People built their future around the Inland Rail.
Now that future has gone with the Federal Labor Government’s announcement the project will not progress north of Parkes.
Now, years of funding, years of planning, years of families and businesses going through the trauma of acquisition – wasted. Years of new precincts, new businesses, new jobs and years of hope – all wasted.
You can listen to my Private Member’s Motion speech here.
Here is the zmoyion:
I move:
That this House:
(1) notes that Inland Rail was conceived as a nation-building freight rail project connecting Melbourne and Brisbane through regional Australia;
(2) recognises that Inland Rail was designed to:
- (a) reduce freight transit times between Melbourne and Brisbane from around 33 hours to under 24 hours;
- (b) remove up to 200,000 truck movements from Australian roads annually;
- (c) improve national fuel security by shifting freight from road to rail;
- (d) reduce freight costs for Australian producers and consumers; and
- (e) support jobs, investment and economic growth across regional Australia;
(3) further notes official modelling shows Inland Rail could:
- (a) reduce freight transport costs by approximately $213 million annually; and
- (b) significantly increase rail freight capacity between Melbourne and Brisbane;
(4) condemns the Government for:
- (a) cutting and delaying Inland Rail funding;
- (b) abandoning the original vision of a completed Melbourne to Brisbane Inland Rail corridor; and
- (c) failing regional communities, freight operators, farmers and exporters who were promised a completed national freight corridor; and
(5) calls on the Government to:
- (a) commit to completing the full Inland Rail corridor connecting Melbourne to Brisbane;
- (b) restore certainty around project delivery and funding; and
- (c) recognise Inland Rail as a critical national productivity, fuel security and regional development project.