Labor Member for Hindmarsh Steve Georganas can do more for protesting West Beach residents than print rally flyers, Senator Simon Birmingham said today.
Residents upset at the rerouting of the J1 bus service away from Burbridge Road are protesting this Saturday, and Mr Georganas has publicly confirmed he offered to help print flyers advertising the rally, for distribution to West Beach residents.
“This is a pathetic attempt at tokenistic support from someone who can do much more as one of the State Transport Minister’s closest Labor mates,” Senator Birmingham said today.
“If Mr Georganas really cared about his constituents’ concerns at bus route changes, he wouldn’t be printing flyers for a rally he’d be avoiding any need for a rally by getting straight on the phone to his Labor mate and telling him to just ‘Fix It, Pat.’
“The fact that these residents have gone to the trouble of organising a rally indicates they have very real concerns about the public transport options available to them in the absence of the rerouted J1 service.
“Mr Georganas used to work as an adviser to State Labor Minister Jay Weatherill who was identified in media reports as recently as the weekend as being in Pat Conlon’s Left faction he really would have no trouble getting on the phone to his Labor mate!
“It is simply outrageous for Mr Georganas to distance himself and play the role of helper without doing anything meaningful when he should be taking responsibility for the actions of his Labor colleagues let alone doing what he can to fix them.”