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Roads lobby shaken
Three members of the Motorists Action
Group (MAG) defeated retiring councillors of
the National Roads and Motorists Association
(NRMA) in the October elections - it hasn't
happened in almost 50 years and comes after
several fruitless reform campaigns.
Cricketer Geoff Lawson topped the poll (51,026
votes), followed by media worker Jane Singleton
(50,831). The third reformer and MAG convenor is
surveyor Richard Talbot who came sixth (41,136).
The NRMA has two million members of whom
91,486 voted, the highest ever turnout. MAG cam
paigned hard, including through the union movement
The NRMA is a huge financial operation and tradi
tionally campaigns for higher spending on roads in
parallel with Liberal Party election campaigns. It
recently commenced Supreme CSourt action to
recover funds lost in the collapsed MetroGrowth
Trust a property developer.
Jane Singleton told Tribune that though they were
only three on a board of 16 they would be able to work
constructively. She supports the board's action on
MetroGrowth but asks why the NRMA would be
investing funds in a property trust in the first place.
"I have received hundreds of faxed complaints from
members in the last few weeks," she said, "and I will
pursue our goal of having an ombudsman appointed
to properly respond to members' complaints.
"We failed to stop the increase in directors' fees for
NRMA companies. Though the actual amounts were
relatively small, they were far greater increases than
workers will receive. Directors should lead by ex
ample.
"The NRMA must be accountable, it must service
members and be seen to service them," Singleton said.
- Peter Murphy
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