Government planned for Sydney train shutdown days before it occurred A range of media reports have claimed that senior government officials canvassed the possibility of shutting down Sydney’s rail network days before it happened on Monday 21st February, disrupting hundreds of thousands of commuters. As the fallout from the 24hour shutdown continued to engulf the Perrottet government, documents released by the Fair Work Commission on Thursday 24 February reveal the extent of preparatory work the government was carrying out on the possibility of a network suspension. The thousands of pages of transcripts and affidavits released by the Commission reveal the possibility of a shutdown had been widely shared within various government departments The Department of Communities and Justice, the Department of Education and the Department of Health also provided affidavits to the Commission on the impacts of industrial action, including a possible two-week shutdown. The revelations prompted the NSW opposition to call for the resignation of Transport Minister David Elliott, who has insisted he was not made aware of the stoppage of Sydney’s rail network until after the decision was made. As reported in the Sydney Morning Herald (24/2/2022) an affidavit from a senior Sydney Trains executive reveals that on Thursday 17/2/2022 the rail operator’s senior leadership “made the decision that the rail network could not be operated for the two-week period” from Monday if the entire fortnight of protected industrial action took place. “Sydney Trains has assessed the risk associated with the industrial action and concluded that the rail network
cannot be operated for the two-week period commencing on 21 February 2022,” he said. It was reported that Sydney Trains’ leadership formed the view a day after a risk assessment was completed of the impact of the planned industrial action. The government has maintained that the decision to shut down the network was made around midnight on the Sunday by Sydney Trains Chief Executive Matt Longland. NSW Opposition Leader Chris Minns said it was unbelievable that the Transport Minister could not have been made aware of the possibility of a network-wide stoppage, given so many government departments and bureaucrats knew. Mr Minns earlier questioned Premier Dominic Perrottet about whether it was plausible he did not know about Sydney Trains decision to shut the rail network. Under fire in Parliament, Mr Elliott said assessments were completed to ensure that “any potential
contingency” was addressed. “Every time a government department faces a dilemma... they do assessments to address all contingencies,” he said. Later, a spokesman for Mr Elliott said the Minister was not made aware of any preparatory work being done in regard to a shutdown of the rail network. A spokesman for the Premier said he was not told of any preparatory work. It was also reported in the Guardian (24/2/2022) that Opposition Leader Chris Minns called for Elliott to be sacked from the Ministry. “David Elliot has to go,” he said. “All of these people all over the NSW government knew about a two week stoppage, but the Transport Minister himself had absolutely no idea. “At the very least, he’s an incompetent minister, not in charge of his portfolio.” He also questioned how it was possible that Premier Perrottet did not know of the looming shutdown.
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RAIL & ROAD March 2022
