Media Release: Tate credibility on the line, say Greens

Newcastle Greens

Tuesday, 26 October 2010

Tate credibility on the line, say Greens

The Greens today said that public statements by Newcastle Lord Mayor John Tate regarding his past stance on development of the Newcastle rail corridor raise serious questions about his credibility as a contender for the state seat of Newcastle.

Today’s Newcastle Herald reports Councillor Tate as saying that he had “always said that the railway corridor should stay as a corridor...a transport corridor ”.

“The full truth is that Cr Tate has supported major built development on significant portions of the existing rail corridor,” The Greens candidate for the seat of Newcastle, John Sutton, said.

“In 2003 Cr Tate was a member of the Michael Costa-appointed Lower Hunter Transport Working Group, and fully supported that group’s Final Report (released in December 2003), which indicated major built development on the existing railway corridor (see relevant excerpts below from that report).

 “The future of the Newcastle rail line is going to be a key issue in the March state election for the seat of Newcastle, and it’s important that all candidates are open and honest with voters about their record and where they stand on the issue,” Mr Sutton said.

“The 2003 report supported by Cr Tate recommended saving only part of the existing rail corridor for transport purposes, giving the rest over to other developments.

“Councillor Tate has received political donations from local developers who are actively involved in the campaign to cut the Newcastle rail line, and has already been censured by Newcastle Council for not adequately disclosing conflicts of interest arising from such political donations.

“The fact is that Cr Tate has blown with the wind of his own perceived political interests on the issue of the Newcastle rail line.

“During the 1990s he stood with the grassroots community campaign to save the line. Soon after he was elected Lord Mayor in 1999 (largely on his reputation as a community advocate on issues such as the rail line), he was captured by the vested interests behind the anti-rail campaign, and worked with Labor’s then Minister for the Hunter, Michael Costa, on the campaign to cut the line.

“Cr Tate owes it to Newcastle voters to tell the full truth about his stance on the rail line, and not hide behind partial truths and weasel words,” Mr Sutton said.

[See the maps title “Area 3: Newcastle - 3-D massing model of proposed”, p.29; and “Character Sketch”, p.33; and “Character Sketch”, p.35. All these maps and artists’ impressions depict significant built development on the existing rail corridor].

Media Release: Baldwin anti-rail stance “dishonest, cowardly and ignorant”, says Greens Newcastle candidate

Newcastle Greens

Thursday, 14 October 2010

Baldwin anti-rail stance “dishonest, cowardly and ignorant”, says Greens Newcastle candidate

The Greens candidate for the state seat of Newcastle, John Sutton, today accused Paterson Liberal MP Bob Baldwin of political dishonesty, cowardice and ignorance in joining the campaign to cut the Newcastle rail line.

“Mr Baldwin is trying to spin his anti-rail media statements today as an act of political courage, when the truth is that he didn’t declare his stance on this issue during the recent campaign for the federal seat of Paterson, and therefore denied his own constituents the opportunity to vote on it.

“Many of Mr Baldwin’s Paterson constituents use the Newcastle rail line to travel to work.

“If Mr Baldwin supported cutting the Newcastle rail line before the federal election on 21 August (less than two months ago) he has been politically dishonest and cowardly in not declaring this during the election campaign.

“If he didn’t support it during the federal campaign, then his recent sudden conversion demonstrates just how vulnerable the Coalition is to the same vested interests as the Labor Party, and just how shallow his party’s approach to regional development and public transport really is.

“However he spins it, the fact is that Mr Baldwin, the Coalition’s federal Shadow Minister for Regional Development, is now publicly advocating cutting regional rail infrastructure in support of an anti-rail campaign bankrolled by developers and other wealthy vested interests.

“Mr Baldwin’s comments about the now discredited Hunter Development Corporation’s Newcastle City Centre Renewal Report suggest that he hasn’t read the report, or followed the ensuing public debate.

“Mr Baldwin claims that the HDC report outlines a clear strategy for “an improved public transport system”, when, in fact (as The Greens have continually pointed out) the report clearly advocates cutting rail services and using existing bus capacity to take up displaced rail patronage, and contains no costings or funding recommendations for any public transport improvements at all.

“Under the scrutiny of grassroots community groups (including The Greens), the HDC has effectively admitted that their report is a car-based strategy based on fudged figures.

