Save The Oxley update – Ken Healey

The meeting with the RMS occurred today (November 27) in Wauchope at 12 noon and went for one and a half hours.

Ken Healey Gingers Creek Tavern Save the oxley campaign
Ken Healey, Save The Oxley campaigner at Gingers Creek

The minister Melinda Pavey was present as was our local Mayor Peta Pinson.

The meeting was attended by representatives from the motorcycle community along with Tourism, Economic Development and Heavy Transport.

I opened the meeting and I asked the RMS to give us a summary so we could give a short response before the minister had to leave.

The RMS told us there have been six deaths and 67 crashes on the mountain since 2011 and the RMS have to change the speed limits on 44 kilometres of the mountain because the crash rate and the death rate is too high.

I spoke about education campaigns for all road users rather than simply lowering the speed limits.

I tried to take the focus off motorcycles.

I asked the Tourism and Economic representatives to talk and they spoke about how it will affect their industry.

The transport industry spoke about the trailing effect this will cause with more vehicles being stuck behind the trucks.

We put forward really good initiatives.

I then asked the minister to talk.

She told the meeting that the 80km/h speed limit would be non-negotiable.

Why did they bother calling a meeting if it was non-negotiable?

The RMS told me it would not be an announcement.

Well that was bullshit.

It was an announcement and the Minister was un-flexed in telling the meeting that the decision was non-negotiable.

The decision was pre-determined and the road is in her local electorate… She didn’t give a shit about local tourism, the economic ramifications or the extra time it is going to take to get to the coast or the tablelands.

The minister was only there for 30 minutes.

We carried on with the meeting after the minster left.

There will also be no unbroken lines on the mountain.

So you get stuck behind a truck and you are stuck there for up to 50km.

They took our concerns away about overtaking lanes and pull over bays to be built.

I presented the RMS with our petition of 10,700 signatures and comments from the Change.org site.

They took with them all of our concerns and said they would be in touch in the new year.

So even after all of the discussion today and the initiatives put forward it basically amounted to nothing, except we gained an extra 10km an hour.

We kept the RMS at bay for a year after the Save The Oxley rally as it was going to be a 70km/h zone.

We tried people. We worked really hard on this and taking on the suits and the puppets of government was a challenge to say the least.

Cheers folks. Happy and safe riding.

–Ken Healey

Save The Oxley

7 Comments

  1. The 10000 plus petition signers need to directly contact Melinda Pavey and object to the change. There have been zero ‘community’ requests to have the limit lowered. This is purely data driven.
    I get weekly updates for Speedlimit changes being applied to NSW. Rarely, and normally only due to schools being closed down, are speedlimits raised. I think there has been 4 or 5 in 3+ years. The ‘reason’ stated is adjusted “due to local community concerns or expectations”. When I’ve asked for evidence of the community ‘input’, they don’t have anything. When some of the limits got dropped near where I lived, I went seeking answers and found that there was zero community requests or consultations. I raised an issue with the corruption watchdog but got told the matter wasn’t significant enough and was a community ‘service’! Such arrogance. We live in a dictatorship under an agency of the NSW government.

  2. Thanks must go to CycleTorque for publishing articles, filming and publishing video on the Oxley to promote our cause and the Oxley Highway as great ride. It is and always will be a great ride. Hopefully one day it will be reversed. We’ll never give up. For updates on the cause visit Save the Oxley on Facebook. Safe riding folks.

    • No worries Ken, you are a true custodian of the area. Next time I’m up that way we should catch up again. Ryan.

  3. Dump a truckload of manure on the minister’s office doorstep. Tell her we’ve had enough of her crap and to start looking for another job.

  4. On what planet do you think these vermin in Govt power positions give a shit about what the public thinks or wants?

    Thinking they do is for children.

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