-on and innocent people will continue to die.

Mr O'Farrell missed his plane yesterday and arrived hours late for his tour. But at least he arrived.

The same cannot be said of the Premier, Kristina Keneally, who is still to accept an invitation from four North Coast mayors to join them on a tour of the highway.

Yesterday Mrs Keneally was in Dubbo opening the headquarters of the State Water Corporation.

There is no doubt the Premier is a busy woman and that there may have been a long-standing commitment to open the headquarters.

But the mayors have left their invitation completely open-ended and will agree to meet the Premier anytime that suits her.

Being Premier involves more than smiling photo opportunities ... sometimes it means getting out and facing some of the more problematic issues in the community.

And there can't be anything that is a greater problem then people dying needlessly on our roads.

Come on Mrs Keneally, it's time to come and have a look at the highway for yourself.

Man dead after car, truck collide The crash happened on a straight section of the Pacific Highway on an overtaking lane near the Iluka turn-off last Thursday.