Belmont Motor Registry

Mr GREG PIPER (Lake Macquarie) [4.41 p.m.]: I implore members to take a deep breath and settle down.

TEMPORARY SPEAKER (Ms Anna Watson): Order! The member for Lake Macquarie will be heard in silence.

Mr GREG PIPER: That also goes for the member for Clarence because he is getting ready to jump. I thank the member for Swansea for her hard work in raising a petition with more than 11,000 signatures before the end of last year. Some 11,000 constituents in my electorate also signed a petition. That means 22,000 people in our electorates are concerned about the loss of motor registry facilities in the area. Contrary to what the Minister has just said about those on this side of the House, which includes me, I think Service NSW is a fantastic idea. I have no problem with it transforming from a motor registry to a Service NSW centre but those services should be accessible to all. I heard what the Service NSW staff did to identify the appropriate location but, respectfully, the member for Swansea and I would say that in this case they got it wrong. Warners Bay is not an appropriate location however one models it. One might think that it is geographically in the right location and people drive past it on their way to work, but in reality it does not work.

Mr David Elliott: They can go to Bonnells Bay.

Mr GREG PIPER: The round trip for people in my area from Bonnells Bay—as I have explained to the Minister before—to do a simple transaction at Service NSW using public transport can take up to six hours, not counting the transaction. People using public transport need to be considered. For people from Swansea, on the eastern side of the lake, it is also a very significant trip. For the sake of efficiency, I would suggest to the people in those areas who need to go to the Service NSW centre that they should save up and get their birth, marriage and death certificates at the same time as they renew their driver licence. Of course, that is not a sensible thing to do. People do need to use this service from time to time but it is in a very difficult location and there are also parking problems. I thank the Minister for being in the Chamber but I again respectfully say that the staff of Service NSW got the assessment wrong. It is the wrong location. I implore the Minister to listen to the constituents of the electorates of Swansea and Lake Macquarie.