Goodbye Duncan Gay, Welcome Melinda Pavey

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Goodbye Duncan Gay, Welcome Melinda Pavey

Postby AUbicycles » Mon Jan 30, 2017 8:26 am

Under Duncan Gay as the minister for Roads, Transport and Freight, the people of NSW didn't get very good value from his $38 billion. As we all know, public transport progress has stagnated and bike rider and pedestrians were the laughing stock... the draconian laws introduced by Duncan Gay (who was openly against cyclists) made NSW and the greater Sydney transform the state and the city into one of the worst places in the world to ride a bike. Worse, they never delivered accurate data and facts (evidence) to support the new laws and the one positive law - the mandatory 1 metre safe passing distance (1.5m for 60kmh+ zones) is failing through lack of road user education and lack of law enforcement education and action.

The 'backwards' policies were supported by the ex-premier Mike Baird who shares responsibility for the big mess.

NSW now welcomes Melinda Pavey (of The Nationals) who has been appointed as the new minister for Roads, Maritime and Freight. The good news is that she has participated in cycling events and we hope that she can make a positive change and recognise the value of cycling and pedestrian infrastructure (and public transport) to create a healthy and safe transport mix and turn NSW transport around.

Now is the time to contact Premier Gladys Berejiklian and MP Melinda Pavey and encourage a positive change.
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Re: Goodbye Duncan Gay, Welcome Melinda Pavey

Postby gorilla monsoon » Mon Jan 30, 2017 9:16 am

We should revisit this topic in about six months. That will give the new Premier and minister time to show what they are made of -- the right stuff or hot air. Personally, I'm not holding my breath waiting for significant changes.
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Re: Goodbye Duncan Gay, Welcome Melinda Pavey

Postby SheikYerbouti » Mon Jan 30, 2017 12:02 pm

I'll give her a chance, but as shadow Emergency Services minister a few years ago, was a headline-seeker and I got the impression she gave airtime to vocal minorities over finding out the best way forward for everyone. Hopefully that was just an impression, and/or she handles Roads differently.

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Re: Goodbye Duncan Gay, Welcome Melinda Pavey

Postby find_bruce » Mon Jan 30, 2017 1:45 pm

I have met Melinda Pavey when she did the ride for country kids in 2015 and 2016 (second from left, next to my very good friend & CEO of RFW), as well as at a few Royal Far West events.
Image

Each year I ride for Country Kids to help raise funds for the Royal Far West, which does some brilliant work in looking after the health of country kids. Royal Far West is well known for its base in Manly, where country kids come & stay while they access specialist healthcare. What is less well known is their work in delivering healthcare in the country. A great example of this is the Healthy Kids bus stop which travels around rural areas testing for issues that can delay kids development, such as glue ear and other hearing problems.

As you would expect politicians are keen to be associated with Royal Far West (& vice versa) - its a good news story & they turn up at every stop along the way. Unlike most however Melinda Pavey and another new minister, Sarah Mitchell, did not simply turn up at the dinner & photo opportunities, but was out on the bike every day.
AUbicycles wrote:find_bruce - do you think Melinda Pavey will be cycling active in her roll as minister? As a National Party minister, can she or will she have a better position (towards a healthy and balanced transport mix)?

When Tony Abbott took to office as prime minister, I assumed that he would provide positive direction for cycling (from a Federal level) however didn't do this and positioned cycling solely as a sports activity.

The challenge of any politician in this role is dealing with the tabloids and radio jocks - Duncan Gay was very much on-side with that 'level' of media with his open opposition against bike riders. Her wikipedia profile shows that she worked as a radio journalist with 2UW so would likely be ahead of the game in understanding media.
I am hopeful that she will be a significant improvement on Duncan Gay - yes I am setting the bar low. Unlike Duncan, Melinda is physically active. Yes she rides around her home town, but as population =3,000 & hills=0, thats not a big ask.

