31
January, 2004
Coalition
to invest in school bus safety
The State Coalition will double the funding available for upgrading the school bus fleet and allocate an additional $5 million towards putting seatbelts on school buses.
National-Liberal Coalition Leader, Lawrence Springborg, announced the upgrade to school bus transport in Goondiwindi today.
“The Coalition believes the safety of our children should be a true priority of Government.
“It’s time the Beattie Labor Government stopped dithering around. Unfortunately this issue never seems to be a true priority of this government. Instead it goes from a Task Force to an interdepartmental committee where it simply gets lost in the bureaucratic wasteland,” Mr Springborg said.
Mr Springborg said that the School Transport Safety Task Force had first handed down its Report in 2001 which called for a fleet upgrade.
“There are 2,449 school buses being operated in Queensland by 1,010 operators, and the average age of the buses taking our children to school is around 18 years.
“The Coalition will double the amount of funding available to speed up the replacement process,” Mr Springborg said.
Under the scheme bus operators will receive a subsidy of up to 40% when purchasing a bus which is up to 5 years old.
“And unlike the Beattie Labor Government, which 3 years later is still evaluating a trial of seat belts on school buses, the State Coalition is prepared to get on with the job.
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