Inland Rail Community Meeting - Narromine
NSW Farmers will host community meetings on Wednesday 28 February with the communities of Coonamble and Narromine to discuss inland rail.
The meetings are open to the whole community.
At the meeting, NSW Farmers’ President Derek Schoen will provide an update on our advocacy activities linked to the project, as well as take feedback from the community about your concerns with the project.
NSW Farmers is a passionate supporter of inland rail. We have called this new steel highway the “WestConnex of regional New South Wales” – it has the potential to fundamentally change the way farmers do business, reducing supply chain costs and opening up new markets for our food and fibre.
However, we are deeply concerned with the lack of transparency and poor consultation which has characterised the project to date. We are particularly troubled by the inability of the Australian Government-owned Australian Rail Track Corporation (ARTC) to provide data and modelling to support their selection of a preferred route for the 307 kilometre long section of new railway between Narromine and Narrabri.
The meeting will also discuss NSW Farmers’ position on land access agreements. At this time, NSW Farmers is advising our members not to sign a land access agreement with the ARTC. NSW Farmers will work with the ARTC to develop a mutually-agreeable land access agreement which we can then recommend to our members for their consideration. Any agreement developed by NSW Farmers will draw upon on the terms used in the agreements we drafted with the mining industry regarding coal seam gas.
More detail about NSW Farmers’ position on inland rail, our activities to date and the questions we are asking government, the ARTC and other stakeholders can be found here.
Should you require any further information, please contact NSW Farmers on 1300 794 000.