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Senate Report blasts management of Inland Rail Project
COVID-19 has spread its tentacles amongst our members at the Leichhardt, Tempe, Waverley, and Ryde Depots. On August 18 staff were required to self-isolate for a period of 14 days which commenced from when they were first exposed. This is the first time we have had a mass group of bus operators required to self-isolate at the same time.
The union would like to send our thoughts and wishes for those members and their families who currently are having to deal with the COVID-19 virus, together with those members in self-isolation awaiting test results. Positive Work-Related COVID-19 Payments for Bus Operators RTBU Bus Officials received confirmation that the COVID-19 pandemic had spread to some depots. Understandably this is an uncertain and worrying time for impacted members from both a health and financial perspective. We have been in contact with Transit Systems and State Transit and can confirm that those members who were required to isolate due to a positive COVID-19 within the depot will be paid as below.
Close Contact
Paid Special Leave which will be calculated on 8 hours base rate for up to 10 days (as per what those in the public sector receive).
Casual Contact
Paid as per what your rostered work was until you resume duty. Evidence of a negative test with date and time will need to be provided. Your union has been instrumental in having all private bus operators continue to be paid as per their contractual arrangements with TfNSW during this pandemic. This win means that members will not have to utilise any of their personal leave (as is the case within other sectors of the transport industry) for the time they are away from work due to a positive COVID-19 case within the workplace. If any member requires assistance during this time, please don’t hesitate to contact your local delegate or the union head office. It is important to know that help is not far away in the face of adversity. You can also access support through Beyond Blue. As the outbreak worsens across NSW and within the other regions, we do not doubt that more incidents will occur across the network. It is in these times we need to be supportive of each other and remember that we are all part of our work families and as families we all stick together. If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to get in touch with your delegate or the office.
Senate report blasts ARTC, federal government management of ‘nation building’ Inland Rail project
A recent ABC News report has stated that a Senate inquiry has issued a stinging assessment
of the management of Australia’s biggest freight rail project, Inland Rail. The 211-page report provides 26 recommendations to fix failures in consultation, technical modelling and route planning of the 1,700 kilometre rail line connecting Brisbane to Melbourne. Rural and Regional Affairs and Transport References Committee chair and WA Labor Senator Glenn Sterle described the “nation- building” project as rushed and half-baked “The government will tell you about the good bits, but you can’t keep covering up the ineptitude of the lack of consultation and poor route choice,” he said. The construction of Inland Rail is underway and being delivered through the government-owned Australian Rail Track Corporation (ARTC). The initial 2015 business case estimated a cost of $4.7 billion, which has now ballooned to $14.3b and could exceed $20b, according to the report. The report recommends an independent review and update of the original business case to allow for accurate costing of the project. At the same time, the report also proposes looking at extending the rail to Gladstone, 500 kilometres north of Brisbane, and building a passenger line from Brisbane to Toowoomba.
Federal government action
In a statement, Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce said Inland Rail was vital infrastructure for regional Australia. “The government will consider all recommendations in the Senate inquiry report into the management of inland rail and will respond in due course,” the statement said. Mr Sterle said the Government would likely tuck the committee’s report away on “a dark shelf somewhere”. “I have no doubt this government is going to try to bury it,” he said
What’s happening?
As part of the recent lockdowns in NSW, the Government issued a Public Health Order requiring all persons in Greater Sydney and the Blue Mountains to wear masks on public transport. This comes as efforts are being stepped up to prevent further spread of COVID-19 in the community following recent cases of community transmission. The following are some of the key points provided in an information update by NSW Trains
Is this mask wearing enforceable?
Yes, effective from 4pm Thursday 18 June. It is the role of NSW Police to enforce mask wearing and penalties will apply. Customers who are not wearing masks should not be refused service.
What does ‘public transport’ include?
Specifically, public transport includes a waiting area - a bus stop, ferry wharf and light rail, taxi rank, metro or train platforms - and travelling on public transport includes travelling by train, bus, light rail, ferry, in a taxi or rideshare service.
Which staff does this apply to?
The public health order applies to all staff, contractors, volunteers and workers who are working in the Greater Sydney area. Specifically, public transport includes working on or travelling by train, bus, light rail, taxi, rideshare or ferry and public transport waiting areas (a station, a bus stop, light rail stop, ferry wharf, taxi rank and rail platform).
What if the vehicle is in service but empty?
Workers need to have a mask on at all times while in service, even if a vehicle is empty or the worker is not close to any customers, as there is a possibility for the need to interact with customers unexpectedly, for example someone moving through a train, tram or ferry. What if I am a station staff member working on an empty platform, light rail stop, interchange or empty station? Workers need to have a mask on at all times as customers can arrive at any time and unexpectedly.
What if I am working in a fully enclosed booth?
Workers don’t need to wear a mask if they are working in a fully enclosed office or booth which customers cannot access. Do workers need masks if they’re working on a service that crosses into Greater Sydney? Yes. Masks need to be worn as soon as the service enters Greater Sydney which includes the Blue Mountains. While masks are not required under the Public Health Order outside the Greater Sydney area, it is strongly recommended that all people wear masks whenever they are travelling on public transport across NSW.
What areas are covered in Greater Sydney?
