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Wed.23.2.22 Metro Twitter
Flinders St: still with a lane closed for tunnel works?
Aircraft: No ramp access to platforms until late 2021 (pedestrian-underpass works), delayed to March 2022.
Buses replace trains on sections of the Werribee line until the last train of Wed 23 Feb (works).
Buses replace trains on sections of the Sunbury line from 20.30 until the last train of Sun 27 Feb (works).
12.51 Hurstbridge line: Buses replace trains Clifton Hill-Greensboro due to equipment faults near Heidelberg and Macleod. Buses ordered, ETA 60min.
- 13.00 Consider Rt 513 and 546 for local trips.
- 14.40 Buses replace trains Clifton Hill-Greensboro due to equipment faults near Heidelberg and Macleod. Buses in operation. Allow an extra 45 minutes for your journey.
- 15.42 Trains resuming First trains to resume will be the 3:29pm Flinders Street-Hurstbridge & the 3:17pm Hurstbridge-Flinders Street.
16.25 Buses replace trains ESSENDON-Craigieburn due to a track fault near Broadmeadows. Buses ordered, ETA 60min. Consider alternative transport.
- 16.28 Please be vigilant for extra buses and passengers around stations on the Craigburn Line, with train services suspended between Essendon and Craigieburn, due to a track fault. Our signals team will adjust traffic lights to help with bus movements in the area. #victraffic
- 16.55 eta 50 min
- 17.01 Trains resuming Essendon-Craigieburn after an earlier track fault near Broadmeadows.  First trains to resume: 4:34pm Flinders Street-Craigieburn. 4:51pm Craigieburn-Flinders Street.
Buses replace trains North Melbourne - Werribee/Williamstown from 20.00 until the last train (maintenance works).
Pakenham/Cranbourne lines: All trains will terminate/originate at Caulfield from 21.00 until the last train (works).  Change to/from a Frankston train.

I’m looking forward to seeing colleagues, but commuting, not so much. Annie Lawson February 23, 2022
When the news broke that masks would no longer be required in the office, friends reacted with a mixture of dread and cautious optimism to the idea of returning to the workplace. No one was elated after two years in captivity.
“There are people at work that I wouldn’t save from a burning car,” a friend lamented. This probably said more about his job than going back to the office. He said it would be fine if promises of flexibility were upheld. And besides, another strain might cut it short.
Calls to get employees back into the office have received a mixed response after almost two years of lockdowns.CREDIT:JASON SOUTH
Another said it would be nice seeing people and not housework that had to be done. Her company had hired a barista four days a week to lure people back. As a coffee addict, that’s tempting. But not enough for me.
The problem was lack of time. The commute on the number 67 tram from St Kilda to the CBD and back again added 1.5 hours to the day. Inevitably there’d be someone with hay fever and no tissue. Grooming added 40 minutes to the morning routine and has now been replaced with anything that doesn’t need ironing.
Two years ago, my sons were 12 and 14 and I was dashing between work and getting them to basketball, soccer and parties. By Tuesday, the pantry was empty and the house looked as if it had been ransacked. The clothing pile was Himalayan. I was so stretched that I’d collapse brain fried at the end of the day with wine and chocolate.
Road congestion during peak hours is among the reasons some people don’t want to return to work.CREDIT:PAUL ROVERE
Working from home has meant the food supplies can be topped up and a load of washing put on in between Zoom meetings. I have time to exercise to cancel out the wine and chocolate and I’m less annoyed by humanity thanks to the lack of commute. I’m not frittering money on lunches nor picking up other people’s bugs while hot-desking. I can roll out of bed and be at my desk in under a minute. And I did regular walks with my sons instead of parenting via neglect.
But there are downsides. The boundary between work and home has blurred and the lack of collaboration has taken a toll. Coffees with colleagues disappeared along with the chemistry I had with them.
I must admit office life before lockdown was fun. My workmates and I would contemplate the universe and wonder why people used phrases in meetings such as “move the needle”, “deep dive” and the dreaded “reach out”.
We had a sense of community that has now fizzled. The trick will be recapturing this against a more flexible backdrop and re-learning the art of applying make-up so I don’t look like a ventriloquist’s dummy.
