Farmers empowered to keep fighting ARTC after Senate backs what they have known for decades

After five years of fighting, Darling Downs farmers are the closest they have ever been to moving the Inland Rail route, thanks to a damning report into the ARTC’s reliance on false flood mapping.

Millmerran Rail Group chairman Wes Judd welcomed the Senate Rural and Regional Affairs and Transport References Committee’s report in the Inland Rail route and the Austalian Rail Track Corporation’s flood mapping.

Darling Downs farmers working in the black soil banks of Condamine River have an expert knowledge of how flood water affects their country.

For generations they have watched the water rise and fall with the seasons.

They have seen it lap at their doorways only to evaporate and leave the landscape a mosaic of cracked soil.

Armed with this knowledge they clearly identified flaws in the hydrology study commissioned by Australian Rail Track Cooperation that would inform its decision on the Gowrie to border section on the Inland Rail.

For more than five year Wes Judd and his neighbours in the Millmerran Rail Group have said the ARTC modelling underestimated flood heights, in some areas by up to half a metre.

They knew they were right and now they have the backing of the Australian Senate.

On Wednesday the Senate Rural and Regional Affairs and Transport References Committee released its report into the Inland Rail project.

It found that the ARTC had fallen short on its assessment of the flood heights and on its obligation to consult with the community.

The report vindicates the effort the Millmerran Rail Group took in commissioning its own independent flood modelling to back up its first-hand knowledge of the Condamine Flood plain in 2017.

“The stupidity of this plan and the arrogance of the ARTC has united politicians from the LNP, Labor and One Nation,” Mr Judd said.

“Few things can unite all sides of politics, but the anger with ARTC has done it.

The modelling was used to convince the Federal and State Governments to launch an independent flood panel composed of engineers and hydrologists.

It also backed the farmers.

Now the newly minted senate report recommends that the ARTC addresses all issues identified by the Queensland independent flood panel’s findings and ensures all modelling and design issues identified are rectified as a matter of priority.

Further, it recommends that the lessons learned in Millmerran be applied to the entire Inland Rail project.

Millmerran Rail Group chairman Wes Judd was glad to see the Senate Rural and Regional Affairs and Transport References Committee back his stance on revising the inland rail route.

“We thank all the senators for listening and vindicating our fight,” Mr Judd said.

“It’s now up to ARTC to change its flawed, condemned plans.”

The report is scathing in its assessment of the ARTC’s stubborn refusal to consider the independent modelling commissioned by the Millmerran Rail Group.

“The committee is of the view that the ARTC has not adequately considered the concerns of local residents regarding the chosen alignment and their proposed solutions,” the report said.

“For this reason, the committee calls for the revised business case to direct the ARTC to consider the concerns of local residents along the Border to Gowrie project, including consideration of alternative routes to the west of Millmerran

“Had this project been managed differently, then the Australian Government would have integrated an independent panel from the outset to ensure the accuracy of flood modelling and flood plain reference design features,” it said.

Too little, too late

While the senate reports backs the Millmerran Rail Group’s modelling it is concerned that this more accurate data has come too late.

The Inland Rail draft environmental impact statement has already been released for public consultation and several major stakeholders have drawn up their responses.

This includes the Toowoomba Regional Council.

The reports recognised that ARTC will integrate the independent data into its own modelling, which is expected to take until the end of 2021.

“It is vital that flood modelling and the design of Inland Rail’s crossing of flood plains accurately reflects the possibility of flood events and does not amplify the pre-existing risk factors already faced by communities, landholders and local businesses,” it said.

As a result Mr Judd joined with the senate committee in calling on the federal government to revise its business case and the proposed route west of Millmerran.

It is an issue he will take up with Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce when the pair meet in four weeks.

“Like the Deputy Prime Minister, we want Inland Rail to support jobs in agriculture, not destroy them,” Mr Judd said.

“The fact is the current Inland Rail route will take more jobs from the Millmerran district than it will deliver.”