A COMMUNITY consultation meeting for the controversial Inland Rail project has been told ground work on the Queensland component North Star to border section of the project will not proceed until Queensland Government approvals are in place.
Held in Pittsworth, the Inner Darling Downs meeting heard although NSW approvals had been received, construction of the North Star section would halt at the border until Queensland Government environmental approvals were in place.
The North Star to NSW/Queensland Border project involves upgrading about 27km of track and the construction of 12km of new track.
The meeting was told for engineering reasons, about 9km of that section of the North Star project was in Queensland, including a major crossing over the Macintyre River.
The North Star section is also still to receive approvals under the Federal Government's Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999.
Once Queensland approvals are received, a camp for 650 workers will be constructed at the Goondiwindi Showgrounds, the meeting was told.
Thursday night's consultation meeting followed Infrastructure Minister Catherine King's damning assessment of Inland Rail during an address to the National Press Club on Wednesday.
Although still to release an independent, Federal Government-commissioned review of the project by Dr Kerry Schott, Ms King said the report showed the project was "way over budget and it is way behind schedule".
"I want to remind people the reason that Inland Rail was invested in in the first place: to increase our nation's productivity to take freight off our already congested roads to move them efficiently and safely by rail and to get goods to market more quickly," Ms King said.
"The previous government I think lost sight of this.
"They didn't see it as a project that had those goals and under my predecessor, frankly, the project became something of a strange vanity project for him."
Initially budgeted to cost $4.7 billion, Inland Rail's final figure is expected to be closer to $20b if the Melbourne to Brisbane route is completed by its 2027 target date.
One major sticking point remains the apparent reluctance of the Queensland Government to grant the necessary environmental approvals, including demanding ARTC rewrite its Environmental Impact Statement.
There are also ongoing concerns of Inland Rail's route across the Condamine River Floodplain.
Millmerran Rail Group chair Wes Judd said rail infrastructure had no place on the 17km wide floodplain.
"Large-scale infrastructure impacting with flood waters will cause devastation of farming land and major crop losses to farms and financial hardship for farmers in our area," Mr Judd said.
"We are hoping the Queensland Government has made submissions to the Federal Government's (Schott) investigation warning of the dangers of putting infrastructure into a flood plain."
The project is also showing signs of overwhelming the local community.
Pittsworth resident Kevin Bond said he was under pressure from ARTC to sell his 4.5ha (11 acre) property to make for the project.
"The pressure is enormous, but I'm not selling," Mr Bond.
"I've been told they want it for a laydown area and if I don't go Mains Roads is just going to resume it anyway."
Ms King she was working to finalise the government's response to Dr Schott's review.
... I can tell you when you see the report, it does make for gripping reading to those who want to learn the lessons about how not to do nation-building.
- Infrastructure Minister Catherine Minister
"But I can tell you when you see the report, it does make for gripping reading to those who want to learn the lessons about how not to do nation-building," Ms King said.
Whether Inland Rail gets past North Star is still to be seen.
Ms King pointed to critical funding being required for other rail networks including the Port Augusta and the Hunter Valley track as well as the Mossvale to Unanderra (near Wollongong) line. Disruptions to the Parkes to Broken Hill line had seen trains travelling from Sydney to Perth detoured via Melbourne, she said.
Consultative committee member Vicki Battaglia from Biddeston said the people directly affected by the project were mentally exhausted.
"We just can't get straight answers," Ms Battaglia said.
"No-one can understand how the business case for Inland Rail stacks up when its based on coal and washing machines that for some reason have to get from Melbourne to Brisbane with 24 hours.
"We all have Inland Rail project fatigue."
