Barnaby Joyce’s ‘secret’ Inland Rail deal opens rift among Nationals

Barnaby Joyce has signed on a contract for the planning of a controversial leg of the $15 billion Inland Rail project that has opened up a bitter rift in the Nationals.

Nationals leader and Deputy PM Barnaby Joyce. Picture: Gary Ramage

Barnaby Joyce has quietly signed off on a contract for the planning of a leg of the $15bn inland rail project that has opened up a bitter rift among Nationals MPs.

The Deputy Prime Minister had kept the signing of the document under wraps from his colleagues and had been intending to announce it publicly later this week.

Mr Joyce confirmed he had signed the first planning contract for any Queensland portion of the 1700km freight line that will stretch from Melbourne to Brisbane, when contacted by The Australian on Tuesday.

“It shows that we are getting on with the job, as I said I would,” he said.

“It’s a massive step towards the next greenfield construction of the line. I’m making sure my goal is to expedite this project; this is part of that process.”

The 160km leg from Whetstone on the NSW border to Gowrie, near Toowoomba, which includes the Condamine floodplain crossing, has been at the heart of a fight between Mr Joyce and David Littleproud.

The Agriculture Minister and Queensland senator Susan McDonald have been advocating for the route to be changed to appease angry farmers in Mr Littleproud’s Maranoa electorate in Queensland’s southwest, but Mr Joyce and some colleagues feared that could lead to further delays in the project’s construction.

Mr Littleproud said on Tuesday he accepted a cabinet decision for the route to remain as it was but his Nationals colleagues told The Australian the rift within the party would remain.

“The inland rail route has been approved by cabinet and I support cabinet decisions to which I am a party,” Mr Littleproud said.

One Nationals insider said they were “resigned” to the decision and accused Mr Joyce of rushing the contract to stifle political debate about the route.

“The department and (Australian Rail Track Corporation) have used poor data to decide on where to place it and Barnaby has just followed them,” the Nationals source said.

“I do think he will pay a price for it at one point or another.”

The stoush has led to accu­sations that Mr Joyce “misled” community groups by indicating he would consider local objections to the route before saying it was “settled” days later.

Asked about how the internal party feud impacted on the contract, Mr Joyce said: “The difficulties have been ironed out but now we are getting on with it.

“The corridor has been determined, that process is over, we are now building it.”

The $20m design contract could lead to a $1bn construction deal. Mr Joyce would not reveal the contractor but said it was a “second-tier Queensland ­consortium”.

“It will be 11km of bridges, 34 individual bridge crossings, 900 culverts, 950 people working full-time at the peak of construction in 2023, operating more than 207 heavy vehicles and they’ll be starting on it in 2022,” he said.

Groom MP Garth Hamilton said the announcement was a “great win” for his city of Toowoomba and would lead to jobs.

“This project establishes us as Australia’s most important inland city and will secure our region’s growth for generations to come,” he said. “Despite conjecture about the route, we saw the project’s potential and gave it the last nudge to get it over the line.

“It’s right the remaining challenges are dealt with in the detailed design phase.”

The remaining Toowoomba to Brisbane leg of the rail line has also met with opposition from community groups concerned about the impact on regional towns dissected by the line and an increase in traffic in suburban Brisbane.

Mr Joyce has been advocating for an extra 550km line to be built from Toowoomba to Gladstone.