Meeting request with Hon Warren Truss MP, Federal member for Wide Bay

[mufreight]

It is unfortunate that we are afflicted by polly waffle.  Mr Powell tells us that the SCL duplication is 'the second most important rail infrastructure project' in Queensland, behind the inner city rail solution (the 'not the cross-river rail' solution, however that is another story), yet nowhere can he or the state government produce a piece of paper where that is written down as policy.  The state has four major transport infrastructure projects it wants the feds to help fund, yet only one of those is a rail project -- the top priority rail project.  The second top rail project (Mr Powell says it is the SCL duplication -- and only to Landsborough) is nowhere to be seen on any documentation, so how can we believe Mr Powell?  And, should not the ranking of PT projects be something Mr Emerson should be promulgating, not the Environment Minister?  By not showing the SCL duplication in the state government's priority list for PT projects requiring fed funding, any state MP is free to tell any constituent who wants funding for this or that rail project that their project is 'next on the list' BECAUSE THERE IS NO LIST.

Now, to Mr Truss.  Mr Truss' public position is that the Bruce Highway Upgrade is the top priority.  His leader, Mr Abbott, says duplication of the SCL is a state responsibility, because Mr Abbott sees the SCL purely in terms of passenger transport.  He ignores the freight component.  In fact, the LNP position is that it will put rail freight operations on the North Coast Line out of business by starving it of funds that will allow longer and more efficient freight trains to run up the Queensland coast.  Instead, the LNP will address the consequence of that decision -- the transfer of rail freight to the Bruce Highway.  Both political parties say they want to 'flood proof' the Bruce Highway for freight movements, yet they ignore the fact that the SCL and the North Coast Line to Cairns, by and large, is built to a flood-free alignment.

Mr Truss says he will support the SCL duplication (as FF says, the bottleneck for the entire line) IF QUEENSLAND MAKES IT A PRIORITY ON ITS INFRASTRUCTURE PROJECT LIST.  However, it is not there on the list.  We have Mr Powell's word for this.  This was the man who before the last election was calling on Labor for an 'immediate start' to the SCL duplication, but who has joined all of his fellow LNP members on the Sunshine Coast in being struck dumb since being elected to government.  Mr Powell whispers privately that the SCL duplication to Landsborough is the 'second highest priority rail project' for Queensland.  He, or no-one else in the LNP government, can produce evidence of this.  We have a polly's promise that it is.  So long as it is not on any formal list that the Queensland Government puts to the federal government for funding consideration, Mr Truss is off the hook too.

It is analogous to two criminals each providing an alibi for the other.  Truss:  I will consider it if Queensland puts it on their list of priorities.  Powell:  It is on the list, trust me.  Just don't ask me to produce the list.

What both men are saying is that they are negotiating whether both governments can afford a list of projects worth about $15 BILLION dollars.  Even if Mr Powell is taken at his word, $15 billion must be expended before it is the turn of the SCL to get some money.  The trouble with that scenario is there is not $15 billion on the table.  The financial reality is that there will never be $15 billion on the table.  There will be $5 billion and maybe $7 billion, which means the top priority road projects such as the Bruce Highway Upgrade and the Second Range Crossing will be built in stages to match the funding availability.  Further stages will go unfunded and will increase in cost, so that when additional infrastructure funding becomes available, it will be diverted to those priorities.

At this rate, Mr Powell will be on his deathbed stating that one of his regrets in life is that the SCL duplication was never accomplished.

Stillwater you should be a carpenter, you have hit the nail right on the head and driven it home, one must question what it will take to motivate these clown in the guise of politicians to firstly be honest and second to actually do something to represent the interests of their constituents in a practical and realistic manner.   

[Fares_Fair]

The Federal Freight Case
Queensland's North Coast Line (NCL) Rail Duplication

By:       Jeffrey Addison

For:      The Hon. Warren Truss MP
            Leader of the National Party
            Member for Wide Bay
            Shadow Minister for Infrastructure and Transport

Date:   Tuesday, 23rd April, 2013

Time:   11:00am


This report presents the case for joint Federal / State funding to be made available for rail duplication of the North Coast Line (NCL), starting from the single line bottleneck located at Beerburrum, on the Sunshine Coast, through to Nambour/Gympie.

It puts forward the case for rail duplication to improve freight capacity on the NCL.

Report in PDF format found here (973 kb) --> https://www.dropbox.com/sh/65si9d6ns4xgjeg/9U9tD8l11I

[Stillwater]

Excellent stuff, FF.  Is this something that also should be passed to the SCRC transport portfolio chair, who has also taken a close interest in this matter?

[Fares_Fair]

Excellent stuff, FF.  Is this something that also should be passed to the SCRC transport portfolio chair, who has also taken a close interest in this matter?

Thank you SW,

Yes, I have contacted his office this week.

[Stillwater]

Here is evidence that brings into question Mr Andrew Powell's assertion that the SCL duplication to Nambour is the state government's 'second-highest' rail infrastructure priority project.

Mr Peter Wellington (Independent, Nicklin), writes regular columns for the local newspapers in his electorate, based on Nambour.  The columns are headed 'Wellington's Way'.

In the Cooroy Rag of 1 May 2013, Mr Wellington writes:

"It is obvious that the Premier and his Government do not consider the duplication of the railway line from Brisbane to Nambour worth fighting for.  Recently, in Parliament, I asked the Premier to table a copy of his request to the Prime Minister for financial assistance for this project.  He replied he hadn't raised this matter with the Prime Minister, but his government had made a submission regarding the Beerburrum to Landsborough rail duplication.  There is no way the Federal Government is going to do anything about this much-needed upgrade unless there is hard lobbying from the State Government.  Once again, the Newman Government has ignored the residents of the Sunshine Coast."

Peter Wellington is not convinced that the state government has the SCL duplication as its 'second highest' priority rail project and neither should anyone feel reassured by Mr Powell, whose statements on this matter, since he was elected to Parliament, have been duplicitous.