State Member for Morayfield Mark Ryan has been forced to concede that he was not briefed or warned by his own Labor colleagues about the state government’s decision to cut vital bus services from residents in Norfolk Esplanade.
The embarrassing admission was made live on local radio station (101.5FM) during a transport debate between himself and the LNP Candidate for Morayfield, Darren Grimwade.
Mr Ryan was questioned on how the Labor government could overlook consulting with their local members and suggestions were made that if this is happening locally, it is no doubt happening all over Queensland.
Mr Grimwade weighed into the local issue after a barrage of complaints from local residents who expressed concerned they were being ignored by the Queensland Labor government.
“We conducted a community corner and delivered notification letters to residents to attend the “street meeting”. The local residents came out in force. This led to the decision to start a petition to be tabled in state parliament.
“I have door knocked the affected streets and have spoken to the residents firsthand about the lack of communication and poor consultation they have received from the state government. The issue for the residents is that no consultation was offered before the route was terminated and most found out after their service failed to arrive.
“This is typical Labor - failure to consult the residents and then when public outcry begins, attempt to clean up the mess. The real issue here is the fact that the Labor government failed to communicate not only to the residents, but failed to communicate to their state member.
“I am proud to have a leader such as Campbell Newman in my corner when it comes to fighting for public transport. Campbell Newman achieved great outcomes when he was Mayor of the Brisbane City Council. As Mayor, Mr Newman put 125 additional buses onto the roads of Brisbane each year from 2008 and in a stark contrast Labor only managed to put 6 buses onto the road in one year.” Mr Grimwade said.
