The Daily Telegraph editorial: Sydney’s not so light rail system

SYDNEY’S light rail system comes with a heavy bill. About $200,000 of that bill is being spent so that two light rail bureaucrats can skip over to Europe every couple of months for the crucial business of liaising with project contractors.

SYDNEY’S light rail system comes with a heavy bill. About $200,000 of that bill is being spent so that two light rail bureaucrats can skip over to Europe every couple of months for the crucial business of liaising with project contractors.

If only there was some other way, perhaps involving telephones or the internet, for people in different nations to stay in touch. Until such futuristic communications devices are invented, however, there is apparently no alternative than to send bureaucrats all the way to Europe for high-level tram talks.

The Daily Telegraph today reveals that NSW Transport Minister Andrew Constance approved funding for light rail officials to take 10 European trips between May 2017 and October 2018. These are not exactly Airbnb backpacker jaunts.

While nobody expects government representatives to flop down in youth hostels and busk for food, these trips do tilt towards the excessive. The ­anticipated cost for each seven-day mission runs to more than $19,000.

Those seven days are spent either in sunny Spain, where the company building the light rail system is based, or France, home of the company building Sydney’s future trams.

Consider the difficulties. Our bureaucrats have to buy — with their $200 a day allowance — not just one but two foreign phrase books. Quelle horreur! Or, alternatively, como de horrible! And then there’s the accommodation. At least one of the week-long trips has included a stay at the Hotel La Monnaie Art and Spa in La Rochelle, France. It’s a converted 17th-century mansion featuring a “hydraulic massage” facility and a 24-hour bar known for its “famous house cognac”.

Some fancy French booze would be just perfect to ease tensions following a long day of talking about the light rail system.

Meanwhile, back in Sydney, business owners say delays in light rail construction is pushing them to the financial brink. Many may be shoved over the edge if the project is not completed in time for its early-2019 deadline.

Transport Minister Constance defended the trips: “I expect the experts in the department to keep a close eye over all aspects of the project.”

Let’s hope that there is a clear line of sight between the Hotel La Monnaie Art and Spa’s “hydraulic massage” facility and wherever our future trams are being knocked together.

Otherwise our bureaucrats might have to endure even further European travel.

CAN BARNABY SURVIVE CRISIS?

National Party leader Barnaby Joyce faces growing calls for examination of his relationship with a now-pregnant former staffer, and particularly how that staffer ended up in new jobs with Joyce’s colleagues.

He also faces growing doubt over his ability to ride out this crisis — for a crisis it undoubtedly is.

The best way to proceed might be for Joyce to own his difficulties and to offer complete transparency regarding matters within his office.

Then his fate will at least be decided in full light of the facts.

DANGERS OF SOCIAL MEDIA

Used properly, social media is a wonderful device that helps friends, family and people one may never meet in real life connect.

Used poorly, which is so often the case, and social media is an anti-social sewer of hate and division. People who are psychologically, and even physically, unprepared for a social media onslaught frequently find themselves mentally bruised — or worse — following their online encounters.

Now people who are battling eating disorders are being advised to shun social media ­because it promotes unrealistic body imagery that can intensify their illness. Centre for Integrative Health director Dr Kiera ­Buchanan, who specialises in the treatment of eating disorders, said one of her first strategies with patients is to discuss who they follow on social media.

“We teach social media literacy and talk about whether they are following people who are healthy for them,” Dr Buchanan explained. The traps and dangers that lurk within social media are ­legion. They can emerge from sites that at first seem utterly harmless. Do take care.