RELATED ARTICLE Premier Daniel Andrews takes off his mask on Tuesday. Masks and “shackles” to come off in Victoria this Saturday as mandates ease, workers return
<www.theage.com.au/lifestyle/life-and-relationships/i-m-looking-forward-to-seeing-colleagues-but-commuting-not-so-much-20220222-p59yon.html>
* I think the author needs to do a PMI working from home:
- More time with children
- reduced insecurity about appearance
- Clean clothes
- healthy food
- reduced carbon emissions
- Exercise
- Benefits of the office:
- Coffee with a couple of people you actually like (which could be organised from home if it was that important to you) Mumble mumble 'collaboaration' (software development has been global for years, plenty of innovation and collaboration) So there are nearly ZERO benefits from WFO which can't be reproduced with a little organisation. And the benefits of WFH are very real and important including living longer and having happier kids!
* I am perplexed that you can be at your desk in under a minute, but, it takes 40 to walk out the door... I am showered, fed and out the door in 20 minutes ( I admit I don't blow dry my hair - I keep it short so no need and breakfast is a bowl of ceral, but, sustains me). On a work from home day, I still shower every morning, but, admit I eat my breakfast at my wfh desk. I am more productive at home as I am not interrupted with "water cooler" chat, so I too take the time to hang a load of washing, or quickly sweep or dust the every growing mountain that builds up from open windows on pleasant days. The commute will be the thing that I dread most. I continued to attend work (usually 1 or 2 days per week ) with the exception of hard lockdown - traffic is back to horrendous, who know what awaits us once more people return to the office. Don't start me on roadworks creating bottlenecks everywhere !
* I live inner city so the commute isn’t the issue it’s finding work clothes that fit after the covid kgs! Plus it’s definitely the grooming. Now I’ll have to get up earlier to exercise and shower, find clothes do make up and hair. At the moment I can rush in from the gym and sit down in my home office in my exercise gear until I have a break and can jump in shower. It’s the thought of professional clothes, make up, hair, and shoes! I haven’t worn shoes for years that’s really not making me want to go back. But I really miss my work colleagues and the collaboration that happens. Plus the cheeky wines after work to vent about anything.

Australia news as it happened: Sydney train shutdown fallout continues. Liam Mannix and Josh Dye February 23, 2022
* 10.19 ‘My expectation is that all ministers are available 24/7’: NSW Premier. Sarah McPhee. NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet says he expects his ministers to be available “around the clock”, as he faced questioning following NSW Transport Minister David Elliott yesterday claiming he was in bed when Sydney Trains decided to suspend the city’s rail network on Monday.
“The discussions that I’ve had with the minister is that it was his understanding ... that the rail network would be operating, not at full capacity, but we never expected that,” Mr Perrottet told media this morning in what became quite a remarkable press conference (you can watch a replay below).
NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet, Minister for Education and Early Learning Sarah Mitchell and Chief Health Officer Dr Kerry Chant make an announcement on COVID-19 rules in schools.
“The advice that I’ve received is that there was no doubt on the Monday there would be challenges with the network. That’s very different to the network being shutdown.”
He said it was his understanding that Mr Elliott had not been advised “of that eventuality”.
NSW Transport Minister David Elliott yesterday said Sydney Trains had made an operational decision amid an ongoing industrial dispute with the Rail, Tram and Bus Union, and it was a judgment call by the rail operator’s executives to “use their discretion and close the system”.
“At 12.43am on a Monday morning I’m in bed,” he said. “I’m OK that they didn’t call me at 12.30 in the morning because I wouldn’t have answered the phone.”
Mr Elliott said that on Sunday night, he had an “inkling” of potential disruption.
“We knew that there was a potential for an industrial dispute, but we found out that the decision by Transport for NSW that the service ... would not operate, when everybody else did at 4 o’clock in the morning,” Mr Elliott said.
Mr Perrottet said his expectation is that ministers are available 24/7 and “immensely connected with the operational matters that are happening within their portfolio”.
Asked whether Mr Elliott’s response - that it was OK and he would not have answered his phone - was “good enough”, Mr Perrottet used Education Minister Sarah Mitchell standing alongside him as an example.
“I think that he [Mr Elliott] will reflect on that and realise that if a phone call comes in at any point in time, if there is a substantial issue facing the education system here in our state that comes to light at 3 o’clock in the morning, I expect Minister Mitchell to answer the phone.”
He added: “The minister [Mr Elliott] will reflect on that and realise that all ministers are available 24/7, that’s my expectation as Premier. The point is that there was no call made.”
He said he understood no advice was given to Mr Elliott’s office in respect of shutting down the network. Asked about a statement prepared by Mr Elliott’s office in the early hours of Monday, Mr Perrottet said he was not across that.
