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

[Fares_Fair]

Today I requested a meeting with the Federal member for Wide Bay, the Hon Warren Truss MP.
He is the Shadow Minister for Infrastructure and Transport, hence my request.

Since Mr Albanese, the federal Minister for Infrastructure and Transport, refused to meet with me, perhaps Mr Truss will.
His resume is impressive.

I will keep the forum informed of progress.


Some background information direct from his website:

Warren Truss is a third generation farmer from the Kumbia District near Kingaroy.
He entered Federal Parliament in March 1990 as a National Party Member representing the electorate of Wide Bay.

In 2007, Warren was chosen as the Federal Parliamentary Leader of The Nationals. He is also Shadow Minister for Infrastructure and Transport.

Warren was a Minister in the Howard Coalition Government for 10 years.  He was appointed Minister for Customs and Consumer Affairs in October 1997, and a year later, Minister for Community Services. In July 1999 Warren assumed the position of Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, where he served for six years. He became Minister for Transport and Regional Services in July 2005 and in September 2006 Warren became Minister for Trade.

Before entering Parliament, Warren was a Kingaroy Shire Councillor from 1976 to 1990, including seven years as Chairman. He served as President of the Burnett District Local Government Association and as Chairman of the Fraser Coast-South Burnett Regional Tourism Board. He was Deputy Chairman of the Queensland Grain Handling Authority and a member of the State Council of the Queensland Graingrowers Association.

Warren is a former State and National President of the Rural Youth Organisation and President of the Lutheran Youth of Queensland.

He is married to Lyn and now lives in Maryborough.

[Stillwater]

A wonderful, warm person, with a genuine interest in people and issues affecting them, particularly people in regional Australia; is on record as saying that SCL passenger rail issues are a matter for the state government and is passionate about fixing (flood-proofing and making safe) the Bruce Highway as a priority.

[SurfRail]

Warren is by all accounts a decent person, but don't get your hopes up.  Junior coalition partner and from Queeeeeeensland and all that.

Oh for the days when Tim Fischer was still in a position of authority!

[somebody]

Warren is by all accounts a decent person, but don't get your hopes up.  Junior coalition partner and from Queeeeeeensland and all that.

Oh for the days when Tim Fischer was still in a position of authority!

I don't know what Tim Fischer achieved for rail.  Perhaps you are about to regale me with evidence that I wasn't paying attention.

[Fares_Fair]

Warren is by all accounts a decent person, but don't get your hopes up.  Junior coalition partner and from Queeeeeeensland and all that.

Oh for the days when Tim Fischer was still in a position of authority!

I don't know what Tim Fischer achieved for rail.  Perhaps you are about to regale me with evidence that I wasn't paying attention.

I don't know either, but Mal Brough was telling us on our train how much Tim was a train/rail buff afficianado, able to pinpoint the location of a train on a postcard, anywhere in the world - or so it seemed to him.

[SurfRail]

Warren is by all accounts a decent person, but don't get your hopes up.  Junior coalition partner and from Queeeeeeensland and all that.

Oh for the days when Tim Fischer was still in a position of authority!

I don't know what Tim Fischer achieved for rail.  Perhaps you are about to regale me with evidence that I wasn't paying attention.

I'm not trying to convince you otherwise.  What I'm suggesting is that the climate has seriously changed on rail investment, and having somebody with his appreciation for what it can actually do still around (particularly if the coalition win the federal election) would be a god-send.

[Stillwater]

Tim Fischer has written a book about the great transcontinental trains of the world.  Here he discusses his passion for rail: http://www.2ue.com.au/blogs/2ue-blog/tim-fischer-on-trains-unlimited/20110801-1i7ov.html

[Fares_Fair]

I have been informed that my request has gone to Canberra.

[Fares_Fair]

Warren is by all accounts a decent person, but don't get your hopes up.  Junior coalition partner and from Queeeeeeensland and all that.

Oh for the days when Tim Fischer was still in a position of authority!

I don't know what Tim Fischer achieved for rail.  Perhaps you are about to regale me with evidence that I wasn't paying attention.

I'm not trying to convince you otherwise.  What I'm suggesting is that the climate has seriously changed on rail investment, and having somebody with his appreciation for what it can actually do still around (particularly if the coalition win the federal election) would be a god-send.

Agree 100% with SR.
Having someone with the knowledge and experience of the benefits that come from a good rail network would indeed be a god-send.
I just hope that Mr Tim Fischer still has some good working connections, and politically experienced advice, to the federal opposition - who may soon be in Government.

[Fares_Fair]

Disappointed that I have not heard as yet regarding a meeting.

Request first made on Sunday 27 January, 2013.
It's been in 'Canberra' since February 12, over 2 weeks ago.

