A car convoy of 40 cars, along with people on bikes, circled Parliament House several times on June聽18 to protest the NSW government鈥檚 plans to privatise bus services.
Demonstrations were also held outside聽the electoral offices of Liberal MPs in the North Shore and Eastern Suburbs, the next areas slated for the bus sell-off. The protests were organised to coincide with a parliamentary debate on bus privatisation, triggered by a Keep Our Buses Public petition signed by 22,000 people.
The聽convoy was supported by the Rail, Tram and聽Bus聽Union Tram and聽Bus聽Division, the Maritime Union of聽Australia Sydney Branch, Australian Manufacturing Workers Union NSW & ACT Branch, Australian Services Union NSW & ACT Branch and Unions NSW. It was coorganised by the May 1 Movement Sydney. Spokesperson Paul McAleer said the group 鈥渙pposes privatisation for all the reasons the public understands, including the聽shameless distribution of wealth away from the community and into private profit鈥.
鈥淲e know that privatisation leads to poorer services across society and will always be opposed by those of us in the community who strive for publicly owned assets,鈥 said McAleer, who is also the Maritime Union of Australia Sydney branch secretary.
Greens MLC David Shoebridge said the Greens back the community and union movements鈥 demands that 鈥渆ssential services be kept in public hands鈥. Greens MLC Abigail Boyd said:聽鈥淲e know that public聽buses聽deliver better services and that privatisation always ends up costing more and delivering less.鈥
National coordinator聽for the Australian Unemployed Workers Union Alex North said:聽鈥淧rivate聽buses聽aren鈥檛 just bad for commuters, the community and unemployed workers, they鈥檙e bad for聽bus聽drivers as well. Accessibility to good public transport is essential in fighting inequality and creating jobs.鈥
May 1 Movement organiser Robert Car said:聽鈥淧ublic transport belongs to the public. We will never surrender public assets to private enterprise who will bleed the community and public dry for profit.鈥
[For more information on the Keep Our Buses Public campaign visit .]