[Greens-Media] Iemma needs to get back on track with North West Rail Link and drop Costa*s bus plan

[Lee Rhiannon]

MEDIA RELEASE
25 September 2007


Iemma needs to get back on track with North West Rail Link and drop
Costa*s bus plan


Greens MP and transport spokesperson Lee Rhiannon has called on Premier
Morris Iemma to give a clear public commitment that the North-West Rail
Link will proceed following today*s news that Treasurer Michael Costa
wants to substitute buses for the promised rail service. 

*Premier Iemma needs to publicly back the North-West Rail Link today
and demonstrate that he runs NSW and not Treasurer Costa," Ms Rhiannon
said.

*Treasurer Costa is running an aggressive agenda. He is used to
getting his way and his actions are damaging public services. It*s
time the Premier stood up to him. 

*The Treasurer*s plan for buses to serve the Hills region will
never be able to carry as many passengers as rail. Hundreds of bus
journeys would be needed in peak periods to carry the tens of thousands
of people to and from the North West of Sydney.

*In the short term the Costa bus plan for the Hills would lead to
clogged roads and long delays for commuters. 

*With the price of oil rising and dwindling oil stocks it is
irresponsible of the Treasurer to push a petroleum-dependent transport
system onto future generations. 

*This latest attempt to dictate transport policy by the Treasurer
reveals he is a peak oil sceptic as well as a climate change sceptic. 

*This is a dangerous combination with serious implications for the
NSW economy. In recent weeks crude oil prices reached $US80 a barrel *
three times the price of five years ago. 

*Peak oil refers to the situation where global oil output fails to
meet demand, a situation many experts argue we have already reached. 

*Treasurer Costa*s lack of understanding of the vulnerability of
this state*s economy to the threats posed by climate change and peak
oil leads him to back bad planning ideas such as dropping North West
Rail Link for buses,* Ms Rhiannon said. 




For more information * 9230 3551, 0427 861 568