Ferry privatisation would favour Labor's donors: Greens
Posted
The Greens say any privatisation of Sydney Ferries is likely to benefit three companies that have made large donations to the Labor Party.
An inquiry into Sydney Ferries released its findings yesterday, and recommended the private sector be allowed to bid for the service in partnership with the Government.
But Greens MP Lee Rhiannon says the party opposes the privatisation of Sydney Ferries because private owners are likely to inconvenience commuters by cancelling unprofitable services.
Ms Rhiannon has also raised concerns about the links between the Government and companies that have expressed an interest in the service.
"All the companies that have shown an interest in buying Sydney Ferries are big donors to the Labor Party," she said.
"That's not healthy for business and it certainly shows as another reminder why we need to end corporate donations to political parties."
Yesterday's report by Bret Walker SC recommended the entire ferry fleet be replaced.
It called for the scrapping of the Manly JetCat service and the ferry service between Rydalmere and Parramatta.
Ferry safety breaches
Problems with Sydney Ferries' staff reporting system for safety breaches were also highlighted in the report.
The inquiry found the system for reporting incidents was unduly complex and did not produce sound data that would lead to safety improvements.
It found many of the incident reports filed by ferry staff had been incomplete and cases involving human error were not well documented.
The Sydney Ferries Corporation was also criticised because its system did not encourage or allow people to report an incident confidentially.
The Walker inquiry was commissioned by the State Government earlier this year after two separate fatal ferry accidents on Sydney Harbour, although the inquiry's terms of reference did not require it to investigate those accidents.
Maritime unions have vowed to fight any form of privatisation.
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