NSW Roads Minister Melinda Pavey tells Ray Hadley she will make changes to stop this morning’s Harbour Bridge standoff from happening again.

A man climbed up the arch of the bridge just after 4.30am, refusing to come down for more than five hours.

The incident closed several lanes of the bridge, causing peak hour chaos for commuters.

The Minister tells Ray it’s unacceptable for one person to “hold the city to ransom” and says she’ll look at raising fines to deter others from doing the same.

“There’s a physical deterrent and there’s got to be a financial deterrent and I don’t think that financial deterrent is there at the moment.

“You’ve got the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, like the Harbour Bridge an iconic bridge that everyone knows about throughout the world.

“That’s a $10,000 fine if you go onto that bridge inappropriately.

“I think that would be a good starting point for us Ray.

“I’ve spoken to my CEO of the RMS, we’re looking at lifting those fines. We need to send that deterrent.

“The community should not have to put up with this. It’s been unacceptable.”

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