What impressed me in talking with her was that she listened to your question & gave a direct answer to that question, neither muttering some meaningless platitude nor the other typical pollie response of "I'm glad you asked me that" before making a comment that bore little relationship to your question.

That said, she was part of the team that introduced the draconian increase in fines for cyclists & while her answer was direct, I was not impressed.

I have seen a close family friend change over time in politics, after being a minister for a few years there was no point talking to him as all you got were 10 second sound-bites.

I agree entirely with Gorilla Monsoon & SheikYerbouti - give her time & see what she actually does. Some big tests will be progress on eliminating the Harbour Bridge stairs & extending the cycleways so that you can actually cross the city from east to west.

Any country cycling projects that I should bring up when I next see her? While railtrails are an important area that has stalled in NSW, these fall under the transport minister rather than roads.

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Re: Goodbye Duncan Gay, Welcome Melinda Pavey

Postby madmacca » Mon Jan 30, 2017 6:43 pm

Slightly OT, but Melinda Pavey does seem a good name for a Roads minister. (Works for bike paths as well).

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Re: Goodbye Duncan Gay, Welcome Melinda Pavey

Postby g-boaf » Mon Jan 30, 2017 8:25 pm

find_bruce wrote:I agree entirely with Gorilla Monsoon & SheikYerbouti - give her time & see what she actually does. Some big tests will be progress on eliminating the Harbour Bridge stairs & extending the cycleways so that you can actually cross the city from east to west.
Getting cycleways connected so there is realistic options to ride from the west (eg, Blacktown/Prospect) to the CBD would be a key thing.

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Re: Goodbye Duncan Gay, Welcome Melinda Pavey

Postby Xplora » Tue Jan 31, 2017 5:00 pm

I look forward to positive change. It would be hard work to make things worse for cyclists.

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Re: Goodbye Duncan Gay, Welcome Melinda Pavey

Postby yugyug » Sat Feb 04, 2017 1:08 am

find_bruce wrote:
That said, she was part of the team that introduced the draconian increase in fines for cyclists & while her answer was direct, I was not impressed.
Could you provide more detail on this? I'm curious if she saw it as a matter of equivalency with motorists, or had some other reason for supporting the fine increases. In particular, do you think she has ever been presented a solid argument for MHL repeal/relaxation? In my experience, most politicians I've spoken, even the cycling ones, find the idea that there are problems MHL exotically novel (perhaps like many members on this forum :roll: )
Any country cycling projects that I should bring up when I next see her? While railtrails are an important area that has stalled in NSW, these fall under the transport minister rather than roads.
According to a Bicycle Network tweet, the new premier has supported the NSW rail trails in the past, so she might be the person to get something going with this, given that the transport minister (Constance - unchanged) hasn't..?

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Re: Goodbye Duncan Gay, Welcome Melinda Pavey

Postby madmacca » Sat Feb 04, 2017 6:31 pm

yugyug wrote:
find_bruce wrote:
That said, she was part of the team that introduced the draconian increase in fines for cyclists & while her answer was direct, I was not impressed.
Could you provide more detail on this? I'm curious if she saw it as a matter of equivalency with motorists, or had some other reason for supporting the fine increases. In particular, do you think she has ever been presented a solid argument for MHL repeal/relaxation? In my experience, most politicians I've spoken, even the cycling ones, find the idea that there are problems MHL exotically novel (perhaps like many members on this forum :roll: )
No, it just means she was a MP in a parliamentary system where MP's of all parties are expected to vote with the majority of their party each time, every time, except on the gravest matters of conscience.

I think the phrase "guilty by association" is close to what the OP was implying.

