Motor registry closure plan

One or more north-coast motor registries may be part of a state government hit list of closures, Labor’s upper house north-coast spokesperson Walt Secord said yesterday.

The plan comes just days after Telstra announced it will close its call centre in Goonellabah in October.

Labor has called on NSW roads minister Duncan Gay to spell out which north-coast motor registry will close.

In response to a question without notice from Mr Secord in state parliament yesterday, Mr Gay admitted that he was planning to close outlets.

On the far north coast, there are motor registry outlets at Tweed Heads, Murwillumbah, Lismore, Ballina and Casino.

Mr Secord and federal Richmond MP Mrs Justine Elliot called on state National MP Geoff Provest to protect services in the Tweed.

‘It is time Mr Provest stood up to the Liberals and told them to stop ripping jobs and services out of rural, regional and coastal NSW,’ Mr Secord said.

The official parliamentary record – Hansard – shows the exchange as follows:

Mr Gay said the amalgamation was a result of the merger of the Roads and Traffic Authority and NSW Maritime.

‘It is self-evident that some communities have both Roads and Traffic Authority and NSW Maritime offices. The government will rationalise those offices in an appropriate manner, although in some of those communities it will be important to retain both offices.

He declined to be drawn on which offices would be amalgamated and which would be closed.

Mrs Elliot said: ‘The closures will make it tougher for residents of regional NSW to register vehicles, sit driving tests or renew their licences’.

Mr Secord said: ‘At a time when the state government is making record revenue from speeding, mobile-phone and seatbelt laws – an extra $180 million a year – they are slashing services to motorists’.