What is Australia’s next great nation-building infrastructure project? What will be our next Snowy Mountains scheme, our next Harbour Bridge? That was the question raised by an enthusiastic audience at the Better Transport Forum in Dubbo last week.
Transport, Trains, Buses, Ferries
July 12
With the Patricks rail terminal at Dubbo now closed, and uncertainty over the future of grain freight rail lines, a public meeting has been called to discuss transport in the Dubbo and Western Plains region.
July 2
The Rail, Tram and Bus Union held a highly successful forum in Tamworth this week to discuss regional transport issues.
June 17
Here in NSW, manufacturing workers build everything from passenger train carriages through to massive naval air warfare destroyers.
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But in recent years, more and more of our transport manufacturing contracts have gone to low-cost overseas competitors.
Buses and rail rolling stock, along with all sorts of other heavy equipment, are commonly imported from China in tube or flat-pack form. After they’re shipped over, the skilled NSW tradespeople who used to build these buses and trains from scratch now assemble and fit them out.
This trend puts valuable jobs, skills and apprenticeship opportunities at risk.
June 15
The NSW State Budget contained new tax breaks for business, and a surprise budget surplus, but little to tackle the State’s transport problems.
June 9
The NSW Government’s budget surplus averaging $800 million each year for the next four years would be better spent improving the public services that have been razed by years of cost cutting.
As the NSW economy recovers and major infrastructure projects begin to take off, it is concerning that no efforts are being made by the Government to keep up with demand.
May 28
The NSW Government must commit to growing the public sector at next month’s budget if it is to keep up with the demand for essential services.
This is one of the key findings revealed in Keeping Pace: The Impact of Population Growth on NSW Public Services, a report launched at the PSA’s annual conference in Sydney today.
May 24
A decision in the Industrial Relations Commission recently to allow all breastfeeding mothers in the public service lactation breaks and the right to a private space to express milk has been hailed as a breakthrough for women’s rights, and it is hoped more workplaces will follow suit.
Breastfeeding: more milk please
April 7
The train line running through Newcastle’s CBD has been under threat for years now.
At regular intervals the people of Newcastle have a new plan with a new risk analysis thrust before them – to cut the heavy rail line at Wickham or Civic, to build a new interchange, to turn the rail line into a ‘green zone’, to transport people to the city via a bus link.
