Katoomba Leura Online

As of Monday 21st July, 2008, the maternity ward at Blue Mountains District ANZAC Memorial Hospital will be closed for at least 3 months and, until further notice.

This action effects many women already booked into the hospital and also takes away the rights of pregnant women to choose their place of birth in the Blue Mountains region.

The closure of the maternity unit may also cause problems for labouring women as they are forced to travel much longer distances to receive adequate care & as a result, they may be faced with unnecessary intervention. In the case of an emergency, the extra distance may have a huge impact on the birthing mother & baby.

A rally has been organised for this coming Monday, 21st July at 11am outside Katoomba Hospital

Please show your support by attending the rally & by forwarding this information on to family, friends & any members of the community that you have contact with. Bring placards/banners & balloons.

Everyone needs to attend to make the biggest impact possible!

Thank You.

There have been some stirrings following the release of the IPART discussion paper for train fares. The recommendation is for the fare structure to be a ‘flag-fall’ charge then a per kilometre fee. Initial media reports suggested this could see Blue Mountains users paying up to 50% higher fares. The paper also calls into question the discounts available for weekly tickets.

In response, the government stressed this was a discussion paper only, but recently reports are appearing that link the IPART fare structure to a revived Tcard electronic ticketing system:

ZDNet, SMH, ABC

IPART are calling for submissions to ipart@ipart.nsw.gov.au, so if you have a view, it would be a good time to share it.