Save CountryLink

Over the years Lee Rhiannon and The Greens have fought hard to reverse the Labor government's cutbacks to rural rail services.  Back in January 2004 Lee Rhiannon visited Tamworth, Armidale, Grafton and Lismore to meet locals who were opposed to axing CountryLink. In 2005 the campaign went west when Lee Rhiannon met up with Greens rural affairs spokesperson Jeremy Buckingham to launch the Save CountryLink campaign in Orange.

The Greens have distributed leaflets, collected signatures for our petitions and surveyed commuters on the daily XPT. We have also urged people to lobby the Transport Minister, as well as their local state MP.

The Greens Save Countrylink message:

• Instead of increasing prices, scrapping 100 jobs and closing ticket offices CountryLink should be expanded to include commuter services to nearby towns and high speed trains throughout regional NSW.
• People in the country deserve a train service - that means the second class coach service has got to go.
• For all the talk about how much the ALP cares for the country it really is disappointing that they have run down CountryLink.
  
  

20th March 2006 - CountryLink survey results released:

Greens MP and transport spokesperson, Lee Rhiannon and Greens rural affairs spokesperson, Jeremy Buckingham released the first results of the Greens CountryLink passenger survey.

CountryLink passengers said they want to use regional rail services but have responded to Government cutbacks by reducing their use of the service.  The survey clearly shows that successive Labor Transport Ministers who have made savage cuts to CountryLink services are to blame for declining patronage.

All respondents but one said they would use the CountryLink service more often if the Government increased the number of services.  Most respondents said they found it harder to use the service since ticket offices have been closed, as they have little or no access to the internet.

Fare increases have also affected regular service users, with two thirds of respondents saying they had reduced the number of CountryLink trips taken since last year's fare increase.

CountryLink fare hikes, job losses and ticket office closures have had a devastating impact on regional jobs and regional tourism. This survey backs the Greens' call for CountryLink services to be expanded.

Passengers often complain that CountryLink's Dubbo to Sydney route is back to front. Dubbo to Sydney should be an intercity service, with an early start at Dubbo arriving at Orange and Bathurst in time for work or university, and arriving in Sydney by mid morning, with a same day service returning to Dubbo later that evening.

Our highways are bumper to bumper with country people who would be happy to use an intercity train service that started its journey in the country and made a return trip the same day.

It's disappointing that the NSW Labor Government has run down regional rail services, as this survey shows that country people want to take the train.

For more info contact: Greens MP Lee Rhiannon - 9230 3551 or Greens rural affairs spokesperson, Jeremy Buckingham - 0439 460 691

Axe the 15% pensioner booking fee:

In January 2007 Lee Rhiannon called on the Iemma Government to axe the CountryLink 15% pensioner ticket booking fee following revelations that since the introduction of the booking fee in 2006 over 50,000 pensioners had been forced to miss out on using their free travel vouchers.

The Greens argued that the Government should restore the original spirit that the free tickets were introduced with, saying it was a disgrace that the booking fee had hit pensioners so hard that 50,000 people cancelled their travel plans last year. 

The spirit of the free pensioner CountryLink tickets was to reward people for a lifetime of work with the opportunity to travel in their retirement and the 15% booking fee soured the gesture.  By slugging the most vulnerable people in our community with this unfair tax, the Iemma Government put regional train travel out of reach for many retired people.