A survey of small businesses has found more than 80 per cent believe congestion in Sydney has got worse in the last year.
Motoring organisation NRMA surveyed 382 businesses that are members of its roadside assistance service.
It found that more than a third of respondents have changed their business habits as a result of congestion.
75 per cent said their journey to work was longer that a year ago, while 42 per cent have incurred costs as high as $10,000 because of congestion.
NRMA President Wendy Machin says business owners are frustrated with the New South Wales Government for not doing more to fix the problem.
She says some businesses have been forced to move outside the CBD.
“That’s a real indictment on a major city like Sydney to think that we’re forcing people out of the place where they want to do business because the traffic is simply too bad for them to do business there,” she said.
The New South Wales Business Chamber’s Paul Ritchie says incentives are needed so people travel at different times.
“According to the RTA, 20 per cent of peak travel is related to parents taking their children to school,” he said.
“So how can we create some incentives in terms of different starting times for schools?”
The New South Wales Transport Minister David Campbell says the number of vehicles on some Sydney’s roads has risen, but travel times have not increased significantly.
“Traffic on Sydney’s major roads has increased by 46 per cent over the past 18 years but travel times on Sydney’s most important roads has remained steady,” he said.
“[That's] through a mix of large infrastructure projects and smaller initiatives, such as the pinch point program, and improving public transport.”
Payout for protesters locked in shipping container
The South Australian Government has been ordered to pay $724,000 to 10 people involved in a protest at the Beverley uranium mine a decade ago.
The Supreme Court has found the nine uranium protesters and a cameraman were assaulted and all but one falsely imprisoned in a shipping container.
The Government fought the case on behalf of the police officers who arrested the group in the outback.
Eight protesters, the TV cameraman and a girl, 11, sued the Government for assault and false imprisonment over their treatment by police during the protest in May 2000.
Supreme Court Justice Timothy Anderson found police used unnecessary force against all 10, using batons and capsicum spray and locking the nine adults in the container.
He awarded $724,000 but noted it was less than the plaintiffs had sought.
‘Degrading’
Justice Anderson said using the oppressive, degrading and dirty shipping container was a breach of human rights.
He also condemned SA Treasurer Kevin Foley and Police Minister Michael Wright for making antagonistic and provocative comments about the case and the Government for its failure to settle the matter, despite a report by the Police Complaints Authority confirming the use of unnecessary force.
Mr Foley was quoted as calling the group a “bunch of feral protesters”.
The court heard the Government rejected an offer to settle for $600,000 in the weeks before the trial.
Cameraman Jamie Holland says he was held in the container without food, water or a toilet for three hours.
“Inhumane. It shouldn’t happen in Australia. It shouldn’t happen anywhere,” he said.
One of the protesters Lucinda White says Mr Foley was wrong to have made a judgment based on appearance and she is calling for an apology.
“There are real issues here and uranium mining is a really big issue in South Australia,” she said.
“Regardless of how people look they have a right to protest and a right to be safe, not bashed, beaten and falsely imprisoned by the police,” she said.