Australian Politics
Inland rail at risk of becoming a white elephant if infrastructure is not linked, Barnaby Joyce warns
This has always been an uneconomic idea by virtue of its huge construction and other costs. It is best understood as a love of trains. And Barnaby is right. If it does not get to Brisbane it loses all rationale.
Because of its 4'8.5" gauge, the link from NSW into Brisbane makes most sense but that seems to be the stretch least likely to be built
We have been something similar once before. John Howard's push to link Adelaide to Darwin by rail was at least completed but has resulted in a line that is barely used and does not even recover the cost of its maintenance. Nice for a passenger trip on the "Ghan" but not much else. A spur line into the Queensland or NSW rail network might have helped but no such was ever built
The $31bn inland rail project between Melbourne and Brisbane is at risk of becoming a white elephant if parts of the line remain isolated from one another, Nationals MP Barnaby Joyce has warned.
Touted as a nation-building project necessary to meet Australia’s growing freight task when first announced in 2015, the project has since been beset by major cost blowouts, delays and political infighting with doubts it will ever reach the end of the line.
When construction started in 2018, the train line was due to be completed by 2027 and was going to run 1600km, from Tottenham in Melbourne to Acacia Ridge in Brisbane.
Two disjointed sections, totalling about 300km, between Parkes, west of Sydney, and North Star, near the Queensland border, are effectively completed, but sit isolated from the rest of the upgraded line further south.
Further funding is locked in for a 650km stretch from Beveridge, 40km north of Melbourne, to Parkes, with an estimated completion date of 2027.
Mr Joyce, who championed the project when the Coalition was in government,said better governance was crucial to getting the project back on track.
“We have this ridiculous scenario where we have the Parkes to Melbourne inland rail, and then the Newcastle to North Star inland rail, but they’re not actually connected to one another. And I don’t know whether Melbourne to North Star works as a business plan. I thought it was supposed to go to the city of Brisbane, not the village of North Star,” he said.
“It doesn’t work, it’s like saying well I’ve got a ship and a quarter of a ship … the thing won’t float if you get the rest of it and stick it together.”
There are no guarantees the line will even cross into Queensland, with the $14.6bn in confirmed funding now restricted to south of the border.
Mr Joyce questioned the point of the project if Brisbane and Melbourne were not connected, and said if political infighting continued, the line would not be built.
“I was saying to so many people that if you keep arguing about the route, in the end the whole thing will fall over,” he said.
“Well guess what? You are now reaping what you sow, you argued about where it was supposed to go and you never took into account that if there is a change of government it might not go anywhere at all.”
Liberal MP Garth Hamilton, whose federal electorate of Groom covers Toowoomba, said the Nationals failed to deliver inland rail when they had the chance and accused the Labor government of now “taking advantage”.
Mr Hamilton, a backbencher, said he would seek reassurances before the next federal election that the Coalition would commit to funding the project into Queensland.
“I’ll be making hell,” he told The Australian.
“This project could be finished if we hadn’t engaged in the ridiculous conversations about changing the route so many times – foolish proposals like putting it through Warwick.”
Mr Hamilton said Toowoomba residents were “absolutely distraught” at the prospect that the line may not make it into Queensland.
“My local community is going to suffer as a result of (political infighting), not just farmers but there’s huge transport opportunities off the back of this … young kids coming through getting a job.
“I am very unhappy that we didn’t deliver this when we were in government … despite the opposition from the Queensland Labor government, we could have got this thing done.”
Queensland’s Liberal National Party leader David Crisafulli also accused the state Labor government of “dragging its heels” on the project, after it was initially reluctant to sign off on a 2019 agreement with the federal government citing community concern about the loss of agricultural land, flood plain issues, noise and social impacts.
“The Queensland government was the reason why the project didn’t start two and a half years earlier,” Mr Crisafulli said.
“The whole idea of this was being a generational bit of infrastructure across multiple states and can you imagine what happens if the state that is the engine room of the economy … was left off.”
A Queensland government spokeswoman said the former federal government had “botched” inland rail and said the state did not control funding, tenders or contracts for the project.
“Nine years in power and they couldn’t even get the line to enter Queensland,” she said.
“David Crisafulli had plenty of opportunity to take this up with his former colleagues when they were in power.”
A spokeswoman for federal Infrastructure and Transport Minister Catherine King said the commonwealth “agrees in principle that inland rail should extend at least to Ebenezer in Queensland” after work is complete north of Narromine in NSW.
National Farmers Federation president David Jochinke said: “It’s disappointing to hear the project is facing further setbacks and we are unlikely to see trains on tracks anytime soon. It’s time now (for) the government to get serious and invest in our supply chains so farmers and all Australians can benefit.”
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Sydney's One Central Park 'green' skyscraper pulled up over defects which could risk 'death or serious injury' to pedestrians
Sydney's One Central Park building, which is adorned by vertical gardens, has 'serious defects' that pose a 'risk of death or serious injury' to pedestrians because its external planter boxes fail to meet building standards, NSW Fair Trading said.
The building in the inner Sydney suburb of Chippendale is owned by Frasers Property, which was served with a building rectification order by Building Commission NSW director Matt Press on January 16.
