TRANSCRIPT: PRIME7 INTERVIEW: INLAND RAIL 5 JULY 2022
E&OE
Subject: Inland Rail
MICHAEL McCORMACK
Inland Rail is a 14-and-a-half billion dollar nation-building piece of infrastructure and Wagga Wagga is going to benefit to the tune of tens of millions if not hundreds of millions of dollars into the future.
Already, tens of millions of dollars of infrastructure has been invested at the Riverina Intermodel Freight Logistics Hub, the special activation precinct, the enabling roads. Austrak has won a 143 million dollar contract which secures 36 jobs for years going forward.
What we want out of Inland Rail is the best options. The very, very best outcomes for our city. We all want that. I am concerned, though, that in recent times we have had a councillor, Cr Richard Foley - I appreciate he is new to council - coming out and criticising the lack of consultation between council and the Australian Rail Track Corporation. Now, there’s been two, well there’s been many meetings, hundreds of meetings, for the Parkes to Albury section, the Illabo to Albury section, and indeed, passing through Wagga; many, many meetings and the ARTC has made themselves available for stakeholder meetings.
Indeed, two of the very early meetings held in 2021, one in January and another one in May, where there was 30 per cent and 70 per cent of the reference design scoping and work done when council was invited, council did not turn up.
Now, that January meeting in 2021 when 30 per cent of the reference design was, had been, completed and the ARTC needed council to talk through them, with this 30 per cent design. They went to the meeting that was set at council chambers. The time was set, a date was set and council did not turn up, even though the ARTC tells me that they turned up 15 minutes early and left well and truly after the eventual time that meeting was supposed to be finished, but no representatives from council, ARTC tells me, turned up.
And then in May when the work was 70 per cent through, again a meeting was set, again Wagga Council did not turn up. So, you know, when Cr Foley talks about consultation it’s got to come from both sides.
And the last two meetings that ARTC and council were supposed to have, again council did not turn up, according to the ARTC, and no apology given by council. Now I’ve spoken to the Mayor Dallas Tout about this; we want to work through, we want to get the best outcomes, the most positive outcomes for Wagga. And I appreciate that residents, certainly new residents to town who are buying real estate on the line, are concerned, I understand that. I understand there are issues surrounding Pearson Street, Edmonson Street, indeed the bridge going over just near South Wagga Wagga Public School, I understand that. And so we want to work through the best possible outcome for all concerned. We want the very, very best outcome. We want to make sure that those Austrak workers have a job going forward, building the concrete sleepers which is going to go down right through regional NSW, right through Queensland as this project unfolds into the future. But council has to be both ways. If there are consultation meetings that the ARTC are calling, that council’s setting the dates for, council needs to turn up.
And I know now that Cr Foley is council’s representative as the consultation process continues with the ARTC so I urge him and encourage him to make that contact. I appreciate that others need to be involved, too. I get that even perhaps we should have a public meeting and I have called on the ARTC to do just that, because we need to get the best outcomes. But the criticism that has been leveled at the ARTC in recent times by particularly Cr Foley is unfounded, is unwarranted, it is not just because ARTC tells me there has been a number of meetings which council has either set the date for and then not turned up for, or just haven’t even bothered to show up for and not even put in an apology. So that’s not good enough, we need the best outcomes for the Inland Rail. I think most people, if not all people, should be onboard with that and I’ll be working towards that to make sure the community does get the best outcomes and to make sure also that the community knows that some of the allegations about time waiting indeed at the Urana Street roundabout as a lead into the Inland Rail there on Docker they’re just not correct, now they’re just not right. And so that’s why I have called on the ARTC to perhaps provide a public meeting so we can get all this out in the open. And I’m pleased that also the ARTC tells me just in recent days since I’ve contacted them, that council has had, council staff has had contact with them in relation to Pearson, in relation to Edmonson Streets and there is certainly a way for that to benefit the community in the long term.
JOURNALIST
So you were saying that some of these meetings were happening back in January 2021. Is that the point, that council should’ve started raising some of these genuine concerns about the crossings. Is that what you’re saying? Is that an issue from 18 months ago?
