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Australia

Retired train driver backs union calls to divert Rockhampton’s ‘dangerous’ city freight line

A man with grey short hair sits on a veranda in a wooden chair wearing a green shirt and looks at the camera.

Paul McKenna can still feel the dread in his stomach when he thinks about driving his locomotive along Rockhampton’s Denison Street.

“It’s sheer luck that there hasn’t been more people killed down that street,” he says.

For a two-kilometre stretch through the middle of Rockhampton, freight trains travel down the middle of Denison street after leaving the Rockhampton station yard.

It’s one of the only freight lines in Queensland that still runs through the middle of a city, according to the Rail Union.

Mr McKenna, a retired train driver from Yeppoon who spent 33 years in the industry, said he would encounter a near-miss almost every second time he would drive along the Denison street line.

A train travels through the center of a city, with cars driving on either side of it.
For a two-kilometre stretch through the middle of Rockhampton, freight trains travel along Denison street after leaving the Rockhampton rail station yard.(Supplied: Jacob Howard)

“People seem to pull up at the stop signs and they don’t look for trains, they look for traffic and they just take off in front of you and you pretty well haven’t got a chance to stop,” Mr McKenna said.

“You’ve got pedestrians that just walk out in front of you.

“You’d come home and you’d stay awake at night if you got close to hitting people.

“It was pretty scary… It needs to be moved.”

Earlier this year, data from the Department of Transport and Main Roads released by the RACQ revealed that the intersection of Denison and Derby St was one of the worst intersections for serious crashes in the state.

The intersection ranked fourth, with seven serious crashes and 11 people seriously injured between June 2018 and May 2021.

Calls to move rail freight line for safety

The Rail, Tram and Bus Union’s Craig Allen says the Dennison Street rail level crossing is the largest in the southern hemisphere and is unique in that it runs through the middle of a city.

The union is calling on Queensland Rail to bypass Rockhampton city, in line with the city’s ring road project.

“Members have identified the whole of Denison Street as one of the most dangerous level crossings they’ve ever encountered,” Mr Allen said.

“From our driver’s perspective, they see the horror in these people’s faces when they’re in the train and they’re about to collide with them.

A car drives beside a rail line. A stop sign and railway crossing crossing is in the center of the road.
The Denison Street rail level crossing in Rockhampton.(ABC Capricorn: Rachel McGhee)

“The freight infrastructure around Rockhampton is still 19th century… it still hasn’t been upgraded. It’s time we got rail into the 21st century and eliminated all these dangerous rail crossings.”

It’s a call Mr McKenna supports.

“Eliminate the risk… it takes its toll over the years,” he said.

“You nearly can pick which one’s going to come out in front of you. They appear to look up the road for cars, but they don’t see the train and then they take off and you can’t stop.

“If there’s an opportunity to change it, they should jump at it.”

‘No plans’ to upgrade Denison Street level crossing

Queensland Rail head of regional, Jim Benstead said he was committed to level-crossing safety through investment in education, engineering upgrades and working closely with the police on enforcement.

“While there are no current plans to upgrade the level crossing or track infrastructure through the Denison and Derby Street intersection in Rockhampton, Queensland Rail is working with council to identify any potential safety improvements,” Mr Benstead said.

“In the last financial year (2021-2022) we saw 94 near misses on the network across regional Queensland.

“Since 2017, there have been nine incidents at the Denison and Derby Street level crossing, including one traffic incident earlier this year.”

A train travels along a street in the middle of the road.
There are calls for the rail line to be diverted around Rockhampton, in line with the city’s Ring Road project, out of safety concerns.(Supplied: Jacob Howard)

Mr Benstead said all level crossings were fitted with signs and signals to warn of an approaching train and people had to take responsibility and heed the warnings.

“There is also an $18 million regional level-crossing program underway, which has so far delivered upgrades to level crossings in Portsmith, Edmonton, Chinchilla and Cardwell in North Queensland,” he said.

