Dr MARJORIE O'NEILL (Coogee) (15:59:13): I speak on behalf of the more than 10,000 signatories to this petition. I thank the community that has been behind this campaign from the very beginning. I thank the Rail, Tram, and Bus Union [RTBU] and Unions NSW for the amazing way in which they have advocated on behalf of the community to save these bus services and protect the jobs that would be lost if they were removed. I represent all of those who have written to me, visited my office and stopped me on the street in the electorate of Coogee to express their shock and absolute disbelief at the Liberals' callous cuts to these vital and much-loved buses. I represent the local people of the eastern suburbs who rely on these buses day in and day out to take them to libraries and doctors appointments, to see friends and family, and to take them to work—everywhere that they need to go.

In the midst of a pandemic and an unemployment crisis, I speak to fight for the bus drivers and transport workers who are about to have their hours cut or their jobs made redundant. It has been nine months since these heartless and senseless cuts were announced not by this cowardly Government but by the Opposition, by way of a very brave public servant who leaked documents to us. We have put in Government Information (Public Access) Act applications to make this document public only to have them rejected. I have to ask: Why is the Government hiding these bus cuts?

My office has received thousands of emails, letters and calls from locals who are devastated by the Government's plan to cut 16 bus routes from the south-east region, which will remove more than 1,600 services every day and 10,000 services every week. Those buses are the 302, the 314, the 317, the 373, the 376, the 377, the 393, the 394, the 395, the 397, the 399, the L98, the M10, the M50, the 891 and the 893, with an additional 11 services set to be rerouted to funnel people onto the light rail. This is in addition to the 378 and the 361 services, which have already been cut. Make no mistake—the only reason the Government is cutting these bus services is to force people to use its light rail and justify the "dog of a project". That is exactly how the Minister for Transport and Roads has described this piece of infrastructure. It is an abysmal replacement for some of the best bus services in Sydney. The light rail went more than $1.3 billion over budget, is 20 minutes slower than existing bus services, has fewer stops, has more breakdowns and has safety concerns across its entire network.

People from the eastern suburbs reject the Government's cuts to their bus services, and they are prepared to fight this every step of the way. The Randwick Council-commissioned report by EMM Consulting stated that, according to the Government's planned capacity projections once these bus services are removed, the only way to increase capacity is by packing people like sardines onto the light rail at crush capacity. This is the Government's great plan for the eastern suburbs—cut all the buses, jam everyone onto the light rail and make sure that they are packed in like sardines. It sounds lovely—and great during a pandemic as well!

By reducing these services, the amount of available jobs will also be reduced. We are in the middle of an economic crisis, so we should be fighting to keep every single job instead of throwing them down the toilet. Earlier this year RTBU members threatened to go on strike but they did not, because they came to a verbal agreement with the Minister who promised that there would be comprehensive community consultation before any bus services were cut. No community consultation ever happened, and this Sunday 25 October the M50 and the M10 services are set to be cut. The Minister says one thing and does the complete opposite. This should not be shocking, however, because it happens time and time again. The much-loved 378 and 371 services were cut in the dead of night with no consultation. It just happened.

If the Government understood how transport worked in the eastern suburbs, it would realise that any reduction in bus services just forces more people to drive on our already congested roads. More significantly, any reduction in services will isolate vulnerable people in our community. We know that privatising the buses would be even worse. When is the Government going to learn? When is it going to listen? The people clearly do not want their bus services removed. They do not want to catch the Government's light rail and they definitely do not want the buses privatised. Since I have been a member of Parliament, more than 60,000 people have signed petitions saying that they do not want their bus services taken away or privatised. The Government should keep its hands off them.