Member for Burnett Stephen Bennett has today called on the Premier to listen to the more than one thousand people who are desperate to fix the train service debacle in Bundaberg.
Mr Bennett tabled a petition this morning that’s asking the house to do all in its power to ensure the replacement of each lost return train service with wheelchair accessible buses as a matter of urgency. *
The Burnett MP said it’s about providing regional Queenslanders with services they need, expect, and deserve.
“The community is shocked by the arrogance and disrespect this Labor Government has shown our region,” said Mr Bennett.
“More and more I’m hearing stories where people have been unable to book in advance or forced to wait for a train that’s over 3 hours late.
“This is beyond a joke and not good enough.
“There are no trains running from Bundaberg to Brisbane on a Sunday or Wednesday anymore.
“This means that if patients have specialist appointments on a Monday or Thursday morning, they must travel to Brisbane two days in advance or catch a plane.
“This is simply unaffordable or practically unrealistic for most.”
Local resident Karen Brown said the cuts are unfair to the people of Bundaberg and surrounding districts.
“A lot of people catch the 5:15am service to go to Brisbane for specialist appointments,” she said.
“Now, as well as having a health service that is inadequate, the transport service has been stripped.
“Saying that we can use the Cairns service is not feasible as it consistently runs late coming through here, therefore you can’t rely on it to get into Brisbane on time for an appointment.
“I would ask that the Government revise the timetable that has been issued while the maintenance is done on the Tilt Service.
“It is not acceptable for these services to be taken away.
“Additionally, as a tourist destination, it’s disgusting that there are no services leaving Bundaberg for Brisbane on a Sunday.”
Member for Burnett Stephen Bennett said the petition has put a commonsense solution on the table.
“All we’re asking is to replace the lost services with accessible buses; exactly like we see when scheduled trains are replaced with buses in the Southeast corner,” said Mr Bennett.
“Regional Queenslanders deserve better.
“I must thank everyone who signed the petition and shared their stories.
“It’s through your real experiences that we can shine a light on the unjust and disrespectful treatment we’re seeing from the Palaszczuk Government.
“It’s time to put a stop to their chaos and crisis.”
* https://www.parliament.qld.gov.au/Work-of-the-Assembly/Petitions/Petition-Details?id=3906
ENDS.
22/08/2023