An opinion column in the national broadsheet The Australian has weighed in on the need to build the Mount Isa to Tennant Creek rail line.
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The project is set for a feasibility proposal which has not yet been publicly released but is the subject of a row between supporters in Mount Isa and those against on the coast who fear that it will take business away from Townsville.
However writing in Wednesday’s The Australian, Ross Muir, an economic development specialist with Nexidel Consulting said it was a nation building exercise that deserved support.
Mr Muir said the rail link to Isa connecting the Ghan line with the eastern line was more beneficial for national growth and security than a Galilee link for Adani’s Carmichael coalmine.
“The project would lift freight volumes, leading to economic expansion in northern Australia. It is the logical next step following the Ghan connection to Darwin in 2003,” Mr Muir wrote.
“The connection would enable new mining and agricultural ventures, including potential mining of huge phosphate deposits in the Barkly region. It also would foster tourism links through northwestern Queensland.”
Mr Muir said the project would give Queensland’s exports access to Darwin’s port and also help reduce shipping pressures on the Great Barrier Reef and protect tourism.
“Ensuring the best freight supply logistics in northern Australia is not just an economic question, it is a vital one of national security, given the region’s growing important to our defence,” he said.
Mr Muir said there were three political and economic factors delaying approval of the project: Queensland’s government not wanting to act against the apparent interests of Townsville port, the difficulty of doing a cost-benefit analysis of a greenfields project, and the fact the federal government has prioritised the Adani railway.
Mount Isa Mayor Joyce McCulloch will be hosting a feasibility options meeting of federal, state and territory representatives on December 5.