Region misses out on new projects
TOOWOOMBA has missed out on major new infrastructure investments from the Federal Government in the 2020-21 budget.
Specific infrastructure for the region mentioned in budget documents was just continued funding for projects announced in previous budgets, such as the Toowoomba to Brisbane passenger rail business case (announced 2018) and upgrades to the Warrego and Gore Highways (announced 2019).
Though the organisation behind the Inland Rail project received a boost in the budget.
“The government will make an additional equity investment in the Australian Rail Track Corporation, primarily to deliver the Inland Rail project,” budget documents read.
The government has also budgeted for settling the PFAS class action case from Oakey residents, though it has not published how much that would cost them.
“The government will settle three Federal Court of Australia class actions in relation to per- and poly-fluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) contamination in the communities of Williamtown, New South Wales; Oakey, Queensland; and Katherine, Northern Territory,” budget documents read.
The cost of both the Inland Rail and PFAS class action measures were not published due to confidentiality arrangements.
There was also a $4.5 billion investment in NBN Co in the budget, which is set to deliver high speed broadband services and greater capacity to millions of customers around Australia.
Toowoomba is one of the first 130 of 240 key growth areas included in the initiative.