To understand the full story, you can read ‘I wouldn’t have answered’: Transport Minister went to bed as rail fiasco unfolded and Dossier compiled for NSW Premier furious over Sydney rail shutdown.
*  8.05 ‘I wouldn’t have answered’: Transport Minister went to bed as rail fiasco unfolded. Alexandra Smith this morning reports NSW Transport Minister David Elliott went to bed as Sydney’s rail fiasco unfolded on Monday.
This is a complex story, and I encourage you to read it in full to understand what’s going on. Here’s an extract.
As late as 11.10pm on Sunday, as tense negotiations between the rail union and NSW’s transport agency stretched into another day, David Elliott was so irate he took to social media to vent.
The Transport Minister was not, however, furious about a potential shutdown of the entire Sydney rail network the following day. Rather, it was police mocking the Catholic Church ahead of Mardi Gras that enraged him.
NSW Transport Minister David Elliott and scenes at Parramatta Station on Monday.CREDIT:SMH
“Mardi Gras is a celebration of tolerance, and I applaud that!” he wrote. “Having police mock the Catholic Church as part of that celebration is hardly in the spirit of Mardi Gras ... this is not something I can condone.”
After his Facebook post, alongside a photo of police standing with a man dressed as a nun, Mr Elliott went to bed. He was exhausted after spending three days in Darwin at a veterans ministers’ council.
The minister’s trip was no secret: Mr Elliott shared a photo of him and Prime Minister Scott Morrison having a beer together at a pub. Mr Elliott arrived back in Sydney late on Sunday.
Meanwhile, his most senior bureaucrats stayed awake that night, working into the early hours of Monday, grappling over whether to flick the switch on Sydney’s train system, which would bring the city’s network to a complete standstill.
Mr Elliott is insistent that he was not told about the shutdown, and only learned of it at 4am on Monday when he woke up. Premier Dominic Perrottet found out even later, about 5.30am. The Premier had gone to bed with the understanding that trains would be running in some form on Monday morning.
If anything, Mr Elliott only had an “inkling” about the chaos to come, he said. Mr Elliott said he expected “widespread disruption” but not a total closure.
* 6.57 Dossier compiled for NSW Premier furious over Sydney rail shutdown. Alexandra Smith, Matt O'Sullivan, Tom Rabe and Lucy Cormack. Premier Dominic Perrottet, furious about being kept in the dark about the complete shutdown of Sydney’s rail network, instructed senior staff to urgently investigate the timeline of events that led to the debacle.
An internal dossier was provided to the Premier’s office on Tuesday, which included details of texts messages sent between ministerial staff and the rail agency in the hours leading to the decision to switch off the passenger rail network.
Commuters disembark from a train at Parramatta Station on Tuesday.CREDIT:KATE GERAGHTY
Transport Minister David Elliott came under repeated fire to explain when he was told about the transport agency’s decision to close the network, which disrupted hundreds of thousands of commuters on Monday.
Labor leader Chris Minns grilled Mr Elliott over a text message between the minister’s chief of staff and a bureaucrat before 11pm on Sunday, citing it as evidence the government had advance knowledge about the imminent shutdown.
Commuters endured another day of major disruptions on Tuesday as just a quarter of scheduled passenger train services operated across the city.
A senior government source said that while Mr Perrottet was confident Sydney Trains had made the appropriate decision based on safety concerns, he was incensed that he knew nothing of the looming chaos.
Read the full story here.
<www.theage.com.au/national/australia-news-live-russia-ukraine-conflict-intensifies-as-putin-moves-troops-across-nation-s-east-train-services-resume-as-normal-in-nsw-20220222-p59ypm.html>

Government MPs divided over whether David Elliott is the right man for transport. Lucy Cormack and Tom Rabe February 23, 2022. 146 comments [mainly anti government]
Asked if he was confident David Elliott was up to the job of being the state’s transport minister, Premier Dominic Perrottet on Wednesday was unwavering: “Yes.”
But only after a not-so veiled rebuke of Mr Elliott for admitting he “wouldn’t have answered the phone,” even if he received a late-night call that a shutdown of the rail network was unfolding.
“My expectation is that ministers are available around the clock. I certainly am, and I expect the same of my ministers,” the Premier said.
David Elliott and scenes at Parramatta Station on Monday.CREDIT:PHOTOS: BROOK MITCHELL AND KATE GERAGHTY
“My expectation is that ministers are immensely connected to the operational matters that are occurring in their portfolio.”