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Re: Goodbye Duncan Gay, Welcome Melinda Pavey

Postby find_bruce » Sat Feb 04, 2017 6:53 pm

find_bruce wrote:That said, she was part of the team that introduced the draconian increase in fines for cyclists & while her answer was direct, I was not impressed.
yugyug wrote:Could you provide more detail on this? I'm curious if she saw it as a matter of equivalency with motorists, or had some other reason for supporting the fine increases. In particular, do you think she has ever been presented a solid argument for MHL repeal/relaxation? In my experience, most politicians I've spoken, even the cycling ones, find the idea that there are problems MHL exotically novel (perhaps like many members on this forum :roll: )
madmacca wrote:No, it just means she was a MP in a parliamentary system where MP's of all parties are expected to vote with the majority of their party each time, every time, except on the gravest matters of conscience.

I think the phrase "guilty by association" is close to what the OP was implying.
Not quite - the measure was approved not just by Drunken, but by the party with no dissent & apparently they were surprised by the vehemence of the opposition, particularly from people who traditionally supported the coalition (think middle aged men in lycra). What did not impress me was the way in which the coalition members had blindly swallowed Drunken's BS "consultation" model & ignored his well known & publicised anti-cyclist agenda.

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Re: Goodbye Duncan Gay, Welcome Melinda Pavey

Postby yugyug » Sat Feb 04, 2017 11:58 pm

find_bruce wrote:
find_bruce wrote:
madmacca wrote:No, it just means she was a MP in a parliamentary system where MP's of all parties are expected to vote with the majority of their party each time, every time, except on the gravest matters of conscience.

I think the phrase "guilty by association" is close to what the OP was implying.
Not quite - the measure was approved not just by Drunken, but by the party with no dissent & apparently they were surprised by the vehemence of the opposition, particularly from people who traditionally supported the coalition (think middle aged men in lycra). What did not impress me was the way in which the coalition members had blindly swallowed Drunken's BS "consultation" model & ignored his well known & publicised anti-cyclist agenda.
I see you are suggesting she genuinely believed the (ill)logic presented by Gay. I'm just curious if there was a particular aspect she found compelling (as a cyclist herself).

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Re: Goodbye Duncan Gay, Welcome Melinda Pavey

Postby find_bruce » Sun Feb 05, 2017 8:51 am

yugyug wrote:I see you are suggesting she genuinely believed the (ill)logic presented by Gay. I'm just curious if there was a particular aspect she found compelling (as a cyclist herself).
No I am not suggesting that at all - what I was unimpressed about was the lack of scrutiny - it was rubber-stamped by the coalition & no-one bothered to look at, just to pick one example, of how Drunken had corrupted the consultation process by imposing conditions to eliminate dissent.

I remain hopeful that as Premier, Gladys will adopt the same critical thought & genuine consultation she used as transport minister.

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Re: Goodbye Duncan Gay, Welcome Melinda Pavey

Postby g-boaf » Sun Feb 05, 2017 7:52 pm

find_bruce wrote:
yugyug wrote:I see you are suggesting she genuinely believed the (ill)logic presented by Gay. I'm just curious if there was a particular aspect she found compelling (as a cyclist herself).
No I am not suggesting that at all - what I was unimpressed about was the lack of scrutiny - it was rubber-stamped by the coalition & no-one bothered to look at, just to pick one example, of how Drunken had corrupted the consultation process by imposing conditions to eliminate dissent.

I remain hopeful that as Premier, Gladys will adopt the same critical thought & genuine consultation she used as transport minister.
I was also unimpressed by the seeming lack of scrutiny as well, though for different reasons. I know there is the requirement for unity in a political party, but I thought the Liberal party was always supposed to be "a broad church" if I can adopt the term John Howard used, though maybe not the wider coalition.

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Re: Goodbye Duncan Gay, Welcome Melinda Pavey

Postby mikesbytes » Sun Feb 05, 2017 10:06 pm

I suspect that Melinda Pavey will do a better job than her predecessor, time will tell.

