Private Members’ Statement

Mr ANOULACK CHANTHIVONG (Macquarie Fields) (13:08): Today I speak about an issue that continues to cause some frustration to members of my local community, who rightly feel that they have been sold short. The Government has made much of its Service NSW centres. In a response to my question No. 2472 asked on 25 February this year, the Premier himself said:

The Government is committed to improving customer service and making access to government transactions easier for New South Wales residents and businesses. Service NSW was established to deliver on this vision...

Further, on 7 July 2014, under the heading "A New Era in Customer Service", the Premier added the following comments in a video posted on the web page of Service NSW:

Service NSW is now delivering on our commitment to make it easier for the people of NSW to do business with government.

The Premier added:

As Premier of NSW and a customer myself, I'm excited about what the future holds as we continue to build on this new era of customer service delivery in the public sector.

Those words are high praise indeed. The Premier clearly thinks they are wonderful service providers—a real selling point for his Government. But I must admit that I am stumped, and in all truthfulness a little confused. If the Service NSW centres are so wonderful, the feedback so positive, the customers' experience so good then why is there not one in the Premier's own electorate? Surely the Premier, with all his power and executive authority, could make sure his electorate would be serviced by one of these wonderful centres. After all, it is over two years since he made that little video singing the centres' praises. But alas, no. His electorate is still serviced by one of those old-fashioned things called an RMS office, or as most of us know it, a motor registry.

I take quite a bit of interest in these old-fashioned motor registry offices and why some are closed and others are not. Ingleburn, where my electorate office is located, had a wonderful motor registry that was busy dealing with more than 150,000 transactions a year. And little wonder, the staff were wonderful and its location right next to the railway line was ideal and convenient. Campbelltown was a similar story. Members may have picked up that I have spoken about the motor registries in Ingleburn and Campbelltown in the past tense. That is because the Baird Liberal Government closed both of them late last year and opened new Service NSW centres in Gregory Hills, in the Camden electorate, and at Orange Grove Road. Neither is convenient nor easily accessible via rail to my constituents who were happy with their old-fashioned, conveniently located motor registry office.

When the closure of the local motor registries occurred my electorate was outraged and my office was inundated with complaints, and I still receive them. But we were assured that the Service NSW centres were the way to go and that all would be good. But alas it is not all good. There are no public toilets available at the inconveniently located Gregory Hills centre, and it was only after a huge outcry that customers were allowed access to the staff toilets. And now, to top this off, the opening hours of the centres have been wound back, which further restricts access. But the Premier said in his video in 2014 that they were great and said as much again in his answer to my question on notice. So who am I to question?

If the Premier is to be believed about the wonderful benefits of a Service NSW centre then why is there not one in his electorate? Why is his electorate still serviced by a good old-fashioned motor registry office? After all, surely his constituents only want the best too. According to the Premier, Service NSW centres are the best—are they not? So I am left in a quandary. Surely the Premier can secure a Service NSW centre in his electorate? I suspect if the Premier gave an order to service his own electorate no less then it would be carried out post haste. So I guess no such order has been given. This leads me to the only other conclusion. The Premier does not want a Service NSW centre in his electorate.

The Premier knows that his constituents, just like mine, want a service and convenience the of a local office that deals with their everyday transactions. He knows that if his motor registry office closes and moves 20 to 25 minutes away then he too will face a barrage of complaints. He knows, just like I do, that people are not fooled by the spin that bigger is always better. If the Premier likes a good old-fashioned motor registry so much, the same one that no doubt has serviced his electorate for decades, why does he not offer the same to my constituents? It is not lost on me or my constituents that these are double standards of the worst kind: one rule for the ruling Liberals and one rule for everyone else. The people of Macquarie Fields just want to be treated fairly and want their fair share, just like the people of Manly.