As the government ran damage control on Wednesday, Mr Perrottet said he was seeking legal advice about the bureaucratic process followed in the hours before flicking the switch on Sydney’s train system.
Mr Elliott has spent the week under fire following Monday’s rail shutdown, which left thousands of commuters stranded and train services significantly reduced when they returned on Tuesday.
The minister was called to the Premier’s office on Wednesday for his first face-to-face meeting with transport secretary Rob Sharp, where Mr Perrottet directed that any significant developments must be the subject of a written briefing and written endorsement.
“That will ensure that there are no further incidents of this nature in the future,” Mr Elliott later told parliament.
Despite the Transport Minister’s handling of the fiasco, which the government continues to blame on a long-running industrial dispute with the rail union, his Liberal colleagues say it will not claim his scalp.
Mr Elliott has fiercely insisted he only learnt the network had been shut down when he woke up on Monday morning, despite having an “inkling” of potential widespread disruption.
Under siege in parliament this week, a furious Mr Elliott cut a solitary figure with little support from his Coalition colleagues as he faced a barrage of jeers amid questions from the opposition.
From the other side of the chamber, “he looked like a wounded bull being attacked by a pack of hyenas,” said one Labor MP.
Defending his handling of the situation, Mr Elliott on Wednesday admitted shortcomings in communication between his office and the department in the hours that led up to the rail shutdown.
He said a decision was made without his knowledge between 10.45pm and 1am to shut down the train network.
“What is clear is that the communication between the Department and my office was not sufficiently precise,” he told question time.
Premier Dominic Perrottet said he expected his ministers to be available 24 hours a day. CREDIT:BROOK MITCHELL
However, a statement issued by Transport for NSW issued at 1.53am on Monday said it had been “clear at midnight” that the network would be shut down, casting doubt over who knew about the impending shutdown before it occurred.
Despite Mr Elliott’s reasoning, Liberal MPs remain divided as to whether he is the right man for the transport portfolio.
“He’s a known quantity when it comes to some bumpy moments in his portfolio responsibilities. He’s got a bit of a track record,” said one Liberal MP, who spoke on condition of anonymity so they could speak freely on the issue.
“But I actually don’t think it’s a sackable offence. It’s more a mistake than a grievous error. People make mistakes. And given the reshuffle just happened, there is absolutely no appetite to make changes.”
Another government MP said there was no doubt the situation was difficult, “but if anyone can work their way through it, it’s David Elliott”.
“He’s a brawler,” they said. “Even though he’s brawled with the union, he has an ability to get on with people”.
However, others were less forgiving, with one colleague suggesting Mr Elliott was “the wrong person for the job” of transport minister, and clearly under pressure.
“He gives it away [in question time] when he goes completely red and sweats,” they said.
“It’s about stakeholder management, and he is not good at stakeholder management. It’s about ensuring industrial peace between now and the election.”
RELATED ARTICLE David Elliott and scenes at Parramatta Station on Monday. ‘I wouldn’t have answered’: Transport Minister went to bed as rail fiasco unfolded
<www.smh.com.au/politics/nsw/government-mps-divided-over-whether-david-elliott-is-the-right-man-for-transport-20220223-p59z0o.html>
* absolutely anything to do with public transport, it seems the liberals make a mess of

‘I wouldn’t have answered’: Transport Minister went to bed as rail fiasco unfolded. Alexandra Smith February 23, 2022. 354 comments
As late as 11.10pm on Sunday, as tense negotiations between the rail union and NSW’s transport agency stretched into another day, David Elliott was so irate he took to social media to vent.
The Transport Minister was not, however, furious about a potential shutdown of the entire Sydney rail network the following day. Rather, it was police mocking the Catholic Church ahead of Mardi Gras that enraged him.
Transport Minister David Elliott having a beer with Prime Minister Scott Morrison at the veterans ministers’ council at the weekend, in a photo Mr Elliott posted online.CREDIT:FACEBOOK
“Mardi Gras is a celebration of tolerance, and I applaud that!” he wrote. “Having police mock the Catholic Church as part of that celebration is hardly in the spirit of Mardi Gras ... this is not something I can condone.”
After his Facebook post, alongside a photo of police standing with a man dressed as a nun, Mr Elliott went to bed. He was exhausted after spending three days in Darwin at a veterans ministers’ council.
