Articles: Public Transport Minister Lynne Kosky quits

[ozbob]

From the Melbourne Age click here!

Public Transport Minister Lynne Kosky quits politics

Public Transport Minister Lynne Kosky quits politics
KATE LAHEY
January 18, 2010 - 11:07AM

Victorian Public Transport Minister Lynne Kosky is to quit politics, citing significant health problems in her family.

An emotional Ms Kosky called a press conference in Melbourne at 11am to announce her intention to leave parliament immediately, forcing a by-election that will test the State Government's hold on power before November's election.

The Altona MP is married with two children, 14 and 16. She would not go into details about the family health issues but said the reasons behind her decision were particular to her and she encouraged all women to enter public life.

Ms Kosky said she had no regrets. Asked about the troubled, late and over-budget myki ticketing system, she said that there was always work to be done in public transport and that she had overseen new projects and reform of the system.

''I don't have any regrets. I have a fantastic portfolio and was able to achieve an incredible amount along with other people,'' she said.

''The time is right for me because of issues within my family to say goodbye to this part of my public life.''

Mr Brumby arrived at the press conference as Ms Kosky spoke and the pair shared a warm embrace.

Mr Brumby thanked her for her extraordinary commitment to the Labor Party and to her job.

She was Minister for Education and Training from 2002 to 2006, and before that served as the Minister for Finance and the Minister for Post Compulsory Education, Training and Employment.

After the 2006 state election, Ms Kosky was appointed as Minister for Public Transport and Minister for the Arts.

She has copped repeated criticism in the public transport portfolio, largely due the painful and prolonged birth of myki,  which was finally introduced on trains late last month, barely meeting a government pledge to have the system operating by the end of 2009.

The bealeagured "smart card" system has became a thorn in the side of the Brumby Government, arriving almost three years late and $350 million over budget.

Myki was originally supposed to be launched in Melbourne on March 1, 2007, at a cost of $500 million. Costs have since blown out to $850 million to create the system and $500 million to run it over the next decade.

[ozbob]

From the Herald Sun click here!

Opposition says government in crisis after Public Transport Minister Lynne Kosky resigns from parliament for family health reasons

Opposition says government in crisis after Public Transport Minister Lynne Kosky resigns from parliament for family health reasons

    * Matt Johnston with AAP
    * From: AAP, Herald Sun
    * January 18, 2010 11:09AM

UPDATE 2.50pm: THE State Opposition says the sudden departure of embattled Public Transport Minister Lynne Kosky has left the State Government in crisis.

An emotional Ms Kosky resigned from parliament today, citing family health reasons.

Opposition transport spokesman Terry Mulder said today that Premier John Brumby will be hard-pressed to find a replacement for the difficult portfolio.

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"John Brumby has a crisis on his hands as he moves forward,'' Mr Mulder told reporters.

"He will have to make a decision who he pushes into the portfolio - I don't believe there will be many hands going up within government to take on this role.''

He said it was the Premier who signed off on the overdue over-budget myki ticketing system and it was the Premier who threw an extra $350 million at the project.

"A lot of the policy decisions Lynne Kosky was implementing were John Brumby's brainchild,'' Mr Mulder said.

"He has a massive challenge on his hands.''

Ms Kosky blinked back tears today as she told a packed press room she was quitting politics.

"This is a decision I have not taken lightly but it's the right one for me and my family," Ms Kosky said.

"Public life requires a lot of attention and a lot of focus. In most circumstances that (and family are) able to be juggled but we have had significant health issues in my family."

Ms Kosky said she hoped she would be remembered for the reforms she led in education, the arts and public transport rather than for being in charge of recent system failings and the bungled introduction of myki.

She insisted that those problems did not force her out of politics and that it was a matter of family first.

"I don't have any regrets," she said.

"I have been able to achieve, I think, an incredible amount with the help of other people."

Mr Brumby said Ms Kosky had been an incredible team player within the ALP and his cabinet and he would be sad to see her go.

Putting his arm around her, he told reporters that she had made the right decision to step aside.

"In this business you must always put your family first," Mr Brumby said.

"You only get one chance to get it right.

"It was the right decision and a decision I support fully.''

Mr Brumby said women faced added pressures in politics.

"It's a more demanding role for women than for men. There are often additional responsibilities in the family and in the home as well."

A decision on who will replace Ms Kosky as public transport minister will be made tomorrow.