We need to know what will change from what her predecessor has set, in particular the harbour bridge ramp
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Re: Goodbye Duncan Gay, Welcome Melinda Pavey

Postby AUbicycles » Mon Feb 06, 2017 7:51 am

I wrote and deleted an unnecessarily long post condemning the approach by Duncan Gay.

The brief version is better - Duncan Gay knew what he needed to do and even if it wasn't right for the people and the state, he had the right answers for the other politicians to get the laws passed.


Melinda Pavey has an opportunity so take 15 minutes time and contact her to encourage her to move towards a better and balanced transport policy (and clean up the mess of Duncan Gay).

Here are the online contact details:
https://www.nsw.gov.au/your-government/ ... d-freight/
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Re: Goodbye Duncan Gay, Welcome Melinda Pavey

Postby AUbicycles » Thu May 11, 2017 7:25 am

Wondering who else contacted Minister Melinda Pavey when she was assigned the roll of Minister for Transport?

I sent a formal letter (online) encouraging cycling safety and raising the bar. Polite and positive.

At this stage it appears that the trend of not responding is being continued under the current minister. Every other letter I have written (postal or online) to political figures has received a response within weeks. Some are canned but some have personal notes and I have even received calls.

I am guessing that it is also a staff issue and it is simply administrative failings or a culture of not communicating well.

--

The bad news is that there have been police operations targeting bike riders and the conscious decision to target bike riders has to be made by someone - the planned operations may have been initiated earlier. The good news is that the minister has not appeared to be overtly anti-bicycle.

It would be a shame for progress to see cycling safety and progress ignored. While it is better than an anti-bike approach... a pro-active approach is even better and I hope that Minister Pavey can get cycling back on track.
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Re: Goodbye Duncan Gay, Welcome Melinda Pavey

Postby Thoglette » Thu May 11, 2017 12:26 pm

AUbicycles wrote:I am guessing that it is also a staff issue.... the conscious decision to target bike riders has to be made by someone
Joined the dots for you.

Equally seriously, the transport minister (past and present) doesn't work alone. The current situation results from collaboration by the police minister and the police commissioner. Harassing cyclists raises revenue and is considered a political win in shock-jock land.

At the moment, my hope lies with the various Health Ministers. The Attorney's General are all asleep.
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Re: Goodbye Duncan Gay, Welcome Melinda Pavey

Postby yugyug » Sun May 14, 2017 4:21 am

AUbicycles wrote:Wondering who else contacted Minister Melinda Pavey when she was assigned the roll of Minister for Transport?
You mean minister for roads and freight. I think part of the NSW problem is that cycling comes under remit of roads, not transport, and roads is always given to a National, or something like that. Dunno how different it is in other states.
I sent a formal letter (online) encouraging cycling safety and raising the bar. Polite and positive.

At this stage it appears that the trend of not responding is being continued under the current minister.

.
I wrote a letter about helmet law, footpath cycling and increasd fines and got a dull form letter from a lackey, full of no answers and bs figures.

In other not so recent news, bicycle network met with Pavey a month ago and it did not go well.

https://www.bicyclenetwork.com.au/general/media/4814/

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Re: Goodbye Duncan Gay, Welcome Melinda Pavey

Postby citywomble » Sun May 14, 2017 8:19 pm

Meanwhile, over in WA:
The new government campaigned on the promise to introduce the Mandatory Passing Diistance Law, which they have already announced will happens soon, they are publicly stating the important transport role of cycling, are increasing the funding for cycling, and openly supporting Safe Active Streets.

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Re: Goodbye Duncan Gay, Welcome Melinda Pavey

Postby AUbicycles » Tue Sep 19, 2017 8:15 am

Well - MP Melinda Pavey and her staff have not bothered to react to two formal letters (online with a request to respond). In each case I got the auto-reply but 7 months is as bad as the predecessor.

The Good
Less anti-cycling sentiment from the minister and department


The Bad
The same old approach - the police operations are continuing, the focus on bigger congested roads and not obvious progressive cycling policy and infrastructure. The NSW Road Safety (under the control of the department) is also pushing the 'questionable' stats which do a great job of arguing their viewpoint but are missing context and accuracy.


