During the last six months my staff and I have been holding mobile office meetings on the weekend right across the electorate.
Sometimes it's a big crowd - sometimes not so much. This week I was overwhelmed with a large and very angry crowd in Thorpe Park Hurstville.
The topic on their mind? Tolls.
The arguments were overwhelmingly about the effect of toll roads on surface traffic following the opening of the M8 and the new toll on the M5 East.
A local dad who came with his children reported to me an explosion in the number of cars and trucks operating on local streets "It's overwhelming, I've personally witnessed three near pedestrian fatalities with B-Double trucks flying down local streets," he said.
Another spoke about how a relatively quiet suburban street had been over-run with cars breaking the speed limit in order to avoid the toll and not be delayed in traffic.
All asked the same question "Why would the Berejiklian Government build a multi-billion traffic tunnel only to see surface traffic increase as a result?"
I don't have an answer for them. The truth is I have no idea why they would do something so unfair and unreasonable.
The reasons for the debacle are clear. At $6.95 each way for a car and $20 for a truck it is too expensive to travel on, so most cars are instead using local roads.
Two pieces of information make the situation worse for these local families. First, the Government announced last week that they intend to sell their portion of the toll road to the private sector. And second, the annual increase on the toll road will be four [per cent a year, every year for 20 years.
The situation is simply intolerable - we must oppose the sale of this community asset and I'll be writing to the Minister for Transport, Andrew Constance inviting him to see firsthand the impact of this disaster and speak to the local community before the year is out.
Toll roads have become a tax on Sydney families, it is unaffordable and unfair.