Mr Brumby would not reveal whether there would be a full reshuffle.

Ms Kosky had come under fire in recent months for presiding over the misfiring myki system, that has been plagued with delays and technical issues.

Initially due to be operating by 2007 for a cost of $300 million, it has now reportedly cost more than $1 billion and its timeline delayed by more than two years.

The system's rollout on Melbourne's train network began in late December, but there was no facility for the cards to be used on trams and buses, as promised.

Both this summer and last, high temperatures have led to chaotic scenes at train stations as hundreds of cancellations left thousands of commuters stranded in extreme heat.

Over the last year, calls for Ms Kosky to quit have come from heraldsun.com.au readers, the opposition and the Public Transport Users Association.

The minister at first resisted, last year blaming train operator Connex for three days of mass cancellations and dismissing calls for her resignation, saying she was "very committed'' to her portfolio.

In recent days, Ms Kosky insisted that solving the problems of Melbourne's train system will take time.

Ms Kosky was first elected to State Parliament in 1996 to represent the people of Altona in Melbourne's rapidly expanding western suburbs where she was raised.

She served as a minister in the Bracks Labor government since it was first elected to office in late 1999.

Ms Kosky held the position of minister for education and training from February 2002 to December 2006, and before that served as the minister for finance, and the minister for post compulsory education, training and employment.

Following Labor's victory at the last election in November 2006, Ms Kosky was appointed minister for the tough portfolio of public transport and also became minister for the arts.

[ozbob]

Compulsory reading for all!   

From the Melbourne Age click here!

Kosky was a transport apologist, not a reformer

Kosky was a transport apologist, not a reformer
PAUL MEES
January 18, 2010 - 4:35PM


Many Melburnians will be pleased to see the end of Lynne Kosky's time as minister for public transport.

But Kosky's departure will change nothing, unless her successor addresses the problems that have made the portfolio a political graveyard.

Kosky's principal failing was that she did nothing to change the dysfunctional organisations she inherited from her predecessor, Peter Batchelor; she even promoted the chief architect of the system, Jim Betts, to Departmental Secretary. Instead of reforming the Department of Transport, she became an apologist for it, as public transport collapsed around her.

It's hard to believe now, but Melbourne once boasted the most efficient rail service of any comparable city in the world.

Kristin Otto's new book Capital describes this time, the 1920s, when Melbourne's newly-electrified railways were run by Harold W. Clapp. Late running varied "from one twentieth of one per cent per day to one per cent" even though there was less infrastructure than we have now and primitive technology. Yet by 1929, more suburban trains left Flinders Street Station in peak hour than do today: on the busiest platforms, the next train would pull in as little as a minute after the previous departure.

Clapp understood that the most important ingredients in an effective public transport system are not infrastructure or technology, but planning, management, skills and morale. Otto reports that on Melbourne Cup Day in 1921, Clapp spent an hour in the railway supervisors' box at Flemington overseeing operations to ensure nothing went wrong.

Over the following eight decades, many overseas cities dramatically improved their rapid transit systems. Now, when people think of effective public transport, cities like Zurich or Vienna come to mind. Melbourne is one of very few places to have gone backwards.

Melbourne's problems pre-dated Kosky's appointment as minister by many years. They began after World War II, when rail patronage began to decline as car ownership increased. This gradually sapped morale, and labour shortages exacerbated the problems. Increasingly, the best and brightest headed for the road agencies that seemed to be the way of the future. By the 1970s, the main focus of rail managers was dealing with the deficits caused by falling patronage: managing decline, rather than serving new markets.

The Kennett government finally dealt with the deficit problem, through a combination of unwise service cuts and genuine efficiency improvements. By 1998, the Auditor-General reported that the deficit had been halved, and that reliability was slowly improving. Patronage had also begun to recover, and there was even talk of improving services.

Instead, the rail and tram systems were privatised in 1999. This delivered the coup de grace to what remained of the historic culture of efficient operation. Most of the remaining skilled staff left, while labyrinthine contractual and administrative arrangements created confusion instead of accountability. The Department of Transport, now staffed mainly by lawyers, contract managers and spin doctors, had neither the skills nor the inclination for serious planning.

Rather than fix the fundamental problems, Kosky threw more and more money and staff at them. But money and staff are not enough.

