LNP members call for a review of TransLink

At the LNP convention, members voted to call on a future LNP state government to "review the structure, function and operation of TransLink to improve its customer focus, service responsiveness and efficiency".

Brisbane councillor Andrew Wines, who moved the motion, accused TransLink of refusing to serve the public.

"TransLink has got to respect its customers," he told the convention.

"These bodies have to respond to the public regardless of the minister, and right now today, while I recognise the structure was changed and brought inside the department, the operation of TransLink ... is not responsive to the people it is meant to serve.

"I strongly feel that we should scrutinise that entity to make sure that it looks after the public transport needs of this state."

TransLink has responsibility for buses, trains, ferries and trams in south-east Queensland, and services in other parts of the state, such as Cairns and Toowoomba.

In 2012, the Newman LNP government announced TransLink would be absorbed into the Transport and Main Roads Department, amid sweeping budget cuts that would lead to the loss of 2000 jobs.

At the time, then transport minister Scott Emerson said bringing TransLink into the department and merging it with passenger services made sense because there was duplication, and it would no longer be a statutory authority confined to the south-east.

However, Cr Wines told Fairfax Media the motion at the LNP state convention was intended to focus on TransLink's customer responsiveness and create a service culture, rather than internal structures.

Delegate Nelson Savanh, who previously worked in the opposition leader's office, argued against the motion.

"In 2012, the LNP government did restructure TransLink, it brought it in from a statutory authority," he said.

"It lived in its own little world, it played to its own rules, it played to its own tune. We brought it back into the department and we made it answerable to the minister and the government of the day."

Mr Savanh said the LNP should be single-minded in its focus on public transport and argued the blame lay with the Palaszczuk Labor government and unions.

"I think by talking about restructures and putting the blame onto bureaucrats and public servants for why our trains aren't running, why we have terrible bus services ... I think is letting Annastacia Palaszczuk off the hook," he said.

"This isn't TransLink's fault."

The resolution asking for a review was carried. Resolutions passed at the LNP state convention are passed to the parliamentary team for consideration as possible future government policy.

Cr Wines said the motion, submitted by the LNP Ninderry state electorate council, came after calls for better bus services on the Sunshine Coast in areas such as at Bli Bli, at a forum hosted by successfully elected LNP candidate Dan Purdie last year, and dissatisfaction at TransLink's response.

"Because the connections are poor, people just avoid using [public transport]," he said.

"[People have said] 'my kid can't get a job because they can't catch a bus to work,' 'I can't put on employees because we finish at 9 and the last bus is at 8.30'."

Transport Minister Mark Bailey hit back, arguing the LNP cut bus services and sacked thousands of people, leaving public transport in a "mess".

Mr Bailey said customer feedback was crucial to TransLink's efforts to improve services and deliver reliable, efficient and affordable public transport.

"Last year, it responded to more than 66,000 customer inquiries and comments," he said.

Mr Bailey said Sunshine Coast public transport services were delivered where they were needed most, based on feedback.

"Customer feedback helped TransLink shape bus network changes in Nambour, Nambour Heights, Burnside, Palmwoods and Woombye," he said.

Mr Bailey said the opening of the Sunshine Coast University Hospital also included new routes and the government had committed to the Beerburrum to Nambour rail duplication.