Andrew Constance – Out of touch and out of control

Our Union is in the fight for the long haul to have the privatisation of region 6 reversed and to see an end to Constance’s privatisation rampage for the sake of all drivers and commuters.

Members should be under no illusions that the privatisation plans of Andrew Constance will stop with Sydney’s buses.

In March he was quoted in the Australian Financial Review as saying that “10 to 15 years’ time [the] government will not be in the provision of transport services” meaning that under a NSW Liberal Government, all public transport, road and rail is on the privatisation chopping block.

Privatisation will not deliver better services. In the UK, bus privatisation has been a catastrophe for commuters and the ‘Uber buses’ Constance often talks about as ‘the future of public transport’ have gone broke in the only three cities they were trialled around the world.

His delivery of public transport projects and plans has been a farcical. This week it was revealed that the inner west tram line can never connect to the George St tram line because Constance was too lazy to insist they be built to compatible standards.

That project itself in now $500m dollars over budget and after an expensive planning process the $2.7 billion Parramatta light rail has been scrapped.

Our Union will continue to ramp up the fight to protect our public transport, as the public deserve a Transport Minister that listens to them and makes decisions to sustain and improve public transport networks – not sell them off to private companies who’ll cash in while taxpayers are left to pick up the tab.