970825 ABC News on Alice - Darwin

[arthur@gateway.dircsa.org.au (Arthur Marsh)]

                           [ISMAP]-ABC Rural News
                                      
     The following is a transcript from the ABC daily National Rural
     News program that is broadcast to all states on the ABC Regional
     Radio's Country Hour.
     
                 SA FARMERS HAVE HIGH HOPES FOR NT RAILWAY 
                    Monday 25 August, 1997 (2:35pm AEST)
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     South Australia's peak farming body has expressed disappointment at
     the Federal Government's granting of only $100 million to the Alice
     Springs to Darwin Railway project.
     Wayne Cornish, President of the South Australian Farmers'
     Federation, has welcomed the announcement though that the
     Commonwealth, the South Australian and Northern Territory
     Governments will contribute a $100 million each to get the project
     up and running.
     But he hopes that the Federal Government's failure to grant the
     entire amount, as was anticipated, won't hold the initiative back.
     WAYNE CORNISH: There's $700 million now that has to come from,
     let's say further consortium players, and the Premier seems to be
     confident that that will occur. I hope we see that confidence that
     he's displaying fulfilled, and that work will commence as soon as
     possible.
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          NT CATTLE PRODUCERS WELCOME THE GRANT FOR RAILWAY LINK 
                    Monday 25 August, 1997 (2:35pm AEST)
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     Meantime Northern Territory cattle producers have welcomed the
     Federal money to help fund the long talked about railway link.
     Producers believe it will make it easier for them to fully
     capitalise on the expanding live cattle trade.
     Director of the Territory Cattlemen's Association Bob Lee says any
     improvement to transport that offers graziers another choice can
     only be good.
     BOB LEE: Well it can only be good for the cattle industry in
     central Australia and the Northern Territory as a whole because, as
     far as transport of cattle is concerned, if the live export trade
     keeps on booming the way it is, well, no doubt we'll be sending
     cattle to Darwin by rail. Cartage of goods which come from the
     south anyway for the cattle industry further north, will be
     relatively cheaper we should hope.
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                           Rural News ABC Online
                                      
                 (C) 1996 Australian Broadcasting Corporation
                  Updated: Mon Aug 25 15:25:01 1997 (AEST)
                                      
   AEST = Australian Eastern Standard Time which is 10 hours ahead of UTC
                           (Greenwich Mean Time)
-- 
Arthur Marsh, telephone +61-8-8370-2365, fax +61-8-8223-5082 
              arthur@dircsa.org.au
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