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Collapse Issue 388 - 07 Mar 2016Issue 388 - 07 Mar 2016
Collapse  NEWS NEWS
Services NSW staff instructed not to tell of bus, says MP
Services NSW cancels shuttle bus
Clydesdales walk through aged care village
Crime criticism receives rebuttal
Eileen celebrates her 102nd birthday
NBN rollout unsatisfactory, says O'Neill
Mayor criticises Wicks - 'We get no recognition at all'
Marine Rescue answers two calls for assistance
Merger could end dredging stalemate, says Wales
Local families to be hit by cuts, says Labor candidate
Regional plan proposes more flats for the Peninsula
Peninsula is one of the safest areas, says Wales
Residents fear for safety, Smith told parliament
Smith should apologise, says Crouch
The job is to reduce crime and fear, says superintendent
Youth service holds program for parents
Council defends decision not to require footpaths
Peninsula unlikely to be faced with managed retreat
Financial literacy workshops aim to provide skills
Diggers recognised for drug education
High tea for community grant winners
Businesswoman takes out major award
Collapse  FORUM FORUM
Go north ... and see how it's done on smaller budgets
Attacking the messenger
Shocked to see state of beach
Treated like mugs
Collapse  HEALTH HEALTH
Private hospital to specialise in rehabilitation
Shave at Sporties
Stroke 'activist' calls for Federal action
Team takes second in fundraising regatta
Charity day raises $750
Collapse  ARTS ARTS
Children used for aerial artwork
Bouddi Foundation organises exhibition and auction
Bays group holds fashion show
Folk club farewells two of its founders
First-time novelist moves to Umina
Songwriters conference planned for June
Collapse  EDUCATION EDUCATION
General assistant retires from Umina
School leaders visit Olympic Park
Volunteer mentors wanted at Umina campus
Students art on display at Art Gallery of NSW
Special Ed unit receives help with transport
Elections held at annual meeting
Local artists will entertain
Information sessions for new Year 7 parents
Students study micro-organisms
Weekend vandalism
Collapse  SPORT SPORT
State lifesaving championships being held
Central Coast triples final played at Ettalong
Touch association seeks players for winter comp
Oldest former Wallaby attends rugby union launch

Services NSW staff instructed not to tell of bus, says MP

Services NSW instructed its call centre staff not to advise the public of its shuttle bus service from Woy Woy to Gosford, Member for Gosford Ms Kathy Smith has claimed.

The shuttle bus service has now been stopped due to lack of patronage.

Ms Smith said she discovered the "misleading and inflammatory" instruction after initially ringing the call centre as an ordinary member of the public.

Her call also revealed that call centre staff were unaware of the difference between the shuttle bus service and the "mobile service" offered at the Peninsula Community Centre, and call centre was also telling callers that a mobile service did not exist.

Ms Smith rang the call centre herself after she was told by residents that when they rang the designated phone number to make an appointment for their RMS business using the mobile service, they were advised that there was no such service and they needed to go to Gosford.

"When the phone was answered, sure enough I was informed that there was no such service available.

"Without revealing who I was, I asked the very pleasant young lady to check further.

"After waiting on hold for a while, the operator came back to me and I was informed that she had contacted the Services NSW office in Gosford and they had advised her that there had been such a service but that it had been discontinued as the bus service had never been used.

"It then became apparent that the operator was talking about a different service, not the mobile service located at the Peninsula Community Centre.

"I then identified myself as the local member of parliament and explained that I thought there was some confusion as the service was still operating.

"The officer then kindly read to me a letter that was on her computer advising staff that there was a shuttle bus service available to pick up qualifying RMS customers from the old RTA site in Woy Woy and take them to the Gosford Services NSW facility.

"I was further told that there was no need for people to book this service as it was a round-trip service that ran on a continuous basis.

"The officer, after having read further down the information on her computer, told me that there was an instruction that this service was not to be advised to the public.

"Between lack of advice to the community of the mobile RMS licensing facility and a phantom shuttle bus service that the community wasn't to be told about, there is little wonder that the service is not as fully utilised as it could be.

"A service that is not allowed to be advised to the public can hardly be expected to be in high demand.

"No one was aware of the secret service to Gosford."

Ms Smith said that the mobile service came into being after the Baird Government closed RTA centre in Woy Woy, to assist the elderly living on the Peninsula.

"Unfortunately, advertising and notification to residents living on the Peninsula advising them of the service has been close to non-existent," she said.

"People still visit my office on a regular basis asking for help due to the difficulties they have in accessing RMS services in Gosford.

"These people are totally ignorant that the mobile service is available to them.

"It really is a bad state of affairs when our State Government is blaming the elderly in our community for not utilising services they are kept totally ignorant of.

"I fought long and hard alongside local residents to keep RMS service facilities on the Peninsula and that fight is far from over.

"Now that a second facility is to be opened in Erina, five minutes from the existing Gosford Services NSW outlet, I am calling on the NSW Liberal Government to transfer the Gosford facilities to premises in Woy Woy when the lease on the premises in Gosford becomes due for renewal.

"The Peninsula is where the majority of residents are and it is where government services should be.

"We are calling for equity of access, no more and no less.

"I ask that the NSW Baird Government provide notification to eligible users of the mobile licensing service in order to stop the stress being caused to elderly residents rather than stating that the service is not being utilised and that the bus service to Gosford 'was cancelled due to low patronage'.

"This is misleading and inflammatory, and one would think unworthy practice by a State Government in Australia in 2016," Ms Smith said.





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