Myki is costing $1350 million, compared with Perth's fully-functioning $35 million SmartRider ticketing system. Perth's SmartRider project was run mainly by three people at Transperth, the public agency which plans and manages the city's public transport. Transperth has only 57 staff, while Melbourne's Transport Ticketing Authority alone employs twice that number.

If we can't even organise ticketing, then small wonder we can't run trains reliably, co-ordinate them with buses, or build new lines to growth corridors - despite the fact the Victorian government now spends more on public transport than roads.

Last August, the Senate Committee on Rural and Regional Affairs and Transport released a report on urban public transport in Australia. The Committee's members, drawn from across the political spectrum, unanimously agreed that better institutional arrangements are needed, especially in Melbourne: "Melbourne's franchising out of train and tram operations since 1999 has been particularly criticised for creating a lack of clear accountability for managing the whole network." The Committee recommended that future Commonwealth funding should be conditional on states like Victoria creating public transport agencies along the model of Transperth.

Naturally, creating a public transport agency is not sufficient by itself. An effective body would need skilled, motivated staff rather than just secondees from the current department. It would engage internationally-recognised experts to devise plans for running more services more reliably. And it would need the authority to run services itself if private operators are not up to the job.

These things sound utopian, but they are simply the normal situation in every city with successful public transport, from Perth to Zurich. If Lynne Kosky's successor is to avoid her fate, they will need to become normal in Melbourne, too.

Paul Mees is a senior lecturer in transport planning at RMIT. His new book Transport for Suburbia: Beyond the Automobile Age is published by Earthscan.

[ozbob]

Locomotive B 60, later named Harold W. Clapp, on its delivery run to Melbourne is passed by one of Clapp's earlier S class streamliners

Official VR Photo


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harold_Winthrop_Clapp

[#Metro]

Naturally, creating a public transport agency is not sufficient by itself. An effective body would need skilled, motivated staff rather than just secondees from the current department. It would engage internationally-recognised experts to devise plans for running more services more reliably. And it would need the authority to run services itself if private operators are not up to the job.

These things sound utopian, but they are simply the normal situation in every city with successful public transport, from Perth to Zurich. If Lynne Kosky's successor is to avoid her fate, they will need to become normal in Melbourne, too.

Paul Mees is a senior lecturer in transport planning at RMIT. His new book Transport for Suburbia: Beyond the Automobile Age is published by Earthscan.

Create yet another bureaucracy? And perhaps a position for yourself too?
Come to QLD. Its called TransLink, and it is rather dysfunctional at times- just like the Melbourne example.

All the experts in the world don't help when the authority doesn't or can't listen.
Why not just establish a dedicated unit within the department? Too much focus on the top level, not enough focus on the ground level...

[ozbob]

From the Herald Sun click here!

Altona by-election on February 13 poised to be referendum on public transport

Altona by-election on February 13 poised to be referendum on public transport

    * Ashley Gardiner, Matthew Johnston
    * From: Herald Sun
    * January 19, 2010 12:00AM

Public Transport minister Lynne Kosky announces her retirement as a minister and MP. Picture: Aaron Francis Source: Herald Sun

THE February 13 Altona by-election is poised to be a referendum on public transport that could set the agenda for the state election later this year.

The resignation of Lynne Kosky has given Premier John Brumby the chance to start afresh in the troubled public transport portfolio.

Of almost 7500 who voted in a heraldsun.com.au poll, 70 per cent rated Ms Kosky's performance as very poor.

An emotional Ms Kosky attributed her sudden departure to family health concerns, saying it had nothing to do with public transport crises.

"I do leave with some sadness, but no regrets," she said.

"This is about ill health in my family and I don't think that's related to the election."

Surging patronage and a lack of spending on maintenance and infrastructure have created public transport chaos.

The Government has promised to spend billions on upgrading the system, but many of these projects will not be completed for years.

Ms Kosky decided to go while on leave this month.

"I have thought long and hard about my capacity to provide the support to my family that they deserve, particularly at the moment, along with the close attention that my job demands," she said.

"I have come to the conclusion that it's not possible for me to do both to the standard that I would like." She told Mr Brumby on Sunday. "He's been aware of the health issues ... so he probably wasn't completely surprised," Ms Kosky said.

She left 1 Treasury Place yesterday with her husband, Jim Williamson, and children, Hana, 16, and Jackson, 14.

Mr Brumby paid tribute to Ms Kosky, and said she had made the right decision: "In this business you must always put your family first," he said.

