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Media Release - Minister's Office Sydney: 17 February 2005 NSW PUSH FOR FREIGHT TO BE ON NATIONAL AGENDA Australia must have a national freight infrastructure plan focusing on getting containers onto rail and off the roads, the NSW Minister for Infrastructure, Planning and Natural Resources, Mr Craig Knowles, said.
"A national freight infrastructure plan will ensure Australia continues to be an internationally competitive economy and improve community safety and amenities by getting more trucks off roads," Mr Knowles said.
Mr Knowles said NSW Premier Bob Carr will write to Prime Minister John Howard asking him to put the development of a national freight infrastructure plan on the agenda for the next Council of Australian Governments meeting.
“In NSW we are developing strong and detailed plans for an efficient and safe freight infrastructure system in NSW.
“We’ve established the Freight Infrastructure Advisory Board, headed by Laurie Brereton and with membership from shipping, road and rail industries as well as consumers of freight services, to work with the Carr Government on our Freight Strategy.
“Our plans have recently been recognised by Mr Stephen O’Donnell, Chair of the Australasian Railway Association who said this week:
‘This proactive policy, based on a sensible modal split between trains and trucks, provides for a managed approach to freight movements. It will maximise the smooth flow of freight and minimise traffic disruption, operational delays, and congestion. Everyone comes out a winner.’
“In NSW we’ve set a target to get 40 per cent of freight coming in and out of by Port Botany by rail by 2011.
”That’s an ambitious goal given that it is currently about half that rate, with the balance going onto trucks.
“We want that to change – we want to see less trucks on our suburban roads, and more freight being moved by rail.
“Sydney is growing by around a thousand people a week. That growth in population will come with an inevitable increase in goods being shipped in and out of the country.
“But it is not enough that the states try to address this issue in isolation. The movement of freight around the country is a national issue and should be on the national agenda,” said Mr Knowles.
“As Mr O’Donnell said: ‘Rail in Australia is a national industry – old state boundaries are not longer relevant. It doesn’t matter if a train crosses a state border or not, we are all striving to have the most efficient, safe and progressive industry we can’.
“The ARA has identified that getting freight containers off our roads and onto rail provides benefits not just to the industry, but to the community as well including:
- A broader range of job opportunities - A safer industry with rail freight transport being 30 times safer per tonne of freight hauled than road freight - A cleaner environment with fewer trucks on our roads, emitting less greenhouse gas.
Mr Knowles today toured Port Botany, one of the busiest ports in the country.
“I’ve come to Port Botany today because this is the main gateway for containers in and out of NSW.
“The journey of most freight starts right here which makes it an important piece in the freight infrastructure puzzle.”
© NSW Department of Infrastructure, Planning and Natural Resources
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