The first step

Well yesterday the NSW government saved Sydney Ferries from the storm of profiteering that private enterprise brings to the table.
This is only the first step! The Ferries have made significant changes to the way they do business, this has meant that the government has given them a chance to continue the reforms in order to make the Ferries a world's best service.
The next step is up to the staff. Don't think that this issue has gone away, if the Ferries fail to improve then the government will make drastic changes and service will suffer.
Sydney Ferries despite the rubbish that media reports make to the contrary, has a safety record to be admired, millions of movements each year and few incident. Of course the slightest mishaps are pounced upon by the gutter feeding media and the mindless lackeys that use these as some sort of bible followed in unquestioning belief.
A thought to ponder, why are the critical control failures that the new shiny fast ferry service suffer at times brushed aside without a whimper in the press?
To the nay sayers, you can always catch the bus!
To the boys and girls well done but this is only the first step!

Wake up wake up!

Rally announced, this week! Details below:

The campaign to retain Sydney Ferries in public ownership moves to State Electorate of Parramatta this Friday.

We need all hands on deck to keep this campaign alive. We need to continue to swing and pressure those who make the decisions that privatisation of this public asset is the wrong decision.

Details are:

Friday, October 9, 2009
10am - Parramatta Wharf

To get there, a Sydney Ferries RiverCat leaves #5 Wharf at 9am and gets to Parramatta Wharf at 9:55am.

At this important rally speakers include former prominent building union official, Jack Mundey and will also include Tanya Gadiel MP, Labor Member for the State Electorate of Parramatta, who has indicated she will come out on the public record and pledge her support to retain Sydney Ferries in public hands.

We hope to see you all there if you can at all make it.

Keep those letters rolling in.

Hello, my name is Laura and I catch Sydney ferries too and from school everyday.

I think it is great that you are fighting back to stop privatisation

the service on board is amazing, staff are polite and helpful

i have sent an email to my local member for parliament about the issue

i do believe after all the hard work you have put in to help the issue, they will keep the ferries the way they are,

HOPEFULLY!!!

thanks for your time

Yours sincerely,

Laura


We would like to remind everyone that it is all for nothing if we don't remind our politicians that we are here and we won't accept the shortsighted sell off that this government thinks is the future for NSW.

The short sighted leaders in NSW seem to be on a mission to bankrupt the state. The latest idea to sell off the lotteries is insane. It is not enough that they want to force more people onto the roads so that pollution and congestion slowly choke this great city by selling off the ferry services, now they are going to sell the cash cow that is the lotteries.

They tried to sell off the electricity, and now try tighten the belt by selling off services, perhaps instead of looking for short term fixes they should run the state responsibly and remember that they serve us!

The NSW government serves the people of NSW lets remind them of this, send your emails and rattle their cages, remind them they are there through your support and if they wish to remain in government they had better listen and act.

Support Laura and get the message across folk's. A big thanks to you Laura.
SOS Team

Travelling shirts

Well the T-shirts are definately turning up in all sorts of places. The word really is spreading fast. We don't want our ferries sold, especially to profit hungry business, who will run down services and risk public safety all in the name of the dollar.


The official start to the Save Our Ferries campaign is tomorrow at 8 AM in front of the wharves at Circular Quay. Why not come along and wear your shirt proudly? I hope that you all have learnt the SOS song from our web sight as we may be singing it loudly tomorrow.


Lets tell the government that we own the ferries and do not wish to sell!

SOS support from over seas

We were gladdened to see supporters of SOS wear their shirts with pride whilst spreading the word around the world.

We would also like to urge everyone to follow the links on the web sight and send those politicians those emails.

We need to be heard and what better way then to swamp them with our objection to selling off our ferries
We are hearing rumors of people going to make a day of protest at the governments short sighted attempt to give away our ferries. We have heard through the grape vine that the 21/8 may see the T-shirts come out in force to get this campaign moving.

The people of NSW own the public Ferry service, today the Rees government is attempting to make short term monetary gain "by selling off the farm", so to speak.

Public transport helps with reducing our environmental footprint, it assists those that do not have access to a private vehicle get to desired destinations.

Sydney Ferries are not only an icon that most tourists to this city want to ride on, but are a necessary part of the infrastructure that makes Sydney the premier city of Australia.

This blog is here to hopefully build up support and show this short term thinking government that we the people of NSW value our public transport and by maintaining the Ferries in public hands we will help to stop the rot that has been set in motion by the public sell off of our prized possessions.

We hope that with your support, we will stop this short sighted madness by our elected members of government and just perhaps remind them that we the voters are who they represent and not the interest of large corporate business that seeks to exploit profits ahead of services.