"I think it's often a more demanding role for women in many ways than it is for men. You have got all of the normal responsibilities that go with being a Cabinet minister and a public figure, but for women there are often additional responsibilities in the family and at home as well."

Mr Brumby said caucus would meet tomorrow.

Roads Minister Tim Pallas was being tipped as the most likely replacement; Martin Pakula was also a possibility.

Socialist Left MPs vying for a seat in Cabinet include Lily D'Ambrosio, Steve Herbert, Rob Hudson and Liz Beattie.

Possible ALP candidates in Altona include Lori Faraone, Jill Hennessy, Bronwyn Halfpenny, Catherine van Vliet and Ingrid Stitt.

The Liberal Party is yet to decide whether it will contest the safe Labor seat.

[ozbob]

From the Melbourne Age click here!

Minister's departure will spark Cabinet reshuffle

Minister's departure will spark Cabinet reshuffle
DAVID ROOD
January 19, 2010

PREMIER John Brumby will reshuffle his cabinet today after the surprise resignation of trusted senior minister Lynne Kosky.

The beleaguered Public Transport Minister ended her 14-year political career yesterday, citing significant health issues in her family.

The decision will force Mr Brumby into an awkward February byelection 10 months before the November state election.

Pushing back tears as she announced her resignation, Ms Kosky said it wasn't possible for her to care for her family and pay proper attention to the transport portfolio.

''This is not a decision I have taken lightly but I know it is the right decision for my family and me,'' she said.

While the Opposition seized on Ms Kosky's departure as a sign that the Government was in crisis, the Premier is not expected to use her resignation as a trigger for a major overhaul of his cabinet.

Industry Minister Martin Pakula and Roads Minister Tim Pallas were among those believed to be under consideration for the difficult transport portfolio in a minor reshuffle.

Left MP and parliamentary secretary for community development Lily D'Ambrosio was the early front-runner to take Ms Kosky's cabinet spot, ahead of lower house MP Liz Beattie.

A byelection for Mr Kosky's safe seat of Altona, which she retained by more than 20 per cent at the last election, will be held on February 13.

The Premier is believed to favour a woman replacing Ms Kosky on the frontbench, keeping the number of female cabinet members at five.

Ms Kosky, 51, was first elected to State Parliament in 1996 and entered the ministry in 1999, following the election of the Bracks government.

After a lengthy stint as education minister, she became public transport minister following the 2006 election. She quickly became plagued by problems in the job, including the delays and cost blow-outs of the $1.3 billion myki ticketing system, as well as overcrowding on the transport system.

Yesterday she defended her record as public transport minister and denied that problems during her time in the job - culminating in last week's meltdown of the rail network in extreme hot weather - forced her decision to quit.

She said a week off work this month helped her arrive at the decision to put her family first, and telephoned Mr Brumby to break the news on Sunday.

Asked about the nature of the health issues, Ms Kosky said it was not in the family's interests to provide the details. ''I'm a public figure, I'm on public display and I can be publicly questioned, but the family is private, that's off limits,'' she said.

Ms Kosky described herself as a ''reformist'' minister. ''I have been very focused on reforms in education, in public transport and being involved in the game of reform does mean you will have your detractors and supporters,'' she said.

Once touted as a future premier, Ms Kosky cited the Government's transport plan - which includes more than $5 billion for new trains, train lines and infrastructure work - as her biggest achievement in the role.

Mr Brumby praised Ms Kosky's ''extraordinary contribution'' across her ministerial portfolios, and backed her decision to quit public life for her family.

''In this business you must always put your family first,'' Mr Brumby said. ''It is no good looking back in five or 10 years' time and saying 'I should have done that at the time and I didn't','' he said.

The Premier conceded he would prefer not to be faced with a byelection. He also acknowledged that being an MP and minister was often more demanding and difficult for women than for men.

Opposition transport spokesman Terry Mulder said Mr Brumby would be hard-pressed to find a replacement for Ms Kosky, and attempted to pin the myki ticketing failure on the Premier. ''A lot of the policy decisions Lynne Kosky was implementing were John Brumby's brainchild,'' he said.

Public Transport Users Association president Daniel Bowen said Ms Kosky had been securing unprecedented investment in public transport. ''She hasn't been a bad a minister as people probably think. Behind the scenes we know there has been a lot of work to upgrade the train network,'' he said.

The Liberals are yet to decide on whether to run a candidate in the byelection. Labor's caucus will elect a minister to replace Ms Kosky and the new cabinet will be sworn in tomorrow.

