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Why Farmers Are Fighting the Inland Rail Route

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Submission for Senate Inquiry into Management of the Inland Rail project by the Australian Rail Track Corporation and the Commonwealth Government: Lloyd Stumer 29th November 2019 Committee Secretary Senate Standing Committees on Rural and Regional Affairs and Transport PO Box 6100 Parliament House Canberra ACT 2600 Phone: +61 2 6277 3511 Fax: +61 2 6277 5811 [email protected] Dear Sir/Madam SUBMISSION TO THE SENATE INQUIRY INTO THE MANAGEMENT OF THE INLAND RAIL PROJECT BY THE AUSTRALIAN RAIL TRACK CORPORATION AND THE COMMONWEALTH GOVERNMENT Thank you for the opportunity to submit this Submission of major concerns to the Senate Standing Committees on Rural and Regional Affairs and Transport relevant to the Inland Rail project and its mismanagement, outlining the urgent need for major changes to the project. Contents of this Submission Page No Background 2 Summary 3 A. Financial Arrangements of the Project 4 B. Route Planning and Selection Processes 11 C. Connections with other Freight Infrastructure, including Ports and 12 Intermodal Hubs D. Engagement on Route Alignment, Procurement and Employment 15 E. Urban and Regional Economic Development Opportunities 17 F. Collaboration Between Governments 18 G. Interaction With National Freight and Supply Chain Strategy 20 H. Other Related Matters 21 Conclusion 23 Recommendations 24 ATTACHMENT Compilation of Documents Referenced 26 Page | 1 Submission for Senate Inquiry into Management of the Inland Rail project by the Australian Rail Track Corporation and the Commonwealth Government: BACKGROUND I am a long-term (43 years) resident of Algester in Brisbane, a suburb of the densely populated urban areas (many hundreds of thousands of people) of South-East Queensland where the Inland Rail will have large, widespread disastrous impacts. These impacts are in addition to the disastrous impacts the Inland Rail will have on many rural communities. I am also a member of the Community Consultative Committee (CCC) for the Inland Rail section Kagaru to Acacia Ridge and Bromelton. This Committee was formed late in 2018 after public and Queensland Government pressure to provide consultation and feedback of public concerns between local communities and Inland Rail. I am also an experienced (since 1970) physicist, meteorologist and environmental scientist. This Submission includes the national, Queensland and local details associated with the Inland Rail, separated into sections identified by all the Terms of Reference for the Inquiry. The disastrous environmental impacts the Inland Rail will have on SE Queensland are in Section H of this report under “Other Related Matters”. The Submission is comprehensive but easily understood. The Submission is comprehensive because the large Inland Rail project produces major impacts in many subjects. The Submission is organised into a concise Summary, a necessarily detailed and referenced body addressing the Terms of Reference “A to H”, and a concise Conclusion and Recommendations. An Attachment is provided of the compilation of all the original documents from which the referenced articles of this Submission are extracted. This Attachment is provided as a courtesy to all readers to allow them to quickly access and understand the background and validity of all the statements in this Submission. This comprehensive Submission itself is thus a fully self-contained and readily-understood and validated report. There is no need for any dependency on access to external references which at times can be restricted due to Internet problems, paywalls for some media-referenced documents, needs for registration to view some documents and even changes in the URL’s (locations on the Internet) of some documents. The current Business Plan for the Inland Rail and therefore operations in Queensland should be in total disarray and under immediate revision. The Queensland Minister for Transport and Main Roads (Minister Bailey) who is the Minister responsible for overseeing the Inland Rail in Queensland) made the welcome and widespread announcement on ABC Radio 612 on Wednesday 20th November that there would be no coal transported on the planned Inland Rail through the densely populated suburb of Algester. This means there will be no coal transported on the Inland Rail to Acacia Ridge. This will have major implications on the Inland Rail in Queensland, as its Business Case was based on transporting a record 19.5 million tons of coal annually along that line. Page | 2 Submission for Senate Inquiry into Management of the Inland Rail project by the Australian Rail Track Corporation and the Commonwealth Government: SUMMARY It is critical to consider that the Queensland Government on Wednesday 20th November 2019 made an announcement