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House of Representatives Hansard 19971119



      Australian House of Representatives Hansard for 19th November 1997
                                       
                           QUESTIONS WITHOUT NOTICE
                                 Rail Industry
   
   Mr NEVILLE--My question is addressed to the Minister for Transport and
   Regional Development. Could the minister advise the House of the
   significance of the historic rail agreement reached with the state
   transport ministers last Friday. How will this lead to continuing
   reform and growth in the Australian rail industry and how does it
   contrast to the mismanagement of Australia's rail industry under the
   previous Labor government?
   
   Mr VAILE--I thank the honourable for Hinkler for his question. We
   should note the interest of the member in the rail industry in
   Australia. I will answer the last part of the question first in regard
   to how that contrasts with the Labor Party's record on rail. They were
   never able to achieve this sort of an agreement with the states,
   whereas the Howard/Fischer government has.
   After 142 years of the operation of freight rail in Australia, we have
   finally reached an agreement where there is going to be one
   organisation controlling access to the national track network from
   Perth right through to Brisbane. That agreement was reached last
   Friday in consultation with all the states and with the agreement of
   all the states, those states being New South Wales, Victoria, South
   Australia, Western Australia and Queensland where the honourable
   member's seat is located.
   This process was begun earlier this year in Melbourne by the former
   minister, the member for Hume, who had the foresight to get a focus on
   a national vision as far as rail freight in Australia is concerned,
   and tried to get a far more efficient industry with on-track rail
   services. With the development of this agreement we now move forward
   with the establishment of the Australian rail track corporation which
   will control and negotiate track access and train paths all the way
   from Perth, right through the eastern states and up to Brisbane.
   The new company will operate commercially and will generate freight
   growth on rail. It will create a more efficient rail network and
   long-term jobs in rail. Most importantly, it will create uniformity in
   operating regulatory systems within the rail network in Australia. It
   was an historic achievement by the Howard/Fischer government.
   We should contrast that with the Australian Labor Party's record as
   far as rail in Australia is concerned. They do not have a very good
   track record on rail. The policy they had with regard to AN saw the
   loss of 7,000 jobs. We have turned that around. We have privatised the
   operations of AN and stemmed the flow of jobs out of AN which was
   bleeding under Labor. That is not just the view of this government;
   that is also the view of some high profile people within the Labor
   Party.
   It was interesting to note some comments made by Senator Schacht in a
   Senate estimates committee hearing last week. When they were talking
   about the sale of AN, he said with regard to the arrangements set up
   under Labor:

. . . and all I can say in my weak defence is that I got outvoted in the
caucus of the Labor Party on that crazy decision. Those of us who had our hands
up saying, `This is crackers' have all been proven 100 per cent right.

   The managing director of AN, Mr Andrew Neal, said that that was the
   reason why AN's demise occurred and Senator Schacht responded:

Absolutely. And I can tell you who the guilty parties are: two state rail
systems aided and abetted by the Railways Union of Australia. . .

   Mr Tanner--And is that the federal government's fault?
   Mr VAILE--Senator Schacht is talking about your policy as it was in
   the previous government. Senator Schacht went on to say:

. . . `This is the way we will rob money from the federal government for a
new national rail corporation.' Based on what they wanted they were successful,
but of course they rooted the whole system. Neil O'Keefe and I and a few others
all voted against it, but we got done by the vested interests of those three
groups. And you--

   that is AN--

are the poor victim.

   They were Senator Schacht's words last week. That has come from that
   side of the political spectrum.
   It is important to note in closing in response to the member for
   Hinkler's question, that the Howard/Fischer government has achieved a
   great national goal in establishing a corporation that can manage the
   track network for freight across the Australian rail network, instead
   of it being run by five or six parochial fiefdoms of the states. All
   parties should acknowledge that and it would go a long way towards
   improving the efficiency of transport in Australia.
   
-- 
Arthur Marsh, telephone +61-8-8370-2365, fax +61-8-8223-5082 
              arthur@dircsa.org.au
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