[ozbob]

From the Herald Sun click here!

Problems with myki and trains to be top priority for Lynne Kosky's replacement

Problems with myki and trains to be top priority for Lynne Kosky's replacement

    * Matthew Johnston, Ashley Gardiner
    * From: Herald Sun
    * January 19, 2010 12:00AM

PROBLEMS with the myki smartcard and with trains will be top priorities for the new public transport minister.

Observers said whoever took the job would be handed a poisoned chalice.

The poor performance by new operator Metro last week demonstrated that the rail system's problems did not disappear with Connex.

Like other railway bosses before him, Metro chief executive Andrew Lezala has already begun apologising for unacceptable service.

But Public Transport Users Association president Daniel Bowen said improvements were already on the way.

"I expect over the next 12 to 18 months we will start to see a lot of the problems disappear, as improved maintenance and infrastructure come on line," Mr Bowen said.

"Lynne Kosky has been much maligned, but she inherited a number of problems from former minister Peter Batchelor."

These included poor train maintenance practices and myki. "It is an unfortunate time for her to be leaving, because she leaves on a sour note just as we have all these problems and before they get fixed," he said.

Rail, Tram and Bus Union state secretary Trevor Dobbyn said he wanted to see myki working long before the election.

"For the sake of long-suffering public transport users, the RTBU hopes that getting a new public transport minister in an election year is not too late," Mr Dobbyn said.

Opposition transport spokesman Terry Mulder said the new minister would need to go back to the basics of operating a rail system.

"It gets back to the drainage, the ballast, the sleepers, the rails, the points, the crossings," Mr Mulder said.

"Make sure you have the infrastructure that brings about a sense of reliability with public transport."

[ozbob]

Editorial Herald Sun click here!

End of the line

End of the line

    * From: Herald Sun
    * January 19, 2010 12:00AM

THE Victorian Government has a chance to get its troubled transport system back on track after Transport Minister Lynne Kosky resigned for family reasons.

Ms Kosky was out of her depth in the difficult transport portfolio and Premier John Brumby needs to carefully consider whom he intends to put in the firing line.

The Herald Sun was one of Ms Kosky's severest critics as she battled a massive cost blowout and technical problems with the myki transport card system.

She was also unable to resolve delays on trains that broke down each summer.

The Government needs to convince long-suffering commuters that it has the answer to their transport problems as it goes into an election this year.

[ozbob]

From the Melbourne Age click here!

End of the line

End of the line
January 19, 2010 - 7:14AM

It was a bumpy ride in the end for Lynne Kosky. Clay Lucas examines the track record of the former Labor minister.

LYNNE Kosky knew going into it that public transport would be a difficult portfolio. Few could have predicted how hard it would be. Booming patronage numbers in public transport, pushed on by massive population growth and rising petrol prices, combined to make her portfolio more challenging than ever before. In 2007, there were 414 million trips made by Melburnians on a train, tram or bus. By last year, it had risen to 491 million and growing.

While more buses were put on in some of the city's least-serviced areas, the growth in the number of train and tram trips remained relatively static — leading to serious overcrowding at peak times on most lines.

Yesterday, after three years and immense pressure in what Premier John Brumby deemed the Government's toughest portfolio, Kosky resigned from Parliament to deal with serious family issues. She told a packed press conference she had never shied away from the tough jobs and that "hopefully it has made a big difference to public transport in this state".

Brumby said the pressure of life as transport minister was immense. "It is a very challenging portfolio. In the history of the state I can't think of a public transport minister that has had an easy run. It's probably the most demanding portfolio."

Adding to the pressure and difficulty, the Premier said, were patronage numbers — particularly on Melbourne's trains.

In her three years as public transport minister, Lynne Kosky has ensured that Melbourne's trains and trams are run by overseas companies: in Metro Trains, it is a company majority owned by the Chinese Government, and in Yarra Trams' case it is a company majority owned by French national rail operator SNCF.

She has overseen the disastrous partial roll-out of the myki smartcard, and was there for three summers when commuters faced meltdown, once because of braking issues on the trains and twice because the infrastructure simply failed to stand up in severe heat.

Asked yesterday to name her successes in the portfolio, Kosky said the Victorian Transport Plan — an ambitious but largely unfunded $38 billion wish-list for Victoria's roads and public transport networks released in December 2008.

