“ENLIGHTENING”, was the word NSW Farmers president James Jackson used describing his thoughts after meeting at least 24 farmers on-property or in groups during a tour of affected farmers from between Coonamble to Narromine on Monday.
He was accompanied by the association’s Inland Rail Task Force chair, Adrian Lyons, Coonamble, and association chair of the Dubbo branch, Shane Kilby.
During each meeting Mr Jackson heard from property owners how they had not received adequate and up-to-date information from the Australia Rail Track Corporation and that ARTC investigators were not listening to their local knowledge particularly of flood prone water areas on properties.
“I believe local knowledge is critical to the construction of major regional infrastructure projects and from what I have heard, this is not completely happening,” Mr Jackson said.
Issues discussed ranged from impacts on farm business and serious concerns of multi criteria analysis (MCA) reports at Cobboco.
