State holds out on agreement over flooding concerns

NEGOTIATIONS between the State and Federal Governments over a key agreement on the Inland Rail project are continuing.

Before any land can be resumed for the project in Queensland, the Federal and State Governments need to sign an intergovernmental agreement.

The State Government has said it was not willing to resume farming land for the Inland Rail project until the “genuine concerns” of affected communities were listened to.

Queensland is the only state that is yet to sign an intergovernmental agreement with the Commonwealth.

Yesterday, State Transport and Main Roads Minister Mark Bailey said discussions were continuing “in good faith”, but that there were still issues to work through.

“Local farmers are concerned the current route may impact water flow and change flooding patterns,” Mr Bailey said.

“Those concerns were raised again with me recently when I was in Toowoomba so it’s critical the Federal Government closely investigates those issues and gets the final route right.

“We would like to see environmental impacts studies completed for each section of the proposed line so we can be assured the right level of scrutiny has been afforded to this planning process.

“We won’t sign any agreement on a route that has negative impacts on flood flows and our farmers.”

Deputy Prime Minister Michael McCormack said he “looked forward to continuing negotiations” with Mr Bailey.

“We’ve made additional time for stakeholder engagement with the Condamine and making sure those flood-prone areas, those issues are addressed.”