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Wake Up to present Warringah’s shopping list for power sale bounty
Wake Up Warringah’s 10 local government candidates are demanding that Warringah is not left out of the windfall from the NSW government’s privatisation of the power industry.
Mayoral candidate Michael Regan, said “Warringah has been ignored by Macquarie Street for too long. It’s up to our next council to ensure this area receives its fair share of funding from this huge sell-off. A strong independent voice in local government is our residents’ best chance to make the gains they deserve from this asset sale.”
Mr Regan said the new council must present the state government with a “shopping list” of urgent local priorities while the money is available, and should not accept excuses for refusal.
“Wake Up is offering Warringah the chance for passionate independent representation on these and other issues that the party-backed politicians seeking election can’t offer because of their alliances to Liberal and Labor. Our candidates have no reason to be hesitant in lobbying hard for Warringah’s neglected projects because we only answer to the community.”
Wake Up’s shopping list would include buying back Crown Land to protect bushland; traffic planning around the Frenchs Forest Hospital site using local input; first-class facilities for all of Warringah’s sports; increased public transport for both city commuters and for local trips; a new six-lane fixed Spit bridge and funding to provide more affordable child care places.
Two items highlighted by Wake Up as urgent are traffic planning around the new hospital site and the need for increases – not reductions – in bus services.
“People in C Ward in particular are worried that when the Frenchs Forest Hospital is built, they’ll suffer even worse bottlenecks than they do now. Some of the power sale funds must go towards planning that road system properly with local input,” said Mr Regan.
Wake Up says the Ministry of Transport’s latest plan for further cuts to peninsula bus services unfairly punishes residents with already limited travel options.
“Warringah now has another round of proposed cuts to buses on the table when public transport users are crying out for more services, not less. As well as peak hour trips taking longer all the time and workers being left stranded at bus stops, poor public transport also contributes to the area’s high drink driving rate and to greenhouse gas emissions,” said Mr Regan.
“Cutting express routes and making people change buses to get home at night robs northern beaches families of time together. Removing transfer fares as proposed is just another rip-off that we suffer here because we don’t have an alternative to buses. Wake Up councillors will lobby the state government to use some of the power sale profits for more bus services.”
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