She pointed to $6 billion worth of new projects under way, including a fleet of new trains that will indeed address serious overcrowding problems once they start arriving this year.

And she named the Regional Rail Link — a $4.3 billion rail line from Southern Cross Station to Werribee that will slow down V/Line services to Geelong slightly but open up new stations in Melbourne's growing west — as close to her heart.

"It will significantly improve our rail network and deliver to the growing west the improved connections that they have long deserved."

She also named the revitalisation of the state's freight network — which is still in a seriously degraded condition — and upgrades to the state's level crossings as her major achievements.

Kosky said yesterday that criticism as a politician was simply something you had to bear. "You cop the criticisms and the bouquets as part of public life," she said. "It is a fantastic portfolio. I hope the next minister enjoys the job as much as I have."

For Melbourne's commuters, the differences she made haven't yet started to be too apparent: last week during the summer's first seriously hot day, a virtually identical number of trains were cancelled as during the first hot day of 2009.

Thousands of tram passengers continue to experience serious overcrowding and unpleasant conditions on searing hot days in trams without cooling.

And the myki ticket system descended into near farce at the end of 2009, with the smartcard introduced — poorly — on trains but not trams and buses, despite hundreds of millions of dollars of taxpayer funds being thrown at it.

KOSKY was regarded as one of the high-flyers of the Bracks government. The former finance minister and long-serving education minister was once considered the woman most likely to be premier. Praise was thrust upon her as education minister, a portfolio in which she was regarded as a serious reformer and as a success. However, any praise quickly dried up when she took over the transport portfolio. (For Brumby, Kosky's resignation is an opportunity to renew the public transport "brand" with a fresh voice.)

In a generally stellar political career, the first serious downward turn was the leaking of an email to her colleagues in April 2007. An email in her name bluntly asked fellow MPs to send commuters' complaints about public transport services to somebody else. While the email was poorly phrased and stand-offish, a fair reading suggests it was intended to help MPs direct constituents with minor complaints to the right place. But the perception remained in commuters' minds — here was a minister who did not wish to hear their complaints.

Her time as public transport minister brought up several similar instances that could have been avoided. Kosky's political antennae in the portfolio was at times off. She failed to recognise that the travelling public experiencing severe delays or overcrowding may find her words insensitive. (She later conceded the transport complaints email sent under her name could have been worded "more gently".)

In 2007, questioned by this newspaper about bringing the public transport system back into state hands, she said: "Do I want to run a train system? I don't think so." It is a quote that would haunt her for her remaining time in the job.

Similarly, in an interview with The Age three months ago about the meltdown of the train system last year in severe heat, Kosky relayed a tale of being on the way to the movies when she started getting texts from bureaucrats that the train system was starting to fail.

"I was in Yarraville, it was about 6.30 in the evening, and I was about to go to the movies — which were cancelled because the electricity was all down. Then I got the call [that the network was out]. I was getting text messages to tell me which parts of the network were out."

Most train commuters would have hoped Kosky would have been in a train control centre, shouting at someone to sort it out, not on the way to the movies.

Over the course of her three years, problems in public transport mounted, as decades of under-investment and a decade of privatised operators creaming off profits while spending as little as possible on upkeep began to show.

The buying back of Hitachi train carriages — the oldest on the system that the Department of Transport had phased out and sold off — were also emblematic of an erratically run bureaucracy that had complete control of the spin but little control of the system it had privatised.

All combined with myki to give a sense of chaos around public transport in Victoria, despite improvements in some areas — including particularly buses — being made steadily.

Myki has perhaps cruelled Kosky's time as public transport minister the most — and she has taken the blame. But the same public servants who ran the myki tender — which saw the company that advised on how the tender should be set up, bidding and ultimately winning the contract — are still making decisions.

Despite shortcomings in the bureaucracy, one consultant who worked on major transport projects within the department during Kosky's time described her as "ineffectual and a lightweight in terms of portfolio management in transport — someone who wanted to be really left alone.

"A whole range of folk were feeding her information that was . . . too optimistic about what the real situation was. All ministers suffer from poor advice from bureaucrats, but [former transport minister Peter] Batchelor knew enough about his portfolio that he would know when to really focus on something and drill down on it. She came in brand new, and was fed a lot of crap, and was never discerning in terms of what information was being fed through

to her."

Others are equally damning.

