A special authority will be created to progress the development of a high speed rail line along Australia’s east coast, if legislation tabled by shadow transport minister Anthony Albanese is successful.
Albanese introduced his High Speed Rail Planning Authority Bill into Parliament on Monday.
The former deputy prime minister tried to introduce the same legislation in April, but was silenced by a vote led by the Government’s leader of the house Christopher Pyne.
On Monday his bill was read, and tabled for further debate in Tuesday’s sitting.
“The proposed high speed rail link between Brisbane and Melbourne via Sydney and Canberra is a project that requires vision,” Albanese told the House of Representatives.
“It is complex, necessarily involving the governments of Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria and the Australian Capital Territory as well as dozens of local councils.
Albanese is proposing the creation of a high speed rail authority as a result of a report he commissioned while Labor was in power.
“We have done the research. We know that the project is viable,” he said.
“The experts said that high speed rail had huge potential, particularly if we consider where our society is headed over coming decades.”
Albanese’s legislation would create an 11-person high speed rail authority.
The authority would include one member from each territory and state affected – Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria and the Australian Capital Territory – and one member representing the Australian Local Government Association.
It would have one member nominated by the Australasian Railway Association.
And it would include five expert members appointed by the minister for infrastructure.
“Vision is one of the obligations of leadership,” Albanese concluded in his Monday speech.
“True leaders do not just sit around waiting for the telephone to ring. They act.”
Albanese said if elected later this year, a Labor Government would make the legislation a priority, asking a high speed rail authority to call for expressions of interest from international rail companies.
What is Labor’s position on Inland Rail in this election year? No-one wants to say! I have asked Mr Albanese on his Facebook page and he won’t answer.
Inland Rail is a far better proposition for Australia.
We don’t need any more money wasted on roads………rail is far more efficient for line-haul freight.