I would ask Ms Sudmalis how many of these jobs are actually in her electorate? To what extent has the Gilmore electorate’s unemployment rate dropped? More importantly, are these the ongoing, high-quality and well-paid jobs she refers to? Recently, it was revealed that the Tax Office was now outsourcing its technical phone inquiries to Stellar. Staff do not receive penalty rates for working on weekends and earn on average $21 per hour. 

This is far less than the pay of the current staff, who also receive penalty rates. Are these the high-paying, good quality jobs Ms Sudmalis and her government are encouraging? Every time we outsource government work there are leaks and privacy breaches. I wait to see what will happen with Stellar as this sort of contracting out permeates other government departments, lowering pay and conditions rather than building them up (as the Treasurer and many noted economists state is needed to boost the economy).

As with all trade agreements, there are winners and losers. Via the ABC I have heard from many primary producers, some who will be losers under the TPP. I wait to see if there is an impact on our PBS as per previous iterations of the TPP. Any significant changes to our prescription prices will result in an outpouring of condemnation from the community, directed at any government who lets this happen on their watch. Bill Shorten was right to express concerns about the TPP.

With recent devastating fires in NSW and Victoria and TV reports of trees having fallen on power lines I wonder how long the necessary authorities will take before realising many of these power lines need to be underground, particularly in urban and some other areas.

I am aware the technology does not yet exist for high tension lines to be underground but am also not aware of any research into overcoming this obvious feature.

I know underground power to the necessary extent is costly but so is increasing insurance costs and time delays for families to reconstruct homes and lives and for local councils to regain some equilibrium following the continuous losses of power and services reliant on power.

Of course what will now happen is for those same power lines to be reconstructed yet again above ground.

The same happens with overhead traffic light installations but I fear no changes will eventuate regarding that important feature.

It’s time for some reality, so get moving on prevention, rather than regular replacement at a regular cost and eventually this cost comes via higher electricity charges and frequently disruption of family and working life, plus the inevitable fights with insurance companies.

The Premier has been in the media talking about the latest batch of Waratah trains to run on Sydney’s suburban lines. These Sydney trains all have reversible seating.

This begs the question of why, if reversible seating is good for Sydney, it wasn’t good for the Hunter, Central Coast, Blue Mountains, Illawarra and South Coast?

The trains that will run on these longer inter-city lines are going to have fixed seats, which means that about half the passengers will be facing backwards. Facing backwards can mean a very uncomfortable journey, with many passengers reporting that they experience motion sickness.

The Premier seems to have a high standard for Sydney and a low one for everywhere else.