“Queensland Rail is asking everyone in the community to prioritize their own safety around trains.”

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Categories
Australia

Lawyers push to waive COVID fines issued to children as young as 13

A woman wearing a black top stands next to a police car with her arms crossed.

The New South Wales government is resisting growing calls to scrap tens of thousands of COVID fines, which lawyers say were unjustly issued, including to a teenager with an intellectual disability.

The question of whether the government and NSW Police were heavy-handed in their pandemic response will be argued in a test case before the NSW Supreme Court.

The Redfern Legal Center hopes its legal challenge will quash 45,000 fines, which it says failed to properly outline the offense committed.

“The process was unjust, messy, and the rule of law was not followed,” the center’s Samantha Lee told 7.30.

The agency responsible for COVID penalties, Revenue NSW, said that of the 62,035 fines issued since early 2020, more than half, or 38,372 remained unpaid in full.

While the majority of these are being paid in some form of repayment plan, many have gone unanswered.

In total, 3,840 children between 13 and 17 years of age were fined between $40 and $5,000, which lawyers say should be waived as cautions.

Revenue NSW said 17 fines issued to children totaling $45,000 remain unresolved.

A woman wearing a gray jacket.
Human Rights Commissioner Lorraine Finlay says the ends disproportionately affected poorer communities.(abcnews)

“This is a form of unjust treatment to children,” Ms Lee said. “These children have been fined for $1,000, $3,000 and $5,000.

“One child who has an intellectual disability was given three $1,000 fines for being out of his house. I’m of the view that he should never have been issued a fine.

“Under the fine acts, someone who has an intellectual disability should not have been issued a fine.”

The Human Rights Commissioner Lorraine Finlay told 7.30 a.m. she wants to see all fines suspended nationally given the system disproportionately affected poorer communities in NSW and Victoria.

“It’s actually a nationwide issue, and what we really need to do is firstly, in respect to the fines, pause enforcement until they can be properly reviewed so that the public can have confidence that the fine system is lawful and working fairly,” she said.

“But secondly, we actually need to have a broader review into the pandemic response.”

Children volunteer to pay off fines through government program

A woman wearing a coat stands on a footpath.
Bronwyn O’Brien, a case worker at SydWest Multicultural Services.(ABC News: Jason Om)

Some people penalized in NSW have chosen to pay off the fines through a program known as a Work and Development Order (WDO).

It allows people on low incomes to pay down the fine through unpaid work or activities such as a life skills course, counselling, drug and alcohol treatment and mentoring.

About 140 children have taken part in WDOs, including some at SydWest Multicultural Services in Blacktown, which was among the suburbs that suffered harsher restrictions than the rest of Sydney.

Case worker Bronwyn O’Brien told 7.30 that NSW Police had been unforgiving to residents, particularly if they were multilingual.

She cited a case of a father and a son who had gone out to get groceries and tried to explain themselves to the police, but were ignored.

“Any opportunity for them to explain was shut down and they were immediately given a $1,000 fine each,” Ms O’Brien said.

She said it took weeks for people in the WDO program to pay off their ends.

“They were like $500, or $1,000 per fine. For the clients we’re working with that could be their weekly or fortnightly pay, if they’re receiving Centrelink it’s even worse.”

“Some people, they have to spend months and months to engage in activities just to get the fine down just a bit.”

A young man wearing a cap and hoodie.
Connor Jago was 17 when he was fined for not wearing a mask on a train.(ABC News: Jason Om)

Connor Jago was 17 when police issued him with two COVID fines for not wearing a mask on a train, and a separate transport fine, totaling $680.

“That was more than I make in two weeks almost,” he told 7.30.

The second $80 COVID fine was because he was wearing a mask below his nose after putting it on, Mr Jago told 7.30.

He threatened to take the government to court, arguing he was complying with police directions before Revenue NSW dropped one of the COVID fines of $500.

