Public Transport Safety

The Hon. AILEEN MacDONALD (17:16:09):

I take note of the answer given by the Minister for Finance, the Minister for Employee Relations and the Leader of the Government to a question about the New South Wales Government's response to threats from union officials to misuse safety equipment at train stations and deprive the people of New South Wales of public transport revenue. Imagine the staff in a busy restaurant shutting down the till indefinitely as a supposed protest. It would not be long before there was no money to pay them.

The cynical and childish claim by Alex Claassens that, by illegally using the emergency egress button to disable the Opal readers, he is treating afternoon commuters is apparently just fine with Mr Minns and those opposite. Mr Claassens' belated resignation from the administrative committee of the Labor Party does not change the reality that the year of the strike disrupting the lives of the good people of New South Wales is a Labor unions election stunt. I support the Minister's response that the New South Wales Government will seek damages from the rail unions in the Federal Court if they push ahead with planned industrial action this week.

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