Minutes of HSAG Meeting

Tuesday June 6^th 2000

Orange PCYC

Meeting opened by Colin Barnes at 7.10 p.m.

Apologies

Tom Hetherington, Kevin Sinclair, Susan Young, Moya Crowe, Peter Lewis, Keith Goodridge

Motion: That the apologies be accepted.

Moved

Marj Bollinger

Seconded

Claire Braund

Carried

Present

Colin Barnes, Moira Reynolds, , Bob Burrell, Frank Bollinger, Margaret Turner, Marj Bollinger, Claire Braund, Moira Reynolds, Graham Dun, James Grant (guest) and Garry Brotherson (guest)

Motion: That the minutes of the previous meeting be adopted.

Moved

Moira Reynolds

Seconded

Margaret Turner

Carried

Business Arising

· Marj Bollinger attended a meeting of the 'Regulation Review Committee' 15/05/2000 to discuss school bus safety (see attached presentation).

· Offer from Maisie Atkins of Hobby's Yards to do some research for the HSAG.

· Bill Batten from Cowra contacted Marj regarding a proposed community transport action group. Has since joined HSAG - welcome Bill.

· Marj considered NSW Budget (transport) to be best for regional areas for some time.

· Noted that the CWA has taken up the matter of the Walgett silos.

· Resolved that HSAG would put in a submission to a safety inquiry into the Long Haul Trucking Industry pointing out HSAG's position on this matter and citing anecdotal evidence of past eight years from driver's partners.

· PCYC have advised that there will be a $10 fee charged to hold meetings at the club and bookings must be confirmed two days in advance.

Motion: That the meeting accept the fee for meetings from PCYC.

Moved

Marj Bollinger

Seconded

Bob Burrell

Carried

Correspondence

Inward

1. Maisie Atkins of Cowra, commenting on prompt response from Paul Maloney of RTA is response to her request for accident statistics.

2. Rosemary Hoad requesting HSAG support for bussing of band members to Sydney Olympics rather than taking them by rail.

3. PCYC regarding fee increase

4. Russell Turner advising that he has responded to Graham Dun on request for RTA to establish regional advisory organisations.

5. RTA inviting Colin Barnes to a Road Safety Forum in 10/05/2000 (see president's report)

6. Minutes of meetings of Bathurst Public Transport Initiative.

7. ARA Facts sheet and paper by Professor Newman of Murdoch University on restructuring of transport funding in Australia.

8. Rail Directions

9. Media articles and media release

Motion: That the inward correspondence be received.

Moved

Moira Reynolds

Seconded

Margaret Turner

Carried

Outward

1. Press release 20/04 on "2000 Olympic kids at risk on state's roads" regarding bussing children to Sydney for band practice for the Olympics.

Motion: That the actions of the secretary be endorsed.

Moved

Margaret Turner

Seconded

Graham Dunn

Carried

Media Coverage

April

2. Glendella Mine: Prime/WIN/

3. Remembrance Day: 2BS

May

1. Bussing Olympic kids to Sydney for band practice: 2DU/ 2BS/ ABC - 2CR/ WIN/ Sun-Herald/CWD

2. NSW Budget (transport): 2CR

3. Road Safety Forum: Lyndhurst Shire Chronicle

President's report

Attended RTA Road Safety Forum 10/05/2000, held to canvas ideas and suggestions from community and interest groups. A positive statistic was that the NSW road toll fell from 1384 in 1978 to 556 in 1988. The aim is to halve it again by 2010. Some interesting facts relating to the western region:

· Covers more than half the state, but has less than 6% of the population, hindering response times for emergency services.

· Drivers are taking more risks on roads than other areas in the state.

· More than two-thirds of drivers in fatal crashes are country residents.

· Half of the fatalities are speed related and one-quarter involved heavy vehicles.

· The majority of drivers in fatal crashes are aged 30 or more.

The RTA is planning some new initiatives, such as the graduated licencing scheme, extended speed management programs, audit programs and education campaigns.

One suggestion that came from the meeting was that vehicles with elderly drivers would carry a sticker on the back window asking other drivers to be courteous and respect the slower speed of the elderly driver. The HSAG is interested to know what its members think of this suggestion.

Secretary's Report

Sharing responsibilities

Feel that more responsibilities need to be shared between HSAG members to enable others to participate in activities and more work to be done (putting together submissions etc).

For example, as there is little point my receiving copies of the ARA magazine, I have asked that it be

sent to Tom Hetherington who I understand has a keen in rail transport. Should Tom choose he could then inform the group of any matter he felt was important.

I have requested The Rail Digest and Facts sheets by email, to cut down on paper and so we can load them onto the HSAG website for wider distribution. Moya Crowe is also typing the minutes into a standard template to load to the website. Maisie Atkins has offered to do some research for us, which we welcome. Could I put out a request for anyone who feels they could contribute more positively to the HSAG to contact the secretary?

Website

Have been sorting through eight-years of HSAG material and considering what to put on the website. A lot of accumulated knowledge on NSW transport issues that need to be made publicly available. Aiming to launch the website at the AGM in August.

Funding opportunity

After much searching on the Internet have come up with a possibility for funding for the HSAG. The NAB Community Link 200 awards are specifically for not-for-profit community groups and are based on work that has been done, not work that is going to be done. This would allow us to spend the money on running the HSAG rather than writing a report, compiling a submission etc, as is usually the case with Government funding. Will be working with Marj Bollinger and others to get a submission in by 1^st August 2000.

Membership renewals

Have been reformatting the membership database and cannot understand why we have so many different tiers of membership, including an option of receiving minutes. Suggest that if you support an organisation you should receive information about its activities.

(Marj Bollinger then moved that membership be set at a flat rate of $12.00 with a $5.00 joining fee. Seconded by Graham Dun and Carried)

Motion: That the secretary's report be received.

Moved

Moira Reynolds

Seconded

Graham Dun

Carried

Treasurer's Report

The HSAG has $4526.61 in the bank.

Accounts for payment

$50 to Claire Braund for travel; $10 to Marj Bollinger

Motion: That the treasurer's report be received.

Moved

Claire Braund

Seconded

Marj Bollinger

Carried

General Business

James Grant and Garry Brotherson spoke to the meeting about Orange City Council's plans to commence work on the by-pass using the northern route which was first mapped out 20 years ago. Since that time the area has grown, mainly with first home buyers, who feel they were misled about the by-pass at the time of purchase? James and Gary said that there are approximately 250 residents opposed to the northern by-pass. There is a southern option for the by-pass, but political reasons appear to be pushing council to favour the north. James and Gary raised issues about conflict of interest on council and unwillingness of council to listen to residents on this issue. They are opposed to the northern by-pass and want HSAG help. After some discussion on the issue the meeting agreed that the HSAG would pursue the matter further and put it on the agenda at the AGM.

Meeting closed at 9.00pm

Annual General Meeting

1^st August 2000 at Waratah Sports Club, 7.00 p.m.

We would like to see all HSAG supporters at this important meeting.