Fines commissioner says repayment system beneficial

A man wearing a suit and tie has his arms crossed.
NSW chief commissioner of state revenue, Scott Johnston.(ABC News: Tom Hancock)

In a rare interview with 7.30am, the head of Revenue NSW defended the organisation, and welcomed any review of individual cases.

The chief commissioner of state revenue, Scott Johnston, would not be drawn on whether it was appropriate for police to fine children as young as 13, and said the WDO program had had “powerful” outcomes.

“Some of the criticism or challenge on the way that we’ve done that, about imposing unfair penalties on people and youths, I think is not really reflective on the experience that the people who received these fines have had,” he said.

“I understand completely that a fine affects people differently. Some people can’t afford to pay that commitment and the genuine commitment from my organisation, and [me]is to have a conversation with people where they need help and support.”

Mr Johnston said the agency had resolved the cases of 500 children under 15 who were fined $40 for not wearing a mask.

NSW Police declined to comment at 7.30, while the Victorian Government told 7.30 its penalty system protected citizens from the pandemic and that there are options available if people are struggling to pay off fines.

Watch this story on 7.30 on ABC TV and ABC iview.

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Categories
Australia

What is a void and how did it bring Brisbane’s CBD to a standstill?

Pedestrians cross Adelaide Street near Brisbane Metro hoarding

Towering cranes and scaffolding dominate inner-city Brisbane right now with major infrastructure projects like the Cross River Rail, Brisbane Metro and Queen’s Wharf set to change the face of the CBD.

The developments are also occurring in some of the oldest parts of the city.

Then on Wednesday morning, traffic gridlock and hours-long delays gripped the CBD after contractors working on the city’s new bus network, Brisbane Metro, discovered a “void” below Adelaide Street.

Brisbane City Councillor Ryan Murphy said a decision was made “out of an abundance of caution” to close the stretch between George Street and North Quay, to ensure no vehicles drove over the weak point.

Could this happen again as the city develops?

This is what those in the know say about what could have caused the “void” and the likelihood of it happening again.

What is a void and how common are they?

Put simply, it’s a hole.

Professor David Williams, director of the Geotechnical Engineering Center at the University of Queensland, said in this instance a void “is a loss of support below the ground surface leading to surface settlement”.

“Most people would agree it’s not that common, we don’t usually have the whole of Brisbane brought to a standstill because … a void is revealed,” Professor Williams said.

“It’s more likely a bit of a one-off — it makes sense that it’s related to the construction activity.”

A man with short gray hair and beard smiling outdoors
Professor David Williams says voids are uncommon. (Supplied: Professor David Williams )

A void is also referred to as “ground subsidence”.

It can cause major disruption to roads, resulting in fracture, unevenness, and in some cases, sinkholes.

What happened under Adelaide Street?

The exact cause of yesterday’s void is yet to be determined, but Mr Murphy said it was “uncovered through excavation works”.

“We don’t know how long it was there, we don’t know exactly the cause.

“Workers were doing vacuum excavation … which found a void below one of the traffic lanes on Adelaide Street,” he told ABC Radio Brisbane.

“Some free-flowing material … flowed onto our work site which caused a slight sag in the road.

“Essentially a void [was] created, and that void needed to be filled before we could safely reopen that road – this is not a tunnel collapse.”

Professor Williams said “it’s a little unclear” whether the “excavation activity revealed or caused the void.”

A bus on Adelaide Street in Brisbane
Adelaide Street is subject to heavy traffic and was partially closed as a precaution.(ABC News: Lucas Hill)

What could have caused a void?

Tom Brown from the Rail Tram and Bus Union questioned Brisbane City Council’s explanation.

“The story doesn’t seem to stack up to me, because if there was a void underneath Adelaide Street surely the city’s engineers would’ve picked it up with the ultrasounds when they were marking up this job,” Mr Brown said.

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