As the fallout from Monday’s continues to engulf the Perrottet government,documents released by the Fair Work commission on Thursday reveal the extent of preparatory work the government was carrying out on the possibility of a network suspension.
The revelations prompted the NSW opposition to call for the resignation of Transport Minister David Elliott,who he was not made aware of the stoppage of Sydney’s rail network until after the decision was made.
Trains parked at Auburn stabling yards on Monday during the shutdown of the rail network.Wolter Peeters
An affidavit from a senior Sydney Trains executive reveals that on Thursday last week the rail operator’s senior leadership “made the decision that the rail network could not be operated for the two-week period” from Monday if the entire fortnight of protected industrial action took place.
“Sydney Trains has assessed the risk associated with the industrial action and concluded that the rail network cannot be operated for the two-week period commencing on 21 February 2022,” he said.
Sydney Trains’ leadership formed the view a day after a risk assessment was completed of the impact of the planned industrial action.
The documents also show that the state’s chief economist had been canvassed about the financial impact of two-week shutdown if the Rail Tram and Bus Union’s planned industrial action proceeded.
NSW Transport Minister David ElliottBrook Mitchell
Modelling by the chief economist forecast on Wednesday last week that the industrial action would cost $33 million a day,and $370 million over a fortnight,and would impact 150,000 workers a day across greater Sydney,and 1.6 million over the two-week period.
The government has maintained that the decision to shut down the network was made around midnight on Sunday by Sydney Trains chief executive Matt Longland.
NSW Opposition leader Chris Minns said it was unbelievable that the transport minister could not have been made aware of the possibility of a network-wide stoppage,given so many government departments and bureaucrats knew.
Documents reveal Sydney Trains had been preparing to shut down the network for as long as two weeks but the premier insists he was in the dark.
“We’re expected to believe that Sydney Trains goes and approaches the NSW chief economist to ask about the economic impact of closing down the public transport network,but this comes as a gigantic shock to the transport minister himself. How is that possible?” he said.
“The transport minister needs to go,otherwise there is absolutely no accountability in the NSW government at all.”
Mr Minns earlier questioned Premier Dominic Perrottet about whether it was plausible he did not know about Sydney Trains decision last Thursday to shut the rail network.
Mr Perrottet,who has said he did not find out until early on Monday,described it as a “scare campaign” by the Opposition,saying there was no plan to shut down the network.
“To my knowledge,there was no plan of doing that at all. In a worst-case scenario,it would be completely remiss of any good government to plan against the militant unions’ ideas about a shutdown the network,” he said.
Under fire in Parliament,Mr Elliott said assessments were completed to ensure that “any potential contingency” was addressed. “Every time a government department faces a dilemma... they do assessments to address all contingencies,” he said.
Later,a spokesman for Mr Elliott said the minister was not made aware of any preparatory work being done in regard to a shutdown of the rail network.
Mr Elliott has said he went to bed on Sunday night unaware of the decision made around midnight to shut the rail network.
A spokesman for the Premier said he was not told of any preparatory work.
The government on Tuesday from its dramatic standoff with the rail union in a bid to revive the city’s paralysed rail network,after dropping an attempt to get the industrial umpire to force workers to ditch overtime work bans and other low-level actions.
The Morning Edition newsletter is our guide to the day’s most important and interesting stories,analysis and insights..