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AS A long-term resident west of the Great Divide I am excited with the prospect of an inland rail link to the ports of Queensland and Victoria.
It’s a great national investment while money is cheap, using modern technology and goods trains that travel at 200 kilometres an hour.
Melbourne to Brisbane is about 1400 kilometres, but a track from Brisbane via Toowoomba, Goondiwindi, Narrabri, Coonamble, Marsden, Narrandera and Shepparton, to Melbourne, would be about 1500km.
Straight and flat from Toowoomba to Shepparton avoiding hills, swamps and existing urban areas, with stations no less than 200km apart and eight stops at most means the train could cover the distance in eight hours.
This is a current world standard for goods rail. It would put every station effectively on the seaboard.
However, my fear is that we are going to have a dog’s breakfast of renovated 150-year-old lines and interchanges that will be an albatross that should rightly be tied around the necks of anyone who proposes doing the job short.
This is a nation-building project without equal. Let’s do it properly.
MICEAL O’BRIEN,
Wellington.
Do the sums on road
The federal government’s announcement to fund the Inland Rail Project leaves a lot of unanswered questions as to whether this is a viable, productive transport option, or just another expensive, vote catching band aid to shore up Nationals’ political support.
Rail is a transport system of the 19th century. It only works nowadays where there is need for movement of large masses of goods or people.
It works in Europe for this reason, but in sparsely populated countries like Australia its economic benefits must be questioned. Granted the construction phase will provide jobs and growth for regional areas.
We have a road network that's is under stress and under funded – the Newell Highway is a national disgrace. This highway was closed for six weeks last spring due to flooding.
What happens to this major national artery while billions of dollars are thrown at a economically unproven asset? Maybe this money would be better spent on a super freeway. Has anyone done the figures?
What benefits would farmers get from this rail line? I would suggest anybody living within close proximity would get a freight reduction on goods, but given the inefficiencies of a highly unionised rail work force savings would be minimal .
The romance of rail still lingers on in a lot of hearts, it's cleaner, greener image is a great benefit to all, but the most important benefit has to be economic.
This country cannot afford another white elephant like our failed National Broadband Network.
JOCK WEIR,
Barmedman.
Forget nuclear power
PLANS for nuclear power in Australia have circulated for decades, but all the nuclear talk has never heated one shower or cooled one beer. Nationals leader John Barilaro’s attempt to blame the failure of nuclear power on some vague concept of “political correctness” misses both the facts and the point.
Nuclear power has had plenty of air time, but it has failed because of cost, under-performance, continuing waste management problems and a profound inability to secure social license. And there are far superior alternatives. The global reality is the nuclear sector is shrinking and renewable energy expanding.
Renewable energy generates twice as much global electricity as nuclear power and major economies, including Germany and California, are actively disengaging from nuclear power. Many of the world’s existing reactors are at or approaching their use-by date and will need to be taken off-line, meaning more shrinkage to come. All this means leading nuclear corporations like Westinghouse and Toshiba are facing financial crisis and the market is closing its wallet to the nuclear option.
As BHP said following its decision to not expand the Olympic Dam uranium mine in South Australia, “Fukushima changed everything”. To talk up new-build nuclear power in Australia is neither in the Nationals’ or the national interest. It is a distraction from our real energy challenges and a dangerous exercise in enthusiasm over evidence.
DAVE SWEENEY,
Australian Conservation Foundation.
Benefits for ag in Badgerys Creek airport
THE National Farmers’ Federation welcomes construction of a second Sydney airport. Australian agriculture is export dependent and our sector needs efficient, reliable pathways to deliver our farm produce to market. Air freight has a role to play in this.
Australian farmers need to minimise costs of production and increase efficiency – wherever possible. Infrastructure Australia says logistics amount to as much as 48.5 per cent of farm-gate costs.
A more efficient supply chain (from farm to international market in less than a day) means lower storage costs, less handling time and ultimately better farm gate returns. For example, a dedicated Cathay Pacific freight service from Toowoomba, Queensland, now delivers Queensland fruit, veggies, and chilled meat direct to Hong Kong.
A new 24-hour Sydney airport spells new, efficient avenues to market for Aussie perishables. It’s entirely feasible produce could be in market within 20 hours of leaving the farm.
When contemplating the new Badgery’s Creek airport, our member body, NSW Farmers, is working with NSW industry and government stakeholders to promote creation of an advanced agricultural precinct linked to the transport hub. Such a precinct would ensure a new era for food and fibre value adding, that leverages new technology across automation, energy and water efficiency, cold chain logistics, freight and advanced manufacturing.
It’s clear for agriculture the sky is the limit when it comes to enhanced international air freight services via a second Sydney airport. But, and there is a big but, a new state-of-the-art, all-day, all-night airport will be next to useless if the connections don’t exist and a damaging curfew is imposed.
To realise benefits for agriculture and our regions there must be a rail line connecting the regions to the airport. Free flowing, adequate arterial roads must also be developed. This doesn’t mean we don’t need more investment in regional and rural roads and rail to get high quality food and fibre from the farm-gate to current and new ports – it is all part of an efficient supply chain.
FIONA SIMSON,
National Farmers’ Federation president.