Wollongong MP, Paul Scully, has seized on a speech Premier Gladys Berejiklian has delivered to Sydney’s big end of town today claiming the NSW Government should install the Unanderra Station lifts to show how compassionate it treated vulnerable people.

The Premier told today’s Daily Telegraph:

How are we showing compassion?  Because we’ll be measured by how we treat the most vulnerable.”

The Premier also said:

No matter what your circumstances – I want everybody to feel part of the success of the state.”

As the Transport Minister after the 2011 election, Ms Berejiklian made the decision to cancel the upgrade of Unanderra Station, including the installation of lifts.

The funding allocated by the former NSW Labor Government in 2010 was redirected to other projects by Ms Berejiklian and has never been returned since.

Evidence uncovered under Freedom of Information (FoI) earlier this year confirmed that Unanderra Station ranked higher than other stations, which were announced for an upgrade in the June Budget.

It also follows the Government conceding that 12 people have been injured requiring medical treatment and two hospitalisations in recent years, and that concept design plans for the Unanderra Station upgrade were completed in July 2011.

Comments attributable to Paul Scully MP:

“Our elderly, parents with prams and people with a disability are among our most vulnerable.

“If the Premier’s sentiments are to have any value, she needs to return the funding she took away in 2011 and install the lifts at Unanderra Station.

“Not many residents of Unanderra and surrounding suburbs who use, or want to use, their local station are feeling part of the success of the state.

“It’s time for the Premier to show some compassion and help our most vulnerable do what the rest of us take for granted – hop on a train with easy and safe access instead of having to climb 72 stairs.”