A MEETING of landholders at Curban on Tuesday called for an independent inquiry into the selection of the inland rail route between Narromine and Narrabri.
NSW Farmers called the meeting to update people of the progress in its pursuit for answers from the Australian Rail Track Corporation about justification for route selection.
NSW Farmers policy director Robert Hardie said: “There remains deep concern in the community about a number of issues - from route selection through to land acquisition practices – and today’s meeting aimed to give the community a chance to have their say.
“NSW Farmers will engage with the ARTC to further explore community concerns,” he said. The association issued a statement on Tuesday afternoon saying: “Landowners expressed their support for the work of NSW Farmers, and particularly welcomed the successful negotiation of a more farmer-friendly land access agreement, developed between NSW Farmers and the ARTC.”
Ian Coleman, a senior counsel who has worked and continues to work for NSW Farmers, said while he had been involved only peripherally with the land access agreement, recommendations he had given the body “appear to have slipped through the cracks”. Mr Coleman suggested the template was a one-sided agreement favoruing the ARTC.
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“Farmers tend to be very trusting people and assume their goodwill will be matched by other parties to an agreement and that is not always the case,” he said.
“There’s no provision for compensation claims, nor payment of legal services.”
He said in the case of projects in which there were billions of dollars at stake, paying for landholders to have legal advice amounted to “peanuts” and in the end would result in a stronger agreement.
“People imagine until they’re exposed to such things that people come onto the property with something the size of a handheld auger – in reality it could be a 38-tonne drilling rig and you’ve got to get it on the site and off again and compaction is a big issue.
“There’s also the disruption to farming activities and remediation of areas disturbed by exploration activities,” he said.
The ARTC has been contacted for comment.
