$1.5m taxpayer money to be spent on a consultant’s report for rail line to nowhere

THE State and Federal governments are preparing to spend $1.5 million on a consultant’s report about linking the proposed Brisbane to Melbourne inland rail project to the Port of Brisbane.

Illustration of Neil Scales by Brett Lethbridge.

IT must be nice to be a consultant sucking on the public teat in this country. We hear the State and Federal governments are preparing to spend $1.5 million on what is likely to be a completely useless consultant’s report about linking the proposed Brisbane to Melbourne inland rail project to the Port of Brisbane.

You might recall that our brilliant pollies failed to provide for a dedicated rail link to the port as part of the $10 billion inland rail project, with the line ending at Acacia Ridge. We hear that one of the last acts of a hopelessly distracted Barnaby Joyce as deputy PM was to authorise a study of the port link even though the most obvious solution – a tunnel – had been on the table for years and is ready to go.

We hear Queensland Transport and Main Roads director-general Neil Scales is playing a leading role in commissioning the study, which will go out for tender shortly.

The fear is the study, which Scales wants completed in a matter of weeks, is likely to only look at the cheap option for a link using the existing, and totally unsuitable, suburban rail corridor through Park Road.

The obvious solution, supported by Lord Mayor Graham Quirk and Port of Brisbane, is a dedicated rail link to the port via a tunnel, but we hear that option may not even be included in the terms of reference. Less than 3 per cent of freight to and from the port now goes by rail because the link through the suburbs is congested and inefficient. The inland rail madness continues and taxpayers are left holding the can.

POWER PLAY

THERE were big celebrations down Ipswich way yesterday when manufacturing icon Century Batteries threw a 90th birthday bash.

The guys and gals from the Carole Park factory were given the afternoon off to play car park cricket with brand ambassadors Matt Hayden, Andrew Ettingshausen and Bray Racing while they chowed down on hamburgers and chicken wings. Hayden said that in a world noted for “churn and burn” not many manufacturers got to the 90-year mark.

We may no longer have a car manufacturer in this country but each year, the Century Batteries factory produces 1.1 million batteries for all sorts of vehicles from cars and trucks to boats and forklifts.

Originally based in New South Wales, the company is a joint venture between GS Yuasa Corporation of Japan and a private family company based in Indonesia. It relocated to Brisbane in the 1970s.

Attendees at yesterday’s bash included GS Yuasa’s Akio Furukawa and Century Batteries directors Emmanuel and Lukito Wanandi.

They paid tribute to the company’s employees, many of whom have clocked up between 20 and 40 years of service. The company yesterday announced a $6 million investment in new equipment at Carole Park as it moves towards its century.

YOU’VE GOT MAIL

QUT has scored a bit of a coup with new Australia Post chief executive Christine Holgate giving her first public speech at the university’s Business Leaders Forum on March 21. Holgate has promised a big review of the snail mail operator’s performance, which has been dismal in recent years. One thing your diarist plans to ask Holgate is why the two post offices near his home in Brisbane’s inner north are like chalk and cheese. One branch looks like a second-hand junk shop and is run by a surly bunch of people who don’t seem to care whether you receive your mail or not. The other post office is spotless and overseen by a bloke who goes out of his way to help you. One would think that in the logistics world, consistency is everything.