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General Purpose Standing Committee No. 4

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Subjects -  Railways; Inquiries; Infrastructure; Parliamentary Committees: New South Wales: General Purpose
Speakers - Gardiner The Hon Jennifer
Business - Committee, Report


    GENERAL PURPOSE STANDING COMMITTEE NO. 4
Page: 14786


    Report: Inquiry into the Closure of the Casino to Murwillumbah Rail Service

    Debate resumed from 7 December 2004.

    The Hon. JENNIFER GARDINER [3.30 p.m.]: It gives me great pleasure to speak in the take-note debate on the report on the inquiry into the Casino to Murwillumbah rail service. The House has just concluded debate on the report of the inquiry by General Purpose Standing Committee No. 5 into the closure of Murrumbidgeee College of Agriculture. The comment was made in that debate that the decision to close the college was mean-minded and characteristic of the approach of the Carr Labor Government to issues of great importance to rural and regional communities. Government decisions on key matters are made in secret, without consultation with local communities. My colleague the Deputy Chair of General Purpose Standing Committee No. 4 referred to the impact that the closure would have on disadvantaged and disabled people. Indeed, the impression could be gained that the Government is targeting such groups. The report on this inquiry is further evidence of that approach.

    The Northern Rivers area has many socio-economic disadvantages and one sometimes wonders what the Carr Labor Government has against the Tweed and the Northern Rivers. The inquiry attracted a great deal of interest from across the State but, in particular, from people in the Northern Rivers region. The committee was grateful for the many submissions it received from local communities. The committee received 263 submissions, not including submissions from members of The Nationals. Because of strong local interest the committee decided to hold public hearings in Lismore, Murwillumbah and Byron Bay.

    Those hearings were very well attended and there was fantastic community support for the work of this inquiry. Indeed, many of those who attended the hearings found it interesting to learn how members of Parliament receive expert evidence and community input to assist with their deliberations. The extensive feedback was favourable to the Legislative Council committee system. The committee examined the key issues of the Labor Government's claimed reasons for closing the Casino to Murwillumbah rail service, that is, the financial cost of the line and budget constraints. The committee examined funding of the line prior to its closure and concerns that the line had been underfunded for a period of years. It examined also the impact of the closure on residents of the Northern Rivers area, including railway staff, the frail aged and people with a disability. It considered also the viability of reintroducing a lower cost, regular rail commuter service from Casino to Murwillumbah and the means of funding such a service.

    The committee made a number of recommendations and I look forward to a more positive response from the Government to the recommendations than the people of the Northern Rivers have received so far. The committee recommended that the Government produce a comprehensive preservation plan for the Casino to Murwillumbah line. Such plan should include, but should not be restricted to, preserving the line's overbridges. The committee found that there was an extraordinary lack of integration in planning for the Northern Rivers area in terms of basic infrastructure, and it recommended that the Government develop guidelines to require agencies such as RailCorp to consult with the Department of Infrastructure, Planning and Natural Resources on decisions affecting long-term transport planning, including the proposed closure of railway lines.

    I should have thought that integrated planning of such basic infrastructure as railway lines would be a given but, unfortunately, that is not the case in New South Wales. This is a small case study of the overall lack of planning by this Government for infrastructure. The Government is expert on media management and on re-announcing plans but it is short on delivery.

    The Committee recommended that the New South Wales Government, in the event of any future proposed closure of passenger rail services, must provide to the Parliament one year's notice of such closure to allow community consultation. That is a reasonable recommendation and is in line with the provisions dealing with the proposed closure of public schools, of which 12 months notice must be given to enable schools to have input and to undertake an independent assessment of the impact of such closures on school communities. I hope that in the future, regardless of which side of politics forms the next government, 12 months notice is given of such proposals.

    Recommendation No. 4 is that the New South Wales Government should introduce immediately a new regular rail commuter service from Casino to Murwillumbah that would connect at Casino with the XPT service between Sydney and Brisbane. This is a key recommendation and will be a pragmatic outcome into which the committee had enormous input. In reaching its conclusions, the committee took into account studies commissioned by the Federal Government, the Federal Minister for Regional Services, the Hon. John Anderson, and the Tweed Shire Council. The findings of those studies were independent of the views of the Federal Government and the Tweed Shire Council and gave the committee a clear picture of what might be a reasonable way forward if the XPT service were not reinstated.