The Mardi Gras post that enraged Transport Minister David Elliott on Sunday night. CREDIT:FACEBOOK
The minister’s trip was no secret: Mr Elliott shared a photo of him and Prime Minister Scott Morrison having a beer together at a pub. Mr Elliott arrived back in Sydney late on Sunday.
Meanwhile, his most senior bureaucrats stayed awake that night, working into the early hours of Monday, grappling over whether to flick the switch on Sydney’s train system, which would bring the city’s network to a complete standstill.
Mr Elliott is insistent that he was not told about the shutdown, and only learned of it at 4am on Monday when he woke up. Premier Dominic Perrottet found out even later, about 5.30am. The Premier had gone to bed with the understanding that trains would be running in some form on Monday morning.
If anything, Mr Elliott only had an “inkling” about the chaos to come, he said. Mr Elliott said he expected “widespread disruption” but not a total closure.
Transport for NSW sent a statement at 1.50am on Monday, saying “it was clear at midnight” it would not be possible to “safely operate train services”. Mr Elliott’s chief of staff approved the statement.
Mr Elliott was also adamant that he had no obligation to stay awake, or even be contactable, as public servants made a monumental decision. “I’m OK that they didn’t call me at 12.30 in the morning because I wouldn’t have answered the phone,” he said.
Commuters wait for a train at Parramatta Station on Monday.CREDIT:KATE GERAGHTY
The Transport Minister, whom former premier Barry O’Farrell refused to put in cabinet amid concerns he would be a troublemaker, has a history of finding himself at the centre of stories, most of which could be avoided.
In 2018, Mr Elliott used parliamentary privilege to accuse then-Labor leader Luke Foley of inappropriately touching an ABC journalist while Mr Foley was drunk. His comment lit the fuse on a scandal that would result in Mr Foley resigning as leader just months before the state election. However, his use of parliamentary privilege was seen a breach of the journalist’s privacy because she had not wanted the incident to be made public.
A year later, Mr Elliott flew to London for a family holiday at the beginning of the Black Summer bushfires (he was emergency services minister at the time). He swiftly turned around after landing at Heathrow, but he was widely criticised for leaving at all.
Mr Elliott was also investigated for allegedly impersonating a police officer in a road rage incident involving a teenager. He was later cleared, but his reputation was tarnished because he had boasted to the teen that, as police minister, he paid for police badges.
And then there was the emergence of a 2018 photo of the minister posing for photos firing two prohibited weapons. An internal police investigation cleared him of any wrongdoing.
As he came under intense criticism for his handling of Monday’s train debacle, Mr Elliott made no secret of the fact that he does not support Transport Secretary Rob Sharp, the former Tiger and Virgin airlines executive. Asked on Tuesday how many meetings the minister has had with Mr Sharp, Mr Elliott shot back: “none”, but then conceded he has had meetings with him.
The pair, however, have not spoken since Monday’s train shutdown and Mr Elliott does not deny that he has concerns with Mr Sharp’s leadership.
Mr Elliott’s handling of the extraordinary situation, which saw all trains suspended on Monday, has stunned some of the government’s most senior ministers, with several convinced that his actions were motivated to force Mr Sharp out of the job.
One minister, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said “it was pretty obvious that Elliott had completely messed the whole thing up”, while another said his position as transport minister was “surely untenable”.
However, Liberal turned independent MP John Sidoti said Mr Elliott should not be held accountable for operational decisions, including Monday’s shutdown.
“Transport is an extremely difficult portfolio with hundreds and hundreds of issues, so you can’t expect the minister to be across all the operational decisions of the day. I think he is an exceptional minister.”
RELATED ARTICLE Editorial Transport minister sleepwalked into rail chaos
RELATED ARTICLE There are many stories of disruption after the shutdown left commuters stuck.  ‘Absolute chaos’: Sydney commuters vent their anger after shock train shutdown
<www.smh.com.au/politics/nsw/i-wouldn-t-have-answered-transport-minister-went-to-bed-as-rail-fiasco-unfolded-20220222-p59yml.html>

Wed.23.2.22 Melbourne 'Herald Sun'.  Letters.
* BRING Richmond Station down to between the MCG and Tennis Centre.
* TWO hours of footy and 2.5 hours of public transport — that’s the problem.  Forty minutes in a line followed by jam-packed carriages. Not my idea of a fun time.
* The only way to bring workers back to the CBD is to entice them with one day a week free parking.