Dr MARJORIE O'NEILL (Coogee) (15:59:38): I welcome this opportunity to again debate this very important issue. This discussion arises today because more than 10,000 people from the eastern suburbs have rejected the Government's plan to privatise the buses. The reality is, though, that more than 60,000 people across New South Wales have signed petitions to stop the privatisation of their buses. From Newcastle to North Shore, the inner west to Wakehurst, Manly to Maroubra, it does not matter which buses we are talking about; the public never wants them privatised. On 24 October the Minister for Transport and Roads announced the privatisation of regions 7, 8 and 9, which includes the eastern suburbs bus services, despite the Premier saying on 20 March 2019 that there would be no further privatisations. We know that she outright lied to the people of New South Wales. When asked about it during question time on 24 October 2019, her response was "Wakey-wakey, New South Wales. We have been doing it for eight years." The Premier's disdain for the people of New South Wales is palpable.
I take this opportunity to thank the tens of thousands of community members who have been fighting to save these vital bus services. I also thank and acknowledge the hard work of the Rail, Tram & Bus Union and Unions NSW, who are fighting for the jobs, families and communities that are all impacted by this decision—many of whom are protesting across Sydney today and many more of whom are watching over the live stream telecast. The reason the Opposition opposes the decision by the Government is that we know when public assets are privatised it always ends up worse for citizens. The privatisation of the last remaining public buses will be no different. It does not work in the public's favour. The Opposition knows that when public assets are privatised, profits come before people and shareholders trump passengers. We know that because it is embedded in the Corporations Act.
When it comes to privatisation, the Government continues to ignore the experts. In 2016 the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission chairman said outright that privatisation was damaging the economy. Selling public assets creates unregulated monopolies and, in turn, hurts production, reduces public service quality and damages the economy. Selling our buses is not aimed at improving the bus services provided in the eastern suburbs, northern beaches and north-western suburbs—to suggest so is an insult to the hardworking drivers of the State Transit Authority [STA]. The privatisation is an attempt to fill the fiscal chasm that this Government has created for itself—created in no small way by the fact that the Government keeps offloading revenue-generating assets. Some history that the Opposition would like to avoid is what happened after the sale of ports in this State.
In 2014 the Liberal Government sold the Port of Newcastle, which is the world's largest coal port. The new owners immediately started price gouging. That placed huge strain on the coal industry in the Hunter—which is a huge driver of the New South Wales economy. Despite that damaging evidence, the Government did it again with its joint sale of the ports of Botany and Port Kembla. This joint sale eliminated competition, entrenched monopoly and hurt the New South Wales economy. This Government refused to learn from its mistakes with the ports and it is making the very same mistakes again with our public transport. In the inner west and Newcastle we have seen services reduced, bus stops removed and worse outcomes for passengers. Even Conservative Boris Johnson is ending the United Kingdom's privatisation experiment. We all know that when public assets are privatised it always ends up worse for workers.
If we have learnt anything from this current crisis, when unemployment is expected to reach double digits we know that every job is essential and critical—especially when it comes to our public transport. But here we go again! As part of the tendering of our bus services, non-operational drops will not be guaranteed. The Government should be fighting to keep every job. Everybody should have their job guaranteed. The Government should not be pitting workers against workers, which is exactly what the Government is doing. Every job matters. In addition, we have seen in other bus privatisations that real wages were reduced. At a time when our economic recovery will depend on people spending money in their local communities, losing up to a quarter of their wage will be crippling for workers and businesses they support. Yes, that is exactly what happened in the inner west when buses were privatised.
The people making these decisions clearly have no idea how people move about in the eastern suburbs and how important each and every bus service is to local people. If this Government understood how transport works in the eastern suburbs it would realise that any reduction in bus services will force more people to drive on our already congested local roads. More significant than this is that any reduction in services will isolate more vulnerable members of our community by cutting them off. We know that privatising buses will mean that people of the eastern suburbs are worse off. When will the Government learn? It has a responsibility to make things better for the people of New South Wales, not worse. But more importantly, when will the Government start to listen? Let it be clear: People do not want their buses privatised. More than 60,000 people have signed petitions to say so. The Government is elected on a lie and the people of New South Wales will remember it.
