Kiosk dispute is typical semantic obfuscation

The dispute between Liesl Tesch and Adam Crouch over the pop-up RMS kiosk at Woy Woy ("Government keeps Service NSW kiosk open", August 21) is typical of the semantic obfuscation that seems to characterise political discourse these days.

Ms Tesch says that users who applied for a new or renewed licence, an accessible-parking permit or an Opal recharge were told they cannot be helped, but she gives us no figures on how many such rejections occur.

Mr Crouch responds that there are 150 "interactions" at the site each day but he doesn't tell us how many of these interactions are successful.

Obviously, if they are largely unsuccessful, the kiosk is a failure, but Mr Crouch coyly does not reveal this statistic.

Ms Tesch is unarguably correct that the kiosk is not a "replacement" for a full-service office, and Mr Crouch's contention that the kiosk has received a 99 percent approval rating is too fatuous to be taken seriously.

Mother Theresa doesn't get a 99 percent approval rating.

Since plebiscites are all the rage these days, why don't we have a poll of Peninsula residents to gauge the effectiveness of the kiosk, or let's have Ms Tesch and/or Mr Crouch put some real information on the table, to see whether the kiosk is meeting the need or is merely a smokescreen to hide the Government's un-interest in the Peninsula.

Email, 23 Aug 2017

Bruce Hyland, Woy Woy