Mayor will not be Railroaded

23 March 2018

Turnbull Government Should Investigate State Forestry Option for Inland Rail

Goondiwindi Mayor Graeme Scheu has called on Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Infrastructure Michael McCormack to urgently investigate proposals for a minor change to the current Inland Rail alignment surrounding Inglewood.

Councillor Scheu said several requests to Australia Rail Track Corporation (ARTC) to look at the proposals have fallen on deaf ears and it appeared ARTC had ministerial instruction to only look at the existing 2km corridor and that according to the ARTC, the Minister was the only one who could change this. Councillor Scheu said ARTC’s claim that it has investigated realigning Inland Rail through State Forest was only partly true. 

He said it followed a statement from Goondiwindi Regional Council that the forest had been used as a power line corridor previously and would therefore not create a precedent.

This statement was made after our council was told by ARTC that the Queensland State Government had insisted that the rail would not be entertained in the State forest. “My investigations with State departments indicate that the forestry option has never been put to either party,” he said. “This section of the forest is mainly unused. It is certainly not National Park.” “In the current political climate with discussions surrounding the preservation of good agricultural land, I can’t believe any form of government would not at least investigate the option.” 

Councillor Scheu said it was a “no brainer” to align the route through State Forest, thus avoiding the segregation of about 50 properties in the Goondiwindi region and similar in adjoining Toowoomba.  “Even if it is slightly more expensive, it would save enormous angst and gain massive support for the much-needed project,” he said. He said all council wanted was for the option of a minor route change to be properly investigated. 

The Queensland Coordinator-General had recently declared that the project be a coordinated project, sparking the start of environmental impact assessments. “That sends a clear message that the preferred option of our landholders will be ignored. The community has lost faith in ARTC and is quickly losing faith in the Government,” he said. “This project will be of massive economic benefit to our region and we must get it right.” “As the Deputy PM recently stated, it will open up all corridors of logistics for agriculture for south west Queensland and northern NSW. “ 

“But I am not prepared to sit by and ignore the wishes of the community.” He said that a recent public meeting in Inglewood showed an overwhelming majority of people favoured the forestry option. “That night the Council pledged its support,” he said. 

There are many other problems that the Inland Rail project needs to overcome like crossing the Moree and Condamine flood plains and a proper entry to the Port of Brisbane.” “But in the initial stages, let’s get the easy part right and then address the other issues.”

For further information, please contact:

Councillor Graeme Scheu
Mayor
Goondiwindi Regional Council
Mobile: 0427 718 877
Email: gscheu@grc.qld.gov.au