Federal Member for Parkes Mark Coulton has spoken today to defend the Inland Rail project following the release of findings from an independent review led by former Commonwealth energy adviser Dr Kerry Schott.
The findings from the Schott report have been used by Minister for Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Local Government Catherine King to criticise the project.
“Today I defend and support the project; in all of this report there has remained no question as to the significance of and the need for the Inland Rail,” Mr Coulton said.
“If we are looking at reducing our global emissions, reducing the amount of trucks on the Newell Highway, and moving intermodal freight between two of our biggest capital cities, Inland Rail does that.
“I am not dismissing Kerry Schott’s report out of hand, but I am calling on Minister King to commit to the project because there are more than one hundred farmers awaiting confirmation that this project is going ahead – we need clarity on that.
“I question why this report needed to be released the day before the Easter holidays. Why was Minister King not prepared to bring this up last week for debate on the floor of the Parliament?
“With regards to the cost blowout, it is in part a sign of the times. All large infrastructure projects in recent times are experiencing significant cost blowouts, however the amount reported does seem outstanding and I will need to look further into that.
“Many of the recommendations made in this report have been directed at State Governments for slowing down approvals processes, and in a time of rising costs this will have impacted the budget.
“The report suggested that the previous Government should not have begun construction before the entire project was approved, however the cost would have been much larger had this project been delayed.
“This is a large and complex project crossing state lines and involving many levels of government and negotiation. If we were to build this all at once, we would not have laid a single sleeper yet.
“The Inland Rail as a project includes 13 stages, some of which are already completed in my electorate, and these finished sections are now in use and beginning to pay their way. The completed sections – Parkes to Narromine and Narrabri to Moree – have already created hundreds of jobs, increased productivity and lifted freight efficiency for farmers.
“Constructing a railway line in the middle of a pandemic on the black soil plains of Moree has been challenging, however during the floods that section of Inland Rail from Moree to Narrabri was the only piece of infrastructure in that area out of the water.
“While the suggestion of there being a need to finetune the skillset on the board seems a reasonable comment, I want to make the point that the skillset on the ground is world class. The completed sections of the Inland Rail are as good as any railroad in the world.
“I stand here today to defend the work that has already been done on the Inland Rail project; all those involved should be proud of what they’ve achieved. I call again on Minister King to put her support behind this incredibly important project.”