This followed an emergency order issued on December 11 after the property was inspected on December 6.
A temporary rope support system has been put in to support the planter boxes.
Frasers Property must submit a structural engineering report and rectify the defects by March 2026.
An inspection found that the T-Bolts securing the planter boxes were randomly distributed, with some fracturing and failing.
The inspector also said the planter boxes failed to drain storm water sufficiently and would fill and overflow.
'This dramatically increases the weight of the planter boxes and the treated planter box water consequently damages glass windows and awnings,' Fair Trading stated, according to the Daily Telegraph.
It also posed the risk an overloaded planter box could fall on pedestrians below with potentially serious consequences.
Construction of the building finished in 2013.
The building also houses Central Park Mall as well as featuring the world's highest floating garden.
The landmark was given a a five-star green rating, which made it the largest multi-residential building at the time to receive the top mark for being environmentally friendly.
Under the modification order the developer has been directed to erect either hoarding or a temporary structure on the north-east and west of the building while work is being done.
The planter boxes must be redesigned by a 'registered structural and hydraulic engineer'.
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Amusing: Single picture of queuing Teslas perfectly illustrates the problem Australia will face ditching petrol cars
At least 10 electric vehicles were seen lined up in the rural town of Keith, in South Australia, with drivers waiting to use public charging stations.
One TikTok user shared a video which showed the cars lined up with the caption: 'Buy a Tesla they said.'
Bernhard Conoplia, head of public charging at charging company Evie, told Yahoo News the charging stations would have been up to four time as busy over the long weekend versus a normal weekend.
She said that simple steps, such as leaving home with a full battery, would go a long way, but it seems these Tesla owners may have learned the hard way.
For a Tesla Model 3 sedan it takes at least 20 minutes to fully charge at a Supercharger station, meaning some owners could have potentially waited hours before they were able to hit the road again.
There are around 198,000 electric vehicles driving on Australian roads, but currently only 3,000 public charging stations nationwide.
The government claims it is working quickly to increase the availability of fast chargers, with the number of sites forecast to double this year.
A report by consulting firm Next System also found that even though Tesla dominated electric vehicle sales it was Chargefox that provided the greatest share of charging sites.
The findings came after record sales of electric vehicles, and despite concerns from some potential buyers that Australia's charging network was not large enough to support the technology.
The Public Fast Charger Network Report found Australia had seen another 397 car-charging sites and 755 new charging points built during 2023, but predicted that number would rise significantly higher in 2024.
Next System founder Daniel Bleakley said the analysis showed charging stations were already planned for another 470 locations throughout Australia and a total of 900 new charging sites could be expected during the year.
'After a slow start, growth in Australia's public EV fast charger network is clearly accelerating,' Mr Bleakley said.
'Lack of public fast-charging infrastructure is often quoted to be a major barrier to electric vehicle uptake in Australia, however our report shows the EV-charging network is actually now growing faster than the Australian EV fleet.'
The report found local firm Chargefox had installed the greatest number of electric chargers in Australia, operating more than one in three charging sites, followed by Evie Networks with 23 per cent of the market, and Tesla with 10 per cent.
Jolt and NRMA followed in fourth and fifth spot, while electric car charging stations from traditional petrol retailers BP and Ampol claimed sixth and seventh positions as their national rollout ramped up.
US automaker Tesla offered the greatest power through its electric chargers, however, with its Supercharger network representing almost half of Australia's charging network's capacity, according to the report.
The findings come after Australians purchased more than 87,000 electric cars in 2023, according to the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries, representing more than seven per cent of all new vehicles and more than double the number sold in 2022.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13262449/Tesla-charging-que-Australia.html
*************************************************Who is Samantha Mostyn? Meet Australia's new governor general
The appointment of a highly political person to a viceroy role is totally inappropriate. Gough Whitlam tried something similar once so it is rather reassuring that it totally backfired on him. Who can forget Sir John Kerr if you were there at the time?
A climate change and gender equity advocate has been appointed Australia's new Governor-General.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese announced David Hurley's replacement on Wednesday morning after months of intense speculation, naming Samantha Mostyn for the role.
He said: 'His Majesty King Charles III, on my recommendation, has approved the appointment of Ms Samantha Mostyn AO as Australia’s next Governor‑General.'
Ms Mostyn will be sworn into the role on July 1, 2024.
She is 'a businesswoman and community leader with a long history in executive and governance roles across diverse sectors'.
Ms Mostyn was appointed an Officer of the Order of Australia for distinguished service to business, the community and women in 2021 and is also a lawyer.
Most recently, she was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Laws from the Australian National University.
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Also see my other blogs. Main ones below:
http://dissectleft.blogspot.com (DISSECTING LEFTISM -- daily)
http://antigreen.blogspot.com (GREENIE WATCH)
http://pcwatch.blogspot.com (POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH)
http://edwatch.blogspot.com (EDUCATION WATCH)
http://snorphty.blogspot.com/ (TONGUE-TIED)
http://jonjayray.com/blogall.html More blogs
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Evelyn Rae, a conservative Australian political commentator
Margo Robbie -- a beautiful australian
My son Joe at ANU
One of the happiest pictures ever -- Cleo Smith, aged 4
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