Ballina Electorate Media Releases
Heartless Labor To Continue Penalising Pensioners (15/05/2009)
The out of touch NSW Labor Government last night voted down legislation introduced by the Coalition to abolish the $10 Countrylink Pensioner booking fee.
“This is a mean spirited, heartless act on the part of the NSW Labor Government,” Member for Ballina, Don Page MP said in Parliament.
“The booking fee is an unnecessary charge which generates very little income for the Government but costs pensioners $3.5million collectively,” he said.
The Coalition recognises the cost burden to Pensioners and introduced the legislation in an attempt to put NSW Pensioners first.
“This Government has imposed $3.5 million worth of fees on pensioners in this State who have worked hard all their lives, supported the tax system and supported this country in many ways.
“When compared to the disgraceful waste of public funds that was recently used to fly Joe Tripodi and his entourage around the world, it is appalling for the NSW Labor Government to continue collecting this fee from one of the most cash strapped sections of the community,” Mr Page said.
“The NSW Labor Government are continuing to fail the people of regional NSW, especially when their city cousins can use trains, ferries and buses very cheaply indeed.”
“The Countrylink booking fee imposed on our Pensioners creates hardship, provides a disincentive for people to use the service and, frankly, is penny-pinching in the extreme.
“This group of people, who are not well off, do not deserve that sort of treatment,” Mr Page said.
“To add insult to injury this NSW Labor Government are imposing a fee on a service that they abolished on the North Coast when they stopped the train between Casino and Murwillumbah.
“Now pensioners on the North Coast are paying more for a train service that doesn’t exist, instead having to get on and off buses to get to their destination,” Mr Page said.
“Australia is the great country it is because of the efforts of people who are in that pensioner group today. It is unfair of this incompetent Labor Government to impose a $10 pensioner booking fee on them,” Mr Page said.
