"The decision announced today to "consolidate" the Melbourne-Brisbane Inland Rail north of Parkes is a shock and profoundly disappointing for our community and for the nation"
"For decades, Parkes has advocated for Inland Rail in good faith. We have hosted symposiums, led national conversations, mobilised industry, and built our regional future around the promise that Australia would finally commit to long-term nation‑building infrastructure, first espouse by Sir Henry Parkes over 130 years ago.
"To see such a strategically vital project abandoned at the stroke of a political pen sends a chilling message: that Australia has become a nation where major infrastructure start and stop at political whim. That is not how serious countries build prosperity.
"The Inland Rail is critical national infrastructure. For freight and agriculture, it offers a faster, higher‑capacity alternative to an already constrained and weather‑exposed coastal route, giving inland producers reliable access to ports and international markets.
"From a defence and national resilience perspective, a second north-south rail spine is essential, providing redundancy if coastal corridors are disrupted by natural disasters or strategic shocks. It also supports future inland fuel storage and distribution, strengthening energy security.
"Together, these outcomes lift national productivity by reducing transit times, freight costs and supply‑chain vulnerabilities, benefits the country in current circumstances can ill afford to abandon.
"This decision reflects a troubling lack of long‑term vision for our nation. Productivity does not improve by accident. It improves when governments commit to infrastructure that unlocks regional capacity, strengthens supply chains, and produces benefits for generations, not just electoral cycles.
"I am deeply worried about what this says for the future of Australia. We have recently seen the Blue Mountains tunnel project cancelled, despite it being designed to bypass a 200‑year‑old convict‑built bridge. The result? Our main transport artery west of Sydney is now closed, with serious economic consequences.
"At the same time, we see post offices, banks and government agencies closing across regional Australia, lifelines for many communities. And now Inland Rail. These decisions are not isolated. They point to a growing divide between policy ambition and regional reality.
"As a nation, we must work out where we are going. That requires long‑term investment strategies that endure governments, not vanish when political priorities shift. Projects like the Pacific Highway, Western Sydney Airport, the M12, now open, and the planned Newcastle rail show what is possible when commitment is sustained.
"But unfortunately, if you live on the western side of the Blue Mountains, the pattern is clear. We have less voting power, and increasingly, we are treated accordingly.
"If intergenerational equity is the justification being used today, then I urge decision‑makers to also consider across‑mountain equity. Regional Australia should not be asked to consistently carry the cost of short‑term thinking.
"Parkes will not stop advocating for infrastructure that serves the whole nation. But today's decision makes one thing painfully clear: Australia must decide whether it truly believes in national productivity and regional development, or whether it is prepared to walk away from them.
"At the same time, this community is not interested in simply criticising government for the sake of it. We want to work constructively with decision‑makers. We want to understand the basis for this decision, to test it rigorously against the national interest, and to contribute our regional knowledge to better outcomes.
"Parkes has always been prepared to engage in sensible, evidence‑based discussions that benefit the whole country, but engagement does not mean capitulation. Nation‑building infrastructure requires resolve, transparency, and a willingness to reconsider decisions when the long‑term consequences for productivity, resilience and equity are so significant.
"Whatever the political decision of the day, Parkes' fundamentals are unshaken. Parkes remains at the crossroads of the nation's railways and at the heart of a globally competitive agricultural region exporting more than 70 per cent of its produce, unfortunately, with little or no value adding.
"The Parkes Special Activation Precinct, strongly supported by the NSW Government, is a serious, future‑focused platform to change that and unlock national productivity.
"Other advanced economies actively back inland logistics and value‑adding precincts because they understand the strategic return on that investment, and Australia should be no different.
"Regardless of this decision, Parkes will continue to forge ahead with confidence, resilience and a clear national purpose."
