Re: House of Representatives Hansard 19971119

[mauried@commslab.gov.au (Maurie Daly)]

In article <68ermo$t4m@gateway.dircsa.org.au> arthur@gateway.dircsa.org.au (Arthur Marsh) writes:
>From: arthur@gateway.dircsa.org.au (Arthur Marsh)
>Subject: House of Representatives Hansard 19971119
>Date: 1 Jan 1998 12:02:08 +1030

>      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
>.endofsig


This all sounds mighty exciting until you start to figure out what it all 
actually means .
What the hell precisely is "The National Track Network."
>From the point of view of an uneducated politician or a Govt Bureacrat its 
simply the std guage track from Brisbane to Perth.
But lets look at this a bit more precisely.
There are many areas which are messy.
Is Roma St to Acacia Ridge which is now dual guage 3.6 and std guage the 
National Track.
How about Maitland to Sydney to Cambelltown.
West Footscray Junction to Dynon .
Nth Geelong C to Gheringhap.
Northam to Midland to Kewdale.
The point Im getting at is that there are lots of bits of the National Network 
which arnt National.
If the new crowd mentioned above are going to have their own train controllers 
I can see a bloody hell of a punchon .
Also what happens to the existing Rail Access Authorities?
I cant wait to see how the new mob  are going to get rid off the existing 
plethora of safeworking systems / comms systems , driver accreditation rules 
etc.How about for once , a uniform "National Loading Guage."
Makes the mind boggle doesnt it.
All I can say is , I wish the new crowd all the luk in the world as they are
going to need it.

MD