“Even NSW Labor is now showing signs that it is finally recognising the deficiencies of the HDC Report, abandoning some of its silly and unsustainable transport related recommendations.

“Neither the Labor nor Liberal party seems to be capable of making and holding to the hard decision to retain Newcastle’s rail line as a key element in the city’s revitalisation, and to take simple, relatively low-cost measures to landscape the line and install safe, controlled pedestrian crossings to connect the CBD and the harbour,” Mr Sutton said.

Media Release: Broken rail service another broken Labor public transport promise, say Greens

Newcastle Greens

12 October 2010

Broken rail service another broken Labor public transport promise, say Greens

New arrangements for rail commuters between Sydney and Newcastle demonstrate the state Labor government’s failure to deal with the challenge of public transport in the Hunter, The Greens candidate for Newcastle, John Sutton, said today.

“This week’s announcement that three daily rail services between Sydney and Newcastle will now be broken at Gosford will further reduce rail patronage, and is effectively another broken Labor public transport promise,” Mr Sutton said.

“When NSW Labor’s public transport blueprint for the decade (Action for Transport 2010) was launched by Bob Carr in November 1998, they promised that they would cut 30minutes off the rail journey between Sydney and Newcastle.

“Instead, we find in the target year of 2010 that trip times have actually increased over that period, and these latest changes mean that some rail commuters will now have to suffer further inconvenience and delays by the forced Gosford interchange.

“Aside from the inconvenience caused, the 8 to 15 minute delays that will arise from the new service changes can be crucial to a significant number of commuters with time-dependent travel needs, who may well choose to drive their cars instead of taking the train.

“Forced interchanges inevitably lead to a decline in public transport use.

“This is a real step backwards for Newcastle rail commuters, just at a time when the city most needs its vital inter-city transport link, and when the introduction of MyZone ticketing was showing real promise in stimulating greater patronage on the Sydney-Newcastle line,” Mr Sutton said.

“The current Labor government has presided over a gradual demise of Newcastle’s public transport system, and is even considering further forced interchanges to our inter-city services (e.g., the proposed Wickham terminus).

“The Greens intend to put public transport at the centre of local public policy debate in the campaign leading up to next year’s March state election”, Mr Sutton said.

Media Release: Greens announce John Sutton as Newcastle candidate

Newcastle Greens

Greens announce John Sutton as Newcastle candidate

Friday, 1 October 2010

Newcastle Greens today announced former Newcastle City councillor John Sutton as The Greens candidate for the state seat of Newcastle.

Mr Sutton was the first Green elected to public office in NSW when he became an alderman on Newcastle City Council in 1991, serving two terms on the council before retiring in 1999.

A former journalist and retired communication academic, Mr Sutton now works part-time as a support worker for Greens councillors around NSW. He has remained actively involved in the city’s public life through local grassroots community organisations and campaigns, including the current campaigns to save Newcastle’s heritage avenue of giant fig trees in Laman St and the Newcastle rail line, and for a more sustainable approach to the future development of Newcastle’s public beaches and parks.

“It’s a great honour to have been pre-selected as The Greens candidate for the state seat of Newcastle at this moment in its history,” Mr Sutton said.

“Our city is at a crucial political, social, environmental and economic watershed.

“As the world’s largest coal exporting port, we are at the centre of the issue of climate change. How we as a community respond to this has major local and global implications.

“As a major regional city we also face huge local challenges, such as revitalising our CBD and our public transport system, and ensuring that development occurs sustainably and equitably.

“Properly handled, these challenges present us with major opportunities for creating green jobs, and for developing a liveable and sustainable community.

“Two decades ago, Newcastle was the first city in Australia to elect a Green to its local council, and since then the Newcastle community has responded positively to Greens candidates and policies.

“The recent federal election result in Newcastle was our best ever. Newcastle voters have shown that they are becoming less rusted-on to an increasingly dysfunctional state Labor government, but are not strongly attracted to the conservative alternative offered by the Liberals and by local developer-funded Independents, who have represented vested interests but have shown little regard for grassroots community issues.

“The state election in March next year offers an exciting opportunity for Newcastle voters to embrace a genuinely progressive alternative in both the local seat, and in the NSW upper house, where The Greens may well hold the balance of power.”

Mr Sutton said he would be campaigning on climate change, coal, clean energy and green jobs; city revitalisation; public transport; port development; privatisation; reviving local democracy in planning and development decisions; improving health services (including mental health), and public education.