"Effectively, she couldn't make a decision on her own," said another consultant who worked on the re-contracting of Melbourne's trains and trams.

"She didn't have a handle on the portfolio. People threw stones at Peter Batchelor, but he knew his portfolio back to front."

Opposition transport spokesman Terry Mulder would not talk yesterday about Kosky's role as minister, instead wanting to focus on the Premier's role in big transport decisions. "It was Brumby and not her who said last year that we wouldn't have the same problems with the trains this year; he made the predictions about myki working; he made the prediction that we would have new trains on the line by Christmas. She is now a private person who departs the scene."

But he said Brumby would now be desperate to find the "best possible spin doctor" to try to get through to November's state election.

Mulder said the next minister had to focus on the basics of running a public transport system. "It gets back to . . . the rails, the points, the crossings, the signals, the trains, the air-conditioning, the overhead wires; you have to make sure you have the infrastructure that brings about reliability. Instead we have got a $38 billion transport plan, mostly unfunded, and a whole host of advertising."

The Public Transport Users Association, which wants to see the public transport and roads portfolios once again merged into the one ministry, were conciliatory about the minister's performance yesterday. President Daniel Bowen said that "for all the criticisms Lynne Kosky has faced, behind the scenes she has secured unprecedented investment in the train network".

"In 12 to 18 months we will see a lot of the problems we are seeing now start to disappear as improved maintenance and better infrastructure comes online," he said. "Behind the scenes there has been a lot of work to upgrade the train network. She has worked quite hard at improving things."

And he pointed out that myki was a "dud project" handed to Kosky by former transport minister Peter Batchelor.

"She hasn't been as bad a minister as people probably think."

KOSKY'S TRAIN OF THOUGHTS

"Do I want to run a train system? I don't think so. My advice to cabinet will be that I don't think it (the train and tram system) should be brought back into public hands."

February 26, 2007

"There are different layers of responsibility, obviously, but at the end of the day, the buck stops with me, and it stops with the Government."

January 27, 2009

"As commuters start to use the myki system, they will start to see how good it is, how easy it is, and (that) it is much cheaper."

December 29, 2009

"I know $1.3 billion sounds like a lot of money. Public transport costs a lot of money."

January 2, 2010

"I don't have any regrets. I have a fantastic portfolio and was able to achieve an incredible amount along with other people."

LYNNE KOSKY A LIFE IN AND OUT OF POLITICS

BORN

September 2, 1958, in Melbourne

EDUCATION

Wembley Primary School 1964-70; Footscray High School 1971-76; BSocW

1980, University of Melbourne

CAREER

1981

Social worker, Education Department

1982-86

Community education officer

1987-89

Policy adviser, youth affairs, Department of Labour

1989-90

Community liaison officer, Melbourne Olympic committee

1990-92

Ministerial adviser, Community Services Victoria.

1991-92

Member, Coode Island Review Panel

1993

Executive officer, Westgate Community Initiatives Group

1995

Lecturer (part time), RMIT

POLITICS

1985

Becomes member of ALP

1986-90

Councillor, Footscray City Council

1988-89

Mayor

1993-96

ALP conference delegate

1996

Elected MLA for Altona (reelected 1999, 2002, 2006)

1996-99

Opposition spokeswoman for housing; youth affairs

1999

Opposition spokeswoman for employment, tertiary education and training

1999-2002

Minister for post compulsory education, training and employment

2000-02

Minister for finance

2002-06

Minister for education and training

2006-10

Minister for public transport and minister for the arts

[ozbob]

From the Herald Sun click here!

Former union boss Martin Pakula to replace Lynne Kosky as State minister for public transport

Former union boss Martin Pakula to replace Lynne Kosky as State minister for public transport

    * Matt Johnston
    * From: Herald Sun
    * January 20, 2010 12:00AM

MEET the man whose duty will be to fix our public transport mess.

Former union boss Martin Pakula will be sworn in as Public Transport Minister today after Lynne Kosky's sudden resignation.

A caucus meeting on Wednesday morning is expected to endorse left-wing MP Lily D'Ambrosio as Ms Kosky's Cabinet replacement.

Mr Pakula is likely to give up his current portfolios of Industry and Trade and Industrial Relations to take on the tough job that shook Ms Kosky to the core.

Furious Victorians have demanded action on public transport as delays on trains and trams and the myki debacle continue.

On Tuesday, Premier John Brumby said Ms Kosky's replacement would have their work cut out.

