Save Tabulam Bridge campaign tests Nationals’ bush credentials

SAFFIN: Lismore MP said ‘Save Tabulam Bridge’ campaign tests Nationals’ bush credentials in weekly column.

BRIDGE BRIEFING: Lismore MP Janelle Saffin briefs NSW Opposition Leader Jodi McKay on the community campaign to save the Tabulam Truss Bridge. Photo: Janelle Saffin

I VOWED to leave no stone unturned in lobbying to save the iconic De Burgh Truss Bridge crossing the Clarence River at Tabulam from NSW Government plans to demolish it once the new bridge is built beside it.

The NSW Government delisted the old bridge from the Heritage Register in 2016.

In mid-February this year, I wrote to Deputy Premier of New South Wales, NSW Minister for Regional New South Wales, Industry and Trade, and NSW Minister for Bushfire Recovery John Barilaro to respectfully request that he intervene in the saga.

I urged Mr Barilaro to stop Transport for New South Wales from demolishing the bridge, opened in 1903, and to keep it as a pedestrian bridge in recognition of its historic and cultural significance to generations of Tabulam residents.

This is a real opportunity for the NSW Government to listen to and act on a groundswell of support for the bridge’s retention, coming from indigenous and non-indigenous residents of the community, and from politicians with a bipartisan approach.

I attached a package of letters of support, including one from me, which clearly demonstrates that while Tabulam residents welcome the construction of a new bridge, their strong desire is for the old bridge to sit alongside it for another century or more.

Tabulam is a town which has been badly hit by drought and a grass fire which destroyed up to 20 homes last February.

Indeed, some fire-impacted residents are still living in sheds, caravans and shipping containers almost a year on.

My plea for Mr Barilaro is: “As a strong supporter of regional New South Wales, as you love to tell all, if you could use your good offices to intervene and allow the Tabulam community to keep its cherished bridge as an attraction for the many tourists who drive from the coast to the Northern Tablelands and vice versa, it would be a great boon to the area.”

Mr Barilaro has referred my request to fellow Nationals MP, NSW Minister for Regional Transport and Roads Paul Toole, so I hope he will be a true champion of the bush and not dud Tabulam.

I have lodged a Question on Notice in Parliament, asking Mr Toole if he will reverse the NSW Government’s August 2016 decision to delist the bridge from the State Heritage Register and allocate State funding to maintain it as a pedestrian bridge and tourist attraction.

Originally published as