Bus Services

Ms WORTLEY (Torrens) (15:28): We saw an extraordinary response to the government's planned axing of bus routes across the metropolitan and Hills areas. As the news hit social media and mainstream media, the phone calls to my office at Gilles Plains started, emails flooded in and the front door to my office, with people coming in and going out, was like a turnstile during a sale.

But let me tell you: the people were not happy. They were angry, they were worried, they were anxious, they were outraged and some of them were even in tears. Frankly, I could not believe that such a decision, such a plan could be put together without consulting those who rely on public transport and without thought of those who rely on public transport—those who cannot afford cars, those who are unemployed heading to interviews and cannot afford petrol, the elderly, school students, TAFE students, university students and students who come from overseas to study here in Adelaide, who rely on public transport to get around.

Members interjecting:

Ms WORTLEY: Yes, I can hear comments coming from across there, but it must have been really difficult for the members opposite, particularly the members for King and Newland, to support such a plan. I know that these issues raised by my residents did not stop at the electoral boundaries. Do you know how I know that? I know that because your residents came to my office. They came to my office because they wanted someone to stand up for them.

One of the local not-for-profit organisations, Barkuma, provides a range of support for people living with disabilities and is based in Holden Hill. They have 21 employees living with a disability who catch the 503 bus every day. The axing of that bus stop would have meant that they would have had to walk along two busy main roads, up to an extra kilometre a day. I went out there with the CEO of Barkuma and walked that bus stop, and we put the footage on Facebook. The people who saw that footage were also outraged. I can tell you firsthand how ridiculous it seemed, walking that route, to take these bus stops away from those who need them most.

Let me tell you about Jenny, who lives in Oakden, which is in my electorate. Jenny's daughter Kyla lives in supported care. Kyla is legally blind and has multiple disabilities. When she lived in Oakden, she would catch the 208 bus to the Royal Society for the Blind on Blacks Road three to four times a week. Kyla has a lot of friends who continue to live there, and she and her friends had learned the bus route to get to the RSB.

Jenny told me how worried she was when these proposed cuts were announced, as Kyla and her friends would not have any alternative transport options in the local area. Walking the extra distance would not have been a safe option for them. Jenny does not drive, having had two knee operations in the past 12 months, so she would not have been able to assist.

Let me tell you about John and Kathleen, both in their 80s. John and Kathleen sat in my office and were very worried. They did not know what they were going to do. They said that if bus route 208 were canned, they would end up housebound. They use it to go everywhere. The day I rang them, they were already out looking to buy mobility scooters so that they could get around. They could not afford to get taxis, but they needed to get to places or they would be housebound.

I know of families who have been so distraught by this, and the anxiety they have suffered is unspeakable. I want to tell you what one of the residents said to me. I think he summed it up quite well when he said, 'The government's Go Zones are no-go zones for us because we couldn't get to them. We would not be able to get to those Go Zones.' That is the impact these bus cuts would have had on people in our electorates.