Bureaucrat’s wedding

‘more important than

children’s bus safety’

EVERY day for at least the next two weeks, the lives of 20 children forced to stand as their overcrowded bus rumbles along the Newell Highway are at risk – because the family wedding plans of the Government transport bureaucrat assigned to fix the problem come first, says Independent MP, Dawn Fardell.

When contacted by Red Bend College at Forbes about the bus overcrowding, the Ms Fardell says she immediately phoned both the Premier’s and Transport Minister’s offices, only to be given the bureaucratic run-around.

“The final straw came when the bureaucrat from the Department of Transport in Wollongong, who was assigned to arrange a meeting with myself and the Principal of Red Bend College, advised he couldn’t do anything before February 15 because he was busy with family wedding plans,” says the Member for Dubbo.

“This

“The bus is old, there are no seat belts, and it is so overcrowded at least 20 kids have to stand up each day.

“What’s more, the speed limit for the bus along the Highway is 80km/h, so we have a school bus trundling slowly along a busy highway with fighting, arguing kids crowding the aisles and a truck bears down on it – this scenario is an accident waiting to happen.”

Ms Fardell says the situation was made more ludicrous because the bus company had a newer bus ready to use, but the Department of Transport won’t approve it – despite deciding 10 years ago that no child should stand up in a bus travelling on the Newell Highway.