"The new rolling stock, regional rail express, the new ticketing system, there are some big challenges and big investments," Mr Brumby said.

He said improving the system would be more important than media-managing the myki ticket system.

"I think the more important thing is to get the roll out right and the problems we have got at the moment is the roll out hasn't been right. Kamco and the Transport Ticketing Authority have seen some failures."

Public Transport Users Association president Daniel Bowen said urgent priorities for the new minister would be to fix the reliability of the train network and extend it into outer suburban areas.

"The new minister should also reform the planning of public transport so buses, trains and trams are timed to connect properly across the network," Mr Bowen said.

Mr Pakula, 41, is a former state secretary and national vice President of the National Union of Workers, and the Government will be hoping he can cut through industrial disputes and start improving rail and bus systems.

The MP for the Western Metropolitan region had experience in transport as Parliamentary Secretary for Roads and Ports.

He was given his break in Cabinet when Theo Theophanous resigned and millionaire Evan Thornley quit politics.

A former Australian Services Union organiser, Ms D'Ambrosio, 45, is the MP for Mill Park and Parliamentary Secretary for Community Development.

Further Cabinet changes are expected, and Police Minister Bob Cameron and Community Services Minister Lisa Neville are tipped to come under pressure.

[ozbob]

From the Melbourne Age click here!

Pakula to inherit transport troubles

Pakula to inherit transport troubles
DAVID ROOD AND SARAH-JANE COLLINS
January 20, 2010

FORMER union heavyweight Martin Pakula will be charged with fixing Melbourne's troubled transport system when he becomes the state's new transport minister today.

The Age believes Mr Pakula, who is currently Industry Minister, will be drafted into the high-profile post following the surprise resignation of former transport minister Lynne Kosky.

The move is a dramatic promotion for the 41-year-old, who entered the Brumby cabinet last summer.

It also allows Premier John Brumby to minimise his cabinet reshuffle ahead of this year's state election by limiting portfolio moves.

While it remains unclear who will assume Mr Pakula's former cabinet roles, Mr Brumby said the new frontbench team would likely be the one he takes to the November poll.

The Premier also made his preference clear that a woman replace Ms Kosky on the frontbench.

Parliamentary secretary for community development Lily D'Ambrosio is all but guaranteed to take Ms Kosky's cabinet position ahead of fellow Left MP Liz Beattie.

Mr Pakula is a former state secretary of the National Union of Workers and a member of the Premier's dominant Right faction.

He was elected to Parliament's upper house at the 2006 election following the intervention of former premier Steve Bracks.

The political lifeline came after Mr Pakula lost a bruising preselection battle against former federal Labor leader Simon Crean in 2006.

Yesterday, the Premier also hit back at Opposition claims that no one wanted the transport role, saying the comments showed the culture of an Opposition that did not like hard work.

But shadow scrutiny of government spokesman David Davis called on the Premier to use Ms Kosky's resignation to dump other ''incompetent ministers'', naming Police Minister Bob Cameron, Community Services Minister Lisa Neville and Planning Minister Justin Madden.

Ms Kosky resigned as a minister and MP on Monday citing serious health issues in her family. Her decision to stand down brought to an end a tumultuous three years as transport minister, where Ms Kosky had been dogged by the bungled myki ticketing system as well as overcrowding on Melbourne's transport system.

A byelection for Ms Kosky's safe Labor seat of Altona, currently held by a 20.3 per cent margin, will be held next month.

The contest for Labor preselection for the seat has already drawn a wide field, including the daughter of the late trade union leader John Halfpenny and a former Victorian Labor president.

Party insiders say six women have expressed interest in nominating for the seat.

Lori Faraone, a former ministerial adviser to Lynne Kosky, is believed to be the current front-runner, with strong support also for former ALP state president Jill Hennessy.

Catherine Van Vliet, a research officer at Melbourne University, and Ingrid Stitt, an officer with the Australian Services Union, have also expressed interest.

Other names in the mix are Luba Grigorovitch, a former electorate officer to Ms Kosky and current Hobsons Bay councillor, and Bronwyn Halfpenny, who works for the Victorian Trades Hall Council.

The ALP administrative committee will meet on Thursday night to open nominations.

Meanwhile, the Liberal Party is yet to decide whether to contest the safe Labor seat, but insiders say there is a strong expectation among members that the party should run.

The Greens are planning to pre-select a candidate this weekend.