The Result
No change, no progress and no improvement by the Government.


Would love to hear reports that contradict this. Considering I politely asked twice and am on the (general) email list for major government announcements and get bombarded by facebook advertising, I would be surprised if I missed anything significant.
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Re: Goodbye Duncan Gay, Welcome Melinda Pavey

Postby brumby33 » Tue Sep 19, 2017 8:54 am

Honestly, this Liberal State Government is the most arrogant BS of a Government I've come across in my 57 years of life, they are too busy catering for the motorcar to give a crap about people or cyclists, Sydney will never be like a European city where they have found commonsense in some regions unless theres some to take ownership of it.

Berejiklian and her band of cronies big noting themselves on building unwanted motorways, have got the most tolled city of anywhere in the world and the most expensive, huge lies and cover-ups on costings, cost blow-outs and one of the worst for this is Transport Minister Andrew Constance, his lies about privatising Government buses due to late running, when the buses running times have not changed in over 10 years but the traffic and congestion has more than doubled in that time. We have documents being obtained by the Greens under the freedom of Information act. that State Transit Managers had entered a full report after hundreds of hours of work that was knocked back by Constance and his band of cronies because he only had privatisation on his mind and why the inner west buses?
Because region 6 which covers areas between Kingsgrove to Drummoyne is majority safe labor seats except one.
If the privatisation of Newcastle bus transport is any indication where more than 200 trips were cancelled in the first 2 Months of the new Company's Management and driver's wages have been a shambles...underpayment, overpayment and some drivers didn't get paid at all. It's still going on since July 1 this year.
This is the worst State Government based on lies and deceipt in NSW's history in my opinion and we are stuck with them till 2019.
I remember when Baird first got in as Premier, I was living in Newcastle at the time, our newly elected Mayor was a developer, at least 3 Liberal MP's who just won seats in Bairds new Government were forced to stand down for accepting brown paper bag donations from said developer...Corruption at it's highest from this Government.
The ousted Labor Government were just incompetant but this Liberal State Government is just corrupt to the core imho.
So...don't expect anything good from the Libs....from any of them in fact.
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Re: Goodbye Duncan Gay, Welcome Melinda Pavey

Postby Alex Simmons/RST » Tue Sep 19, 2017 9:11 am

At least she does ride a bike occasionally. This is her in my home town* (pink socks):

Image


* Pavey is my local member.

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Re: Goodbye Duncan Gay, Welcome Melinda Pavey

Postby find_bruce » Tue Sep 19, 2017 9:52 am

Have you seen Pavey around Alex - the photo was taken at Coffs, but IIRC she lives about 1/2 hour south.

The photo was 18 months ago & I haven't seen her around since. She has at least not made inflamatory comments like her predecessor WD40, but I have yet to see any positive developments coming out of her office.

I wonder if she is going to be a bit like that other politician who rode a bike but did nothing to improve conditions for cyclists.

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Re: Goodbye Duncan Gay, Welcome Melinda Pavey

Postby Alex Simmons/RST » Tue Sep 19, 2017 11:13 am

It's actually a photo taken in Bellingen, at north end of Church St.

I've never met her or seen her but then I've not looked either. Don't know where she lives other than local paper reports her being a resident of the Bellingen shire. Her electorate office is further south in Kempsey.

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Re: Goodbye Duncan Gay, Welcome Melinda Pavey

Postby AUbicycles » Wed Sep 20, 2017 7:41 am

Actually some news on the Habour Bridge cycleway came up... following on from MP Gay committment to the ramp which he (obviously) was never going to see through in his term. An improved bridge crossing is good, but it is still only one tiny piece of the whole infrastructure responsibility to offer safe and convenient transport options which reduce congestion and are better for our society today and tomorrow.
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