Premier Gladys Berejiklian has refused to meet with a delegation to discuss the upgrade of Unanderra Station including the installation of its much-needed lifts.
She instead flicked the request for the meeting by Wollongong MP, Paul Scully, to the Minister for Transport and Infrastructure, Andrew Constance.
The Premier informed Mr Scully in an email, “I encourage you to extend the invitation to [the Minister’s] office” - something that had already been done and noted in the request to the Premier.
The Premier was the Minister for Transport in 2011 who actually cancelled the Unanderra Station upgrade and took the funding allocated by the former Labor Government in 2010 directing it to other projects.
She has refused to meet with community groups pushing for the Unanderra Station upgrade since despite invitations to meet with the Unanderra Access Group and Illawarra disability providers.
Minister Constance has also refused to meet with the community groups despite repeated requests.
However, Mr Scully has today, on the advice of the Premier, again written formally to Minister Constance requesting a meeting with a delegation from the Unanderra Access Group and Illawarra disability providers.
The request for a meeting follows the release of freedom of information documents clearly confirming that Unanderra Station is ranked the eleventh train station for an upgrade under the Transport Access Program (TAP).
Comments attributable to Paul Scully MP:
“The Premier has put a meeting request to discuss the Unanderra Station upgrade on the merry-go-round.
“She has flicked my meeting request to the Minister for Transport, who despite numerous requests for a meeting, has also refused to meet with a delegation of community groups.
“I’m disappointed that the Premier, as the former Minister, who is ultimately responsible for the Unanderra Station upgrade being deferred for nearly eight years, has refused to meet with the Unanderra Access Group and Illawarra disability providers.
“The Premier drove past over 150 people who indicated their support for the Unanderra Station upgrade as part of the ‘Bridge the Bridge’ event at the Nan Tien Temple bridge opening a couple of weeks ago.
“Today, once again, I have written to the Transport Minister, Andrew Constance, requesting a meeting as the Premier has encouraged me to do – let’s hope he doesn’t call this request juvenile.”
