Re: NT govt may scuttle Darwin rail

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

In article <7svmm6$ptf$1@otis.netspace.net.au> "Exnarc" <gwrly@netspace.net.au> writes:
>From: "Exnarc" <gwrly@netspace.net.au>
>Subject: Re: NT govt may scuttle Darwin rail
>Date: Thu, 30 Sep 1999 22:59:02 +1000

>I can't remember any Labor Government that was prepared to waste money on
>this white elephant.

>Bob.

When the Hawke Govt came to power , building AP to Darwin was one of their 
primary , (in todays terms core ) election promises.
Of course after they got in , Hawke found a heap of reasons why it should not 
be built, mainly economic ones.
And Tells right , AP to Darwin is totally uneconomic , bit so are a heap of 
existing railways.
The TAR today if it had to be built again would be totally uneconomic, as 
would be building Broken Hill to Parkes.
Building Badgereys Creek Airport is also totally uneconomic , but that wont 
stop em.

It seems to me a bit hard to be criticising a private company , in this case 
the AP consortium for not being able to raise enough money to build an 
uneconomic railway, after all , this railway will eventually revert to Govt 
ownership.
There seems to be these days an ongoing trend to expect the private sector
to do the Govts work, including raising the funds,
What the hell do we pay taxes for?


MD