ANZAC Day

I am delighted to hear that our national servicemen will be receiving medals to formally recognise the services they contributed when they were called up for National Service. National Service was compulsory between 1951 and 1974 and while many Nashos did not see active duty they were all forced to leave work and families and participate in roles that often changed their lives forever.I was pleased to see a number of young people present in the Anzac Day crowd at Mittagong and earlier at the dawn service at Picton. It’s important to pass on this tradition of remembrance to the next generation so they understand the sacrifice made by everyone who is touched by war.

Health

The Health Minister is trying to brush off direct questions about local ambulance response times by claiming “the diversion of public resources necessary to answer this question is not justifiable.” Clearly my questions were too close to the bone for the Minister who is desperately trying to defend his management of health in NSW. The questions addressed the average response time in the local areas over a period of time, how often an on call ambulance officer was despatched to an emergency and how often a vehicle was despatched from another area rather than calling in the on-call officer. I am astounded the Minister simply dismissed my questions this way and that he has not taken local concerns seriously.

Rail

The Carr Government’s long awaited CityRail customer charter was full of generalisations and failed to provide any guarantees of improved services for rail commuters. That charter, that took two years to develop, was full of do good statements but with no specific targets and no way of holding operators accountable if targets aren’t met. The Opposition rejects any proposed fare increase for CityRail and based on the growing tide of local traveller complaints, there is no justification for fare increases. . Fare increases should be put on hold until CityRail’s performance shows consistent and lasting improvements.