This lack of representation and/or concern about Sunshine Coast federal issues has got to change.

[Stillwater]

Any update?   

[Fares_Fair]

... request is still in progress.

[Fares_Fair]

Truss on board for rail talks.
Sunshine Coast Daily, p24
Saturday 23 March, 2013
by Kathy Sundstrom

[ozbob]

 

[Stillwater]

The next election to be held in Australia is the federal election, and it may be held sooner than September, as planned currently.  Federal Labor will go to the polls when it proves advantageous.  By setting a date in September, Julia Gillard has provided the opportunity for the Opposition to build up some political ammunition to release at that time.  Secret stuff, embarrassing stuff.  To circumvent that, one response would be to call an early election.

So, the challenge is to make SCL duplication, but probably CRR, an election issue.  The ideal would be to get both sides of politics to commit to (part) fund CRR.  That way, whichever party gets into power, it is on the hook to cough up the dough.

[Fares_Fair]

Re: Article: Abbott says no to Coast rail upgrade

Story now online
http://www.sunshinecoastdaily.com.au/news/abbott-says-no-to-coast-rail-upgrade/1823868/

Excerpt from above story:

Sunshine Coast rail commuter Jeff Addison was optimistic the region would still be in line for federal funding if the Coalition is elected on September 14, as the duplication of the railway line also supported freight.

He has arranged a meeting with National Party Leader and Coalition infrastructure and transport spokesman Warren Truss at the end of the month to put this case.

Mr Truss told the Daily he would look at Mr Addison's information and did not rule out the possibility of funding.

[Fares_Fair]

Meeting time, date and place secured.

Thank you to the Hon Warren Truss MP. 
Leader of the National Party.
Federal member for Wide Bay.
Shadow Minister for Transport and Infrastructure.

[Stillwater]

Meeting at the end of the month.  Date?

[Fares_Fair]

G'day SW,

Yes,
Meeting tomorrow (Tuesday) morning at 11:00am

[Fares_Fair]

I met with the Federal member for Wide Bay, the Hon Warren Truss MP, yesterday at 11:00am at Peregian.
He is the Shadow Minister for Infrastructure and Transport, and Leader of the National party.
Should the coalition win the election on 14 September, he would become the Deputy Prime Minister.

I created yet another report titled:
'The Federal Freight Case'
'Queensland's North Coast Line (NCL) Rail Duplication' and presented it to him.

Upshot:
The hour long meeting was a success.
The Federal coalition would consider the rail duplication for funding, provided that the State government made it a priority.

Talks are being held at the moment, by the Coalition, for the next round of Commonwealth funding to the States (under a 5 year plan) which is due to come into effect from June 2014.
These talks are unlikely to be finalised before the September election.

[ozbob]

Well done!!  Thanks for your ongoing efforts.

[Stillwater]

Fantastic FF.  We have to now look to getting Mr Emerson off his Noddymobile Segway and thinking about NCL freight.  Unfortunately, he sees duplication to Nambour as a favour to someone he considers a political turncoat (Mr Peter Wellington, Nicklin).

[ozbob]

From the Sunshine Coast Daily click here!

What a surprise: There's no hope for a Coast train solution

What a surprise: There's no hope for a Coast train solution
Kathy Sundstrom 24th Apr 2013 1:27 PM

RAIL commuters will most likely have to brace themselves for many more years of train delays, overcrowded carriages and lack of services on the Sunshine Coast.

Rail Back on Track Sunshine Coast spokesman, Jeff Addison, met the man most likely to be holding the

infrastructure purse strings after September 14, shadow infrastructure minister Warren Truss.

Mr Addison said Mr Truss met with him for almost an hour yesterday and he was able to lay out the case why rail funding was a national responsibility.

"I highlighted the Federal freight case and showed in the Constitution how it applied," Mr Addison said.

"The upshot (of the meeting) was he said the Federal Government would consider it, provided the State Government made it a priority.

"But he said a new agreement had already been signed off for 2014 in which the (funding) areas were prioritised and he mentioned the (Sunshine Coast) wasn't part of that.

"He said there were too many financial constraints."

The good news was the Federal Government appeared committed to upgrading the Bruce Hwy.

"He mentioned the government was committed to funding the Bruce Hwy upgrades," Mr Addison said.

While the duplication of the railway line - the crucial piece of infrastructure the Coast needs to break the bottleneck to Brisbane - is far off, improvements have been made since the Sunshine Coast Daily started its rail campaign in January.

Mr Addison said there had been no more problems with broken toilets on trains and more trains ran on time.

"We only had one 45-minute delay last month," he said.