    I have no hesitation in stating that local communities and their leaders strongly endorsed recommendation No. 4. Indeed, there was a groundswell of support for this solution to rail infrastructure problems. The Government should immediately establish such a rail commuter service, particularly having regard to the demographics of the area and the many students who attend Southern Cross University. Many young people travel from throughout the Northern Rivers region to places such as Byron Bay to go surfing. Such a demographic—a whole mix of people—would travel throughout that area on a regular commuter service. That solution would complement the demographics of that part of New South Wales.

    Prior to the 2004 Federal election, at which the Liberal-National Government was re-elected, the Federal Government offered to provide $30 million over two years to help fund a new regular rail commuter service from Casino to Murwillumbah, making the previous recommendation even more viable. The committee recommended that the New South Wales Government accept the Federal Government's offer. The Nationals and I are astonished that the Government has not yet moved to take up the offer, given that it is the State Government's responsibility to provide basic infrastructure for its population. We continue to urge the New South Wales Government to do so. Since the change in transport Ministers, local community leaders from the Northern Rivers Regional Organisation of Councils, for example, have urged the new Minister to take up the committee's recommendations as well.

    The committee recommended also that the New South Wales Government use savings from the Australian Rail Track Corporation agreement to fund a new regular commuter service from Casino to Murwillumbah. Again, there is an opportunity for funding sources for such a service. With the good relationship between the Federal Government, the New South Wales Government—at least in relation to some Ministers—and the Federal transport Minister, the Hon. John Anderson, I hope that these issues can be progressed satisfactorily for people in north eastern New South Wales.

    The committee recommended further that the Department of Infrastructure, Planning and Natural Resources, in developing plans for links with interstate railway lines, identify a rail corridor between Murwillumbah and Coolangatta airport, and that the New South Wales Government, in co-operation with the Queensland Government, commission a study to examine the viability of extending the Casino to Murwillumbah rail line to Coolangatta to link with the proposed South-East Queensland railway line and upgraded Gold Coast rail services. Interestingly, as the committee deliberations drew to a conclusion, the Queensland Premier, the Hon. Peter Beattie, made major announcements relating to the burgeoning population growth in South-East Queensland, which adjoins the Northern Rivers region of New South Wales. Both sides of the Queensland-New South Wales border have large population growth rates, and there is a missing transport link between Murwillumbah or Condong and Coolangatta airport.

    While the Queensland Government is forging ahead with its detailed infrastructure plans for South-East Queensland to cope with population projections, the New South Wales Government seems to have completely and absolutely stalled in terms of providing basic infrastructure. Premier Beattie announced that an extra $1 billion would be invested over four years in new services and infrastructure for the city train network in South-East Queensland, and his transport Minister made announcements relating to new rolling stock and additional track and station upgrades on the Gold Coast, increasing the capacity by 50 per cent. The Queensland Government's plans to improve rail services in South-East Queensland stand in stark contrast with the New South Wales Government's running down and closure of rail services across the border in the Northern Rivers region.

    As the weeks and months have rolled by since the committee concluded its deliberations, it has become more obvious that the Carr Labor Government's failure to plan for any part of the State, whether it is metropolitan Sydney, the Northern Rivers or anywhere else, will come back to haunt it at the election in two years. I thank all committee members for their work. The report that was tabled in the House has been extremely well received by the communities in the Northern Rivers region. There is universal disappointment about the Government's failure to respond to yet another infrastructure issue, particularly as it affects an important part of the State—and one of the most beautiful parts of New South Wales. We hope that the Government will take action. However, I do not have much faith in that happening; frankly, the Government seems to be paralysed. Perhaps this matter will not be properly addressed until a new government takes office in 2007. In any case, I thank the committee staff for their fantastic work on this report. In particular, I thank them for assisting us in conducting the public hearings in the Northern Rivers; such hearings present parliamentary staff with extra logistical demands. I thank Stephen Frappell for his input into this report, and I thank all members of the committee for their work. I commend the report to the House.

    Pursuant to standing orders business interrupted.


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