Urgent call for farmers to make submissions on $14.5b project’s impact on strategic cropping land

Any landholder who haven’t already made submissions on the Inland Rail project’s impact on strategic cropping land is being urged to do so.

Landholders who are concerned about the $14.5 billion Inland Rail project’s impact on their strategic cropping land are being encouraged to make submissions to the Co-ordinator General before 5pm Tuesday.

Landholder Services principal George Houen said landholders who hadn’t already made submissions about strategic cropping land on the draft Border to Gowrie Inland Rail environmental impact statement should do so urgently.

“Farmers should ask that a regulation be enacted declaring the rail line a regulated activity under the Regional Planning Interests Act,” he said.

“That regulation is provided for in the act, but using it is at the discretion of the government and responsible ministers need to hear from the farmers who consider their strategic cropping land would suffer ‘widespread and irreversible’ impacts.”

Deputy Premier and Minister for State Development Steven Miles said the State Government supported the Inland Rail project, the jobs it would create and the ongoing economic boost it would deliver.

“But any major infrastructure project needs to stack up,” he said.

“The impacts on strategic cropping land will be fully considered and assessed by the Co-ordinator General in the evaluation of the environmental impact statement.”