[Fares_Fair]

Correction to above story.
The talks are NOT finalised for 2014 to 2019.
See my reply #19 above.

[Jonno]

We will not see a cent spent on rail by the LNP even if a petition signed by every resident in Australia was presented.  It roads roads roads roads roads all the way to economic oblivion.

[Fares_Fair]

We will not see a cent spent on rail by the LNP even if a petition signed by every resident in Australia was presented.  It roads roads roads roads roads all the way to economic oblivion.

I understand your frustration Jonno, but respectfully disagree.

If that was the case we may as well all pack up here and go home.
Believe it or not, but this is a BIG first step.

Persistance always wins.

[Stillwater]

Agree FF.  The case for NCL to be upgraded on the basis of its freight task is well-documented and overwhelming.  The feds have a role to play.  Maybe our next step is to get the rail lobby (ARA) on board and build momentum.

[Fares_Fair]

Agree FF.  The case for NCL to be upgraded on the basis of its freight task is well-documented and overwhelming.  The feds have a role to play.  Maybe our next step is to get the rail lobby (ARA) on board and build momentum.

Good idea SW.
Do we have any personal contacts with them?

I have other plans which I won't elaborate here.

[ozbob]

ARA --> ara@ara.net.au

[Fares_Fair]

ARA --> ara@ara.net.au

Thanks Ozbob 

[Fares_Fair]

Live interview with 90.3 Coast FM this morning with Annie Gaffney, at 8:50am regarding the meeting with the Hon. Warren Truss MP.

[Jonno]

We will not see a cent spent on rail by the LNP even if a petition signed by every resident in Australia was presented.  It roads roads roads roads roads all the way to economic oblivion.

I understand your frustration Jonno, but respectfully disagree.

If that was the case we may as well all pack up here and go home.
Believe it or not, but this is a BIG first step.

Persistance always wins.

Not suggestion we give up our campaign but suggest the major parties in Australia are both pro-road first and then somewhat distance second/third is rail or cycling.

Overseas it has reversed.

I do think we need to give more support to candidates of any background who support public transport, rail, cycling, walkable neighbourhoods over roads.  Continuing to seek reassurances from the major parties is futile as both have shown they are stuck well & truly in the 1970's on transport!

[somebody]

Live interview with 90.3 Coast FM this morning with Annie Gaffney, at 8:50am regarding the meeting with the Hon. Warren Truss MP.

How'd it go?  Is it/Will it be online?

[ozbob]

The blog is here --> http://www.abc.net.au/sunshine/programs/sunshine_cooloola_coast_mornings/

I tried to listen live but not available online direct.

Might go up later ...

[Fares_Fair]

Cheers Ozbob.
Went very well indeed.

Coast FM were then going to interview Mayor Mark Jamieson of Sunshine Coast Council.
I phoned in and asked Mayor Mark Jamieson could respond given the information and background I gave in my interview.

That is to ask the State Governemnt to make it a priority in the talks curently being held with the Federal coalition, these are not likely to be finalised before the September 14 election.
There is time to make this happen.

[ozbob]

Thanks ..   

[ozbob]

Interview ABC Sunshine Coast Mornings with host Annie Gaffney and Jeff Addison Sunshine Coast RBOT spokesperson, 26th April 2013

Click --> here!  MP3 4.7MB

[Stillwater]

Well FF, you must have slipped Warren Truss a Mickey Finn into his cup of tea when you met with him.  On behalf of the Coalition - most probably the future federal government if the polls are correct - Mr Truss has pledged to spend $8 BILLION on the Bruce Highway over 10 years.  That is double what Labor pledged just a few days ago.  It seems the Coalition plan includes six lanes between Caboolture and Caloundra.  However, NOTHING has been pledged for the Sunshine Coast Line duplication.  The Coalition plan is for all of those people living at Caloundra South and looking for jobs will be forced to drive to and from work along a widened Bruce Highway rather than catch a train from Landsborough or via a CAMCOS spur to Caloundra.

The Caboolture-Caloundra funding is the price the Coalition is prepared to pay to buy the seat of Fisher for Mal Brough.

Maybe Julia Gillard can come back with a counter offer to duplicate the SCL to Nambour as being a more environmentally responsible solution for the SC transport woes.

http://www.sunshinecoastdaily.com.au/news/truss-pledges-8bn-for-bruce/1846299/

[Stillwater]

I posted the extract from the Sunshine Coast Daily before reading the entire newspaper.  Much later, on the back pages of Saturday's paper, is a denial from Mr Truss that he ever promised $8 billion for the Bruce Highway Upgrade, saying the Coalition commitment was just $4 billion, about the same as Labor's pledge.  So, go figure.

[Stillwater]

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.