"THE silence is deafening", says Barry Seghers.
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Mr Seghers is one of more than 2000 people who are waiting to hear if National Party member for Myall Lakes Stephen Bromhead will support their fight to stop NSW government plans to cut services at Taree Railway Station.
This week Mr Seghers visited Mr Bromhead's office in Taree to deliver a petition bearing 2093 signatures expressing community opposition to the NSW TrainLink review of services. Rallying to support him was former Greater Taree City Council deputy mayor Wendy McKeough OAM and Taree taxi driver, Ted McKellar. The trio have been instrumental in driving a community awareness and protest campaign about changes proposed by NSW TrainLink to services at Taree.
Mr Bromhead's Victoria Street office was closed so Mr Seghers drove to Mr Bromhead's Forster office to deliver the petition into the hands of his staff. The presentation of the petition follows a public meeting at Taree Railway Station on April 27 that was designed to demonstrate to Mr Bromhead the depth of community opposition and give voice to their concerns. Mr Bromhead did not attend the meeting and the crowd of more than 150 people were vocal in their disapproval. The Manning River Times invited Mr Bromhead on April 28 to make comment on the issues raised by the community however at the time of going to print, no comment had been received for publication.
It is understood NSW TrainLink was to meet yesterday afternoon (May 5) with the six staff at Taree Railway Station. According to the Rail, Train and Bus Union (RTBU) on the table for consideration was a proposal to change the operating hours of Taree Railway Station from 9.30am to 9.30pm; it is currently 7.30am to 2am and a staffing restructure that could see three of the six staff have their grades cut and one role expanded to become an area customer service manager position, in effect removing one staff member from customer service in Taree. The outcome of the meeting was not available at the time of going to print.
Wendy McKeough says she knows "the community must fight to retain the services" and will continue to collect petition signatures.
She cites her experience of more than 30 years in the employment of local National Party politicians when she states "the only way our community can get a win on this is if people participate in the political process".
"I can tell you that some National Party people have been very stern in their views with me about what we have done and by choosing to speak out. I take no notice of them because of how long I have worked for the National Party," Mrs McKeough said.
"When I went to work for Bruce Cowan he said to me, 'I've been elected and I'm a National Party member of State Parliament, but once I am elected I represent every person in this electorate, whether they are Labor, Liberal, Greens or Democrat, I represent all of them' and I don't think the current members of parliament have woken up to that yet.
"Retention of current services, which is staff on the station and continuation of a good rail services from our station are not political matters, they are matters of service and public safety. If those rail services diminish or get cut they will not return.
"The station needs staff for its 1.15am service. People in our community use rail to get to Sydney and home again in a day for medical appointments because it means they don't have to book accommodation.
"My doctor said to me, 'keep the fight on because a lot of my patients catch that 1.15am train'.
"The petition is important in our fight. I went on a bus trip and took it with me and everybody wanted to sign it because it is about the retention of vital train services - I didn't ask their politics - I asked them if they would like to sign a petition to keep staff on our station.
"The only way we can change it is for people to engage in the political process, that's as political as it gets for me."
ainslee.dennis@fairfaxmedia.com.au