Bus strike

MORNING BRIEFING: Transport delays are expected across Sydney this morning as hundreds of bus drivers walk off the job.

"And you will have the opportunity to rebuild those communities in the way that you want and that your volunteers will have a bit of a chance to take a breath." "We can use other mechanisms to maintain services in those communities for a period of 12 to 24 months until we can get the supply of workforce back into rural communities." The Queen's only daughter also commended the service for rising to the challenge under "the most extraordinary period" of catastrophic fires, floods and the pandemic. "[I want to] thank the families of those two officers who were lost … and helping to make that point — the risks of being in a rural fire service never really go away." The ABC spoke to voters in the marginal seats of Parramatta and Reid — which is considered somewhat of a bellwether seat — about the issues that would sway their vote. The state has a big portion of vulnerable seats and there is a concentration of them in Sydney's west.

Up to 70 per cent of bus drivers in some parts of western Sydney and the inner west took part in a 24-hour strike over pay and conditions on Monday.

“I know a lot of people who have left the industry because it’s just getting harder and harder. “They have got a real interest and obligations to the workforce in this industry,” he said. “They hold the purse strings. It causes stress for drivers and their families; it impacts mental health. They’re unsure about their jobs and what shifts they’re working,” she said. “We can never rule out further industrial action.