MICHAEL McCORMACK
Well, there was 30 per cent of the reference design scoping and work that had been done. So the design work was 30 per cent through and then later on in May 2021 there was 70 percent of the work. Well, that should’ve been the time. If there were issues going to be raised obviously about clearways and grade separations and traffic and disruptions to the community, all of those things should have been raised then when the work was only 30 per cent through.
And then, of course, a few months on, 70 per cent through, but council did not turn up to those meetings, according to the ARTC. So you know that’s a little bit disingenuous then when we’ve got a councillor not only coming out and criticising the ARTC for lack of consultation but also then taking it to the next level, to the Australian Local Government Association meeting in Canberra and putting a motion forward on behalf of councils on the Inland Rail route and then asking for either stalls in the work or a conduit to the Federal Government and to the department, through the Infrastructure Department, to see where consultation could go in the future. I think that’s probably a good idea this, obviously there needs to be somebody there in the Infrastructure Department, mind you there always was, certainly when I was the Deputy Prime Minister there was – I was the Infrastructure Minister. I signed the inter-governmental agreements with the States to get this 14-and-a-half billion dollar project up and running. That’s what started the whole process and already Wagga Wagga has benefited probably as much if not more than any other city on the route and we don’t want to see any Government, particularly a Labor Government, looking at this and stalling it and stopping it and turning it into a white elephant. This is going to have such enormous benefits for small business, for large business, for regional business and certainly for Wagga Wagga businesses
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JOURNALIST
Is that your fear that given now we do have a Labor Government they might use it as a political opportunity to halt a prior government’s project?
MICHAEL McCORMACK
Well, the first thing that suffers when it comes to a Labor Government is regional funding. The first thing that suffers are regional programs and regional projects. This is the largest regional project that is on the books at the moment and it needs to continue. Yes, there needs to be consultation, of course there does, but the consultation has to be two way. If there’s a meeting called by Wagga Wagga City Council of the ARTC to talk through reference design, to talk through scoping, to talk through all the works and what might happen and what might not happen in the future council has to turn up, particularly when it’s in their own chambers, particularly when it’s in their own town hall, they have to turn up.
Now, I appreciate that’s in the past. I’m now looking forward to what’s in the future. So let’s have a public meeting, let’s talk through this but let’s also have council and ARTC working together with somebody from the Infrastructure Department, indeed with people from the ARTC working co-operatively with council. I appreciate the views that I have had expressed to me by the Mayor, Dallas Tout. I know Peter Thompson would be and should be onboard with this. I know we have talked about it in the past. It’s going to be of great benefit to Wagga Wagga. And certainly we don’t want to see those 36 workers out at Austrak with the 143 million dollar contract have it placed in any sort of jeopardy by a councillor who’s just out trying get his face on the television.
JOURNALIST
And as far as this public meeting is concerned, have you heard anything about when it could come about or is it just kind of in talks at the moment?
MICHAEL McCORMACK
In the near future. I have raised that prospect with the ARTC, they’re going to look at it, but it’s also with council, as well, and that’s for concerned people. I know that ARTC has reached out to them via face-to-face meetings, via letter drops and the like, but let’s have, if we need to, a public meeting. But on the other side of the coin, we need to have councillors not just taking pot shots at the ARTC when the ARTC tells me that the consultation process was stymied indeed by council. Set the meeting, set the date, didn’t turn up.
JOURNALIST
Now, this means if they didn’t show up, that was the old lot of councillors, do you think that could’ve played a factor as well? Council staff?
MICHAEL McCORMACK
Yeah, well I appreciate that councillors have changed and I appreciate that staff have changed, as well, and so I’m now looking to the future. I’m looking to having that future consultation be a two-way process. ARTC, Wagga Wagga City Council. Let’s put the past behind us. I just wanted to make sure that people were aware that whilst pot shots are being taken by a certain councillor that wasn’t entirely the ARTC’s fault. They’ve gone out of their way to make sure that negotiation, that consultation, was done with council and to say anything opposite is just untrue.
JOURNALIST
Anything else you want to add?
MICHAEL McCORMACK
No, that’s all. Thanks.