All aboard: Senator rejigs bold vision to connect WA to QLD through Red Centre by rail
A plan to connect the east to west through the Red Centre by rail is being rejigged into a ‘multi function corridor’ which will bring nothing but benefits, according to one senator.
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A bold rail plan is being rejigged ahead of a federal election with the east to west connectivity – and more – promised for Northern Territory Red Centre residents, but the senator behind the proposal says he still needs help getting it off the ground.
Queensland One Nation senator Malcolm Roberts was recently joined by his party’s federal election candidates in Alice Springs, where he has spruiked a “multi function” rail corridor for the region.
Once dubbed “Project Iron Boomerang,” the plan to connect Port Hedland in WA through Ti Tree in the Red Centre with Moranbah in Queensland has been a long process which was first flouted in the 1980s.
The plan seeks to transport iron ore from the west to the east with coal from the east being shipped back west, Mr Roberts told this masthead.
At both sides will be steel plants, which will export slab steel to countries worldwide, he said.
But Mr Roberts has spruced the plan up with the addition of “multi functioning buildings” along the line which will provide “power, water, and internet” to remote communities along the line, bringing benefits to the centre as well, he said.
At a cost of $10 billion (which will be privately funded), the project will create 40,000 “breadwinner” jobs, Mr Roberts said.
“It’s about all these remote communities that have no services. They don’t have power, they don’t have water, they don’t have internet and that’s holding them back,” he said.
One Nation Lingiari candidate Sakellarios (Charlie) Bairamis supported the plan, believing it as a solution to the regions youth crime woes.
“It not only opens up resources to remote communities but it also provides opportunities for enterprises, for opportunities for the economy to grow and also for jobs – jobs in the community,” he said.
Mr Bairamis said he was yet to take this plan to Ti Tree – located within his electorate – as he “let Malcolm take the lead on this”.
Mr Roberts said he come to the Red Centre to meet with Aboriginal elders to continue to drum up support for the project.
Central Land Council chief executive Les Turner said the council was yet to receive an application “for access to, or use of, Aboriginal land for the proposed project”.
“The proponent is welcome to contact the CLC with any questions about the application process,” he said.
One Nation coming to Alice Springs comes as speculation grows on when the 2025 federal election will be held.
Sky News Political Editor Andrew Clennell has floated April 12, May 3, and May 12 as potential dates when punters cold be heading to the polls.
In 2023, a parliamentary inquiry into Project Iron Boomerang concluded.
Three recommendations were made by the inquiry into the project: that the project proponents East West Line Parks Ltd resume talks with Infrastructure Australia; the government publish scoping studies into building steel plants in northern Australia; and the committee recommended the Department of Defence include the vale of steel into Australia’s Defence Industry Policy Strategy.
The government at the time noted the first and last recommendation, and did not support the second.
“Instead, the Government will consider Australia’s iron and steel producing sectors as part of its net zero sector plans and Future Made in Australia,” the federal government said in 2023.
In March 2024, East West Line Parks held a briefing at Darwin’s Lizards hotel to try and drum up support for the project.
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Originally published as All aboard: Senator rejigs bold vision to connect WA to QLD through Red Centre by rail
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