that there would be no coal on the section of proposed Inland Rail line at Algester which infers on the Kagaru to Acacia Ridge and Bromelton section. This announcement was made due to concerns of impacts on the densely populated suburbs and urban areas of that section. The already faulty and dishonest Business case is based on 37% of total freight on the Inland Rail by 2030 being record tonnes of coal expected to last another 40 years until 2070. The announcement of the Queensland Government should force a rapid revision of the Business Case and planned actions and route for the future of Inland Rail. This submission has detailed the many major problems with all facets of the Inland Rail, particularly as they relate to Queensland. It is in Queensland where the major expenses, plus huge unbudgetted additional costs of at least $6.05 billion have to be found before the rail is built. Inland Rail has become an uncaring entity devoid of compassion, devoid of environmental care and devoid of financial responsibility. There are serious concerns from many people in the communities, and all of those concerns have been ignored and whitewashed. A preliminary investigation of selecting the Port of Newcastle as the northern terminus of the Inland Rail has demonstrated many benefits of that selection. These benefits include the saving of probably at least $10 billion dollars in costs, and the removal of all the major impacts compared to the original objective of coming to Acacia Ridge. The following recommendations are made: 1. The Inland Rail Business case must be reviewed immediately, with current works suspended in Queensland; 2. Public Money that would have been spent in Queensland on the Inland Rail should be transferred to the Queensland Government for use on higher priority projects This would greatly benefit the people of Queensland in lieu of the communities having to suffer the devastating impacts that would be otherwise delivered by the Inland Rail; and 3. Ihe Independent Review of the Inland Rail should include the consideration of the Port of Newcastle as the northern terminus of the Inland Rail. Page | 3 Submission for Senate Inquiry into Management of the Inland Rail project by the Australian Rail Track Corporation and the Commonwealth Government: A. FINANCIAL ARRANGEMENTS OF THE PROJECT The current planned route of the Inland Rail from Melbourne to end at Acacia Ridge in Brisbane is widely acknowledged by experts to be a financially unviable white elephant. Its business case is based on clearly-faulty assumptions and will bring no return or recover the construction costs for the many billions of dollars of public money being wasted. In addition to the approximately $10 billion of public money being currently squandered by the Commonwealth Government, many extra billions of dollars of funds will be necessary from the Queensland State Government, Local Government Councils, Industries and Financiers and the public for currently unbudgetted costs. Due to the Rail’s large widespread negative impacts plus governmental responsibilities and associations, the Commonwealth Government will also be required to contribute further unbudgetted public funds to this wasteful project which no commercial entity has been willing to fund and undertake. Everald Compton who is a well-known early proponent of a very different Inland Rail states “Inland Rail is in the hands of gross political and bureaucratic incompetents who have turned it into an unbelievable farce at huge cost to the nation.” He further states in the same article “The venture will bankrupt ARTC.” Nowhere in the business case are there costs or considerations for mitigation of the serious impacts that the Inland Rail will have on communities, businesses and the environment. Inland Rail’s actions at public meetings have been to “shout down” and “close up” discussions on these costs and considerations. (see http://mhdsupplychain.com.au/2019/03/29/opinion-inland-railway-politics-of-disaster/) Reference #1 ) The currently unfunded many-billions of dollars of extra funds will be required for addressing:- 1. imminent large revenue shortfalls that will occur due to crackpot assumptions in the forecast freight levels in the business case. One crackpot assumption is to assume Inland Rail will increase subsidized thermal coal exports along the proposed Inland Rail line to rise from zero to reach 37% of all freight by 2030, and assume that record coal export tonnage will then continue until 2070. This assumed tonnage of coal from 2030 until 2070 is 19.5 million tonnes annually This tonnage is double that approved for the controversial Adani mine and more than double that ever previously exported from SE Queensland and also double the current coal-handling capacity of the Brisbane Port. Inland Rail in email communications
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