Greater Sydney Area, which covers the following local government areas: Bayside, Blacktown, Blue Mountains, Burwood, Camden, Campbelltown, Canada Bay, Canterbury-Bankstown, Cumberland, Fairfield, Georges River, Hawkesbury, Hornsby, Hunter’s Hill, Inner West, Ku-ring-gai, Lane Cove, Liverpool, Mosman, North Sydney, Northern Beaches, Parramatta, Penrith, Randwick, Ryde, Strathfield, Sutherland Shire, Sydney, The Hills Shire, Waverley, Willoughby, Wollondilly and Woollahra
What if I am working or travelling from an area outside the Greater Sydney Local Government Area into Greater Sydney?
You need to ensure that you are wearing a mask once inside the Greater Sydney area. However it is strongly recommended that all people wear masks whenever they are travelling on public transport across NSW.
When can you remove your mask?
You may remove your mask if you are: • eating or drinking, • communicating with another person who is deaf or hard of hearing, • at work and the nature of your work: - makes the wearing of fitted face covering a risk to the person’s, or another persons’ health and safety, or - means clear enunciation or visibility of your mouth is essential. • asked to remove your mask for identity purposes; • in an emergency situation; • The removal of the fitted face covering is necessary for the provision of the goods or services (for example having a beard trim). If you remove your mask for any of these reasons, you must put it back on as soon as you complete the task.
www.locoexpress.com.au
Transport Asset Holding has become ‘Honey pot’ for Consultants
The ongoing scandal surrounding the Transport Asset Holding Entity (TAHE) has continued to grow. In a recent Sydney Morning Herald article (August 23), it was reported that the NSW government forked out $550,000 to a global consultancy for six weeks’ work last year to help devise a strategy for a controversial rail entity as the state battled COVID-19 and unemployment reached a peak. The fee pitched by Boston Consulting Group (BCG) in July last year was a discount to its usual rate of $800,982 (excluding GST) because it was a “longterm relationship client”, internal documents reveal.
About $40 billion of rail assets including trains are owned by the government’s Transport Asset Holding Entity. Credit: Rhett Wyman Documents released to Parliament show the government has spent millions of dollars on consultants to advise on the Transport Asset Holding Entity (TAHE). In some cases, it hired them without going to tender. Some work was commissioned in the midst of the COVID-19 lockdown last year and as Australia was suffering its deepest economic contraction since the 1930s. The Herald article revealed that the government ended up spending more than $2 million on consulting fees for BCG work on the controversial rail entity and a similar amount for accounting firm, KPMG. Other big-four consulting giants commissioned by the government to advise on TAHE include PwC and EY. Shadow treasurer Daniel Mookhey described the state-owned corporation, which controls $40 billion worth of NSW’s rail assets, as a “honey pot” for consultants. Mr Mookhey said the consulting firms were making a motza as the government flailed about trying to stop the “budget bomb”, which TAHE had become, from detonating. “This spending spree on blue-chip consultancies is a clear case of doctor-shopping,” he said. “The more desperate the government gets, the more they rush to buy the advice they want to hear.” TAHE was set up in 2015 to enable the government to hide the costs of the rail system by shifting the expenses off the state budget and into the new corporation. The background to this, in summary is, when the old RailCorp was split up in 2013, rail services were put into two new agencies: Sydney Trains and NSW Trains. Ownerships of the rail infrastructure however, was left with RailCorp, which became the asset manager. RailCorp’s role was to make the tracks, trains, property and equipment trains available to the two operators and other operators or businesses who want to use them. Last year, RailCorp was officially converted into a new state-owned corporation, called the Transport Assets Holding Entity (TAHE). TAHE has its own board, and as a corporation it exists to run at a profit. Transport assets are no longer directly owned by the State Government – instead they are owned indirectly through TAHE, thus taking them off the government’s financial balance sheet. Simplified, this means that the State Government counts the assets as an equity investment, rather than a cost. However, this assumes that the investment will be recouped through access charges on the rail infrastructure and lease revenue from rolling stock, property and equipment. The clients for this new corporation, (including Sydney Trains and NSW Trains) are now expected to pay for these assets at a full commercial rate. Investigations at the time revealed that over the next few years the government could keep billions of dollars off the budget. But changes to accounting standards in 2018 threw this so-called “accounting trick” into jeopardy. In an attempt to continue what former NSW auditor-general Tony Harris has described as a rort, the government hired various consultants to write reports on TAHE that helped stack it up. Treasury officials confirmed in August, during a parliamentary hearing that one of the reports, authored by KPMG partner Heather Watson, was appointed without tender and the partner had been handpicked by Treasury. Ms Watson was hired to provide advice on TAHE based on a set of assumptions from Treasury that would contradict the findings of a separate report by another KPMG partner, Brendan Lyon, who concluded the corporation could end up costing the state more than it saved. The Herald article also revealed the six-week contract with BCG, entered into last July, was extended by two weeks and cost $736,851. It slugged TAHE another $1.375 million for a second piece of work. In selecting BCG, TAHE failed to follow procurement practices by not getting three quotes. Mr Mookhey said by not doing this, TAHE all but guaranteed that the public would pay BCG top dollar. “TAHE’s judgment was appalling,” he said. TAHE said in a statement that because it was a state-owned corporation, it was not compelled to adhere to the NSW government procurement framework, although it “can elect to do so if desired”.