Planned review for rail project

Govt appoints Schott

FARMERS fearing inundation from large-scale earthworks along the proposed Inland Rail’s Border to Gowrie alignment have been offered the first glimmer of hope that the route will be changed.

On Friday, the Australian Government appointed Dr Kerry Schott to head an independent review of the controversial mega-project.

Her review will look at the governance arrangements for Inland Rail, risk management practice, the process for selecting the Inland Rail route, including stakeholder consultation, and assess the project’s scope, schedule and cost.

Importantly, it will also take a look at an alternative route running from Toowoomba to the Gladstone Port.

Dr Schott’s review is expected to be completed by 2023 and was welcomed by Millmerran Rail Group chairman Wes Judd.

“We are fed up with the continual reference to all the reviews that have been done in the past,” he said.

“They have never been done thoroughly and have always gone off and sought ARTC’s opinion, so they have never been truly independent.”

The review makes good on a Labor election promise, and Mr Judd hoped it would result in an altered alignment.

“We have had correspondence with Infrastructure Minister Catherine King, and she indicated we will get an opportunity to talk to the committee when it forms and we will write to the Minister now to seek the opportunity,” he said.

“What we would hope to see is that this now becomes an opportunity to get a proper assessment of all the issues on the table.”

The Border to Gowrie route of Inland remains in an environment impact assessment process by the Queensland Government’s Office of Co-ordinator-General and a separate inquiry by the independent Flood Panel.

In 2021 it was widely criticised by a Senate Report which found ARTC had ignored advice from local communities and had based the alignment on flawed hydrology data.

Inland Rail is expected to bring a much-needed injection of Federal Government spending in regional communities across Victoria, New South Wales and Queensland.

Already the government has awarded contracts worth a combined $2.7 billion to more than 400 suppliers and businesses.