<span class="" id="parent-fieldname-description"> The Federal Government has shut down the group set up by the former Labor government to advise on an east coast high-speed rail (HSR) network. </span> <p>The HSR Advisory Group was one of 12 non-statutory bodies abolished by the Abbott Government last week as part of efforts to “reduce the cost of unnecessary and inefficient regulation on business and the community,” according to the prime minister.<br /><br />“Excessive, unnecessary regulation stifles productivity, investment and job creation and saps business confidence,” Abbott said.<br /><br />“Many of these non-statutory bodies have outlived their original purpose or are not focused on the Government’s policy priorities.”<br /><br />The HSR Advisory Group was set up by former minister for transport and infrastructure Anthony Albanese. The group performed extensive, early phase analysis on the proposed high-speed rail line connecting Brisbane with Melbourne, via Sydney, Canberra and several city centres in between. The group’s report which was released prior to the election, was in addition to the federal department of transport and infrastructure’s two-phase strategic study into the network.<br /><br />Albanese said Abbott’s axing of the group was evidence of the prime minister’s “contempt for the advice of policy experts outside government.”<br /><br />The advisory group included former deputy prime minister, and rail expert, Tim Fischer, Business Council of Australia chief, Jennifer Westacott, and ARA chief executive, Bryan Nye.<br /><br />“Mr Abbott seems to think of himself as the repository of all knowledge,” Albanese maligned.<br /><br />“We know Mr Abbott said no to everything when he was in opposition. Now he is saying no to expert advice on a project that could revolutionise travel in this country, turbo-charge regional development, boost the economy and create jobs,” he said.<br /><br />“Despite his absurd pre-election claim that he wants to be known as the infrastructure Prime Minister, Mr Abbott is not interested in investing in rail projects.”<br /><br />Albanese pointed out Abbott’s policy against Commonwealth funding for urban rail, saying that such projects would ease urban congestion, boost productivity and create jobs.<br /><br />“Mr Abbott doesn’t get it. And he won’t even listen to the experts,” he concluded.<br /><br />Federal minister for infrastructure, and de facto transport minister, Warren Truss, told Rail Express that despite Albanese’s assertion that Abbott had ‘abandoned’ high speed rail by closing the advisory group, the government would in fact still investigate a proposed high speed rail option.<br /><br />“While the high speed rail advisory group has concluded its activities, the Australian government will continue to investigate what role high speed rail could play as part Australia’s long-term transport planning,” a spokesperson for the minister told Rail Express. “The process will be managed through relevant government departments.”<br /><br />The spokesperson said the advisory group’s work “clearly demonstrated that Australia will need additional transport capacity in the future to meet the growing demand for travel along the east coast.”<br /><br />Whether that additional transport capacity will come from high speed rail is still under consideration, the spokesperson added.<br /><br />“It is important in planning to meet that demand, and to obtain the benefits such activity produces, to consider what combination of transport modes (including aviation, road, conventional rail and high speed rail) will provide the most cost effective and beneficial outcomes.”<br /><br />ARA chief executive, Bryan Nye, told Rail Express that he wasn’t surprised at the closure of the advisory group.<br /><br />Nye says that the group had done its job in tabling a report for the government on HSR, and that it was understandable that it had been closed.<br /><br />“It doesn’t mean HSR is not on the agenda,” Nye said. “The government still has to respond to the report the group made.”<br /><br />Nye called Anthony Albanese’s response “an overreaction,” and said that the shadow minister for transport is “just playing politics.”</p>
