Mayor Rick Firman has sought answers on Inland Rail from the Federal Government. Photo: Supplied.
Country mayors have warned regional councils and businesses could be left millions of dollars out of pocket after the Federal Government effectively scaled back Inland Rail to a corridor ending at Parkes, leaving communities that invested heavily in the project wondering if they will ever see a return.
Originally sold as a nation-building freight line linking Melbourne to Brisbane through Wagga’s CBD, Inland Rail promised to help rural businesses get their local produce to ports and capital cities faster and cheaper. Instead, after years of delays and ballooning costs, the Federal Government decided to scale back that vision in this year’s Federal Budget.
The Board of the Country Mayors Association of NSW (CMA) met with Minister Catherine King MP, Minister for Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Local Government, to object to this decision.
“Following the government’s announcement, there was a unanimous resolution passed at our last CMA meeting to seek a meeting with Minister King to raise the many concerns our members have about the decision to terminate the Inland Rail at Parkes,” CMA Chairman and Temora Shire Mayor Rick Firman said.
Mayor Firman said the impacts were already being felt across multiple local government areas and private projects built on the expectation of a full freight corridor from Melbourne to Brisbane.
“There is ample evidence of the millions of dollars that both local government and private enterprise have invested in anticipation of the Inland Rail’s completion. The truncation of the project has left many with large investments, made on the back of government promises, with literally nowhere to go.”
He said the budget trajectory of the project also needed scrutiny.
“It is very evident that the budget which started with an original allocation of $8.4 billion in 2017, rising progressively since then to $45 billion deserves to be questioned. However, there is no getting away from the fact that the government’s decision has left many between Parkes and the Queensland border, particularly Narromine, Narrabri, Moree feeling devastated,” Mayor Firman said.
Inland Rail has demolished the Edmondson Street Bridge in Wagga, causing traffic disruptions. Photo: Inland Rail.
The minister advised the CMA that the focus would shift to east–west freight links from Parkes to Perth and from Parkes to Botany and Newcastle, with an emphasis on preserving existing corridors and developing intermodal hubs to connect into the remaining network.
There is also growing concern that major inland centres along the route have borne years of disruption without the full economic payoff originally promised.
For example, line cuts through the Wagga CBD, where locals have raised concerns about freight noise, traffic delays near the hospital and long-term impacts on the city’s amenity.
Businessmen who pushed for an alternative Inland Rail route through Tocumwal, Narrandera and the Riverina “food bowl” also say their proposal would have been cheaper, faster and completed in full.
The CMA said it would continue to push for “better outcomes” and alternative approaches to ensure sunk costs did not go to waste.
“The CMA will continue to lobby for better outcomes for our affected members and the communities they represent,” Mayor Firman said.
“We want to explore other possible scenarios for its completion – if it cannot provide a port-to-port freight solution, because of the cost, why not an intermodal-to-intermodal approach with the rail line running from Beveridge in Victoria to Ebenezer in Queensland?”
The mayors say the central concern remains whether the revised Inland Rail plan can still deliver the economic uplift originally promised to inland NSW — or whether small towns across the corridor will ultimately carry the cost of a project cut short.
