Inland rail: NSW Farmers, Country Women’s Association launch legal action

The Federal Government’s landmark multi-billion rail project could face a legal challenge if farmers’ demands are not met.

THE Federal Government’s multi-billion inland rail project is facing legal action as NSW Farmers and the Country Women’s Association join forces.

The state farming lobby and CWA’s NSW branch are refusing further discussions with the Australian Rail Track Corporation unless there is an independent assessment of key features of the route and transparency of the project’s management.

The two groups have engaged law firm Holding Redlich to write to the ARTC advising of its concerns regarding the 1700km project, particularly the route between Narromine and Narrabri.

It’s a rare step for the CWA to take, but one chief executive Danica Leys said the group felt was necessary to get answers out of ARTC.

Further legal challenges have not been ruled out, though Ms Leys hoped they could be avoided.

“No one wants to end up in a courtroom … No one wants to see the project stopped, we’re certainly in favour of inland rail as a concept,” Ms Leys said.

“But we want to make sure it’s done right and that the people affected get answers and adequate compensation if they do stand to be impacted.”

The letter, seen by The Weekly Times, raises concern with the methods ARTC is using to calculate compulsory acquisition costs, with the funds set aside by the Government potentially not enough to compensate the 117 landholders affected.

It also highlights concerns over the hydrological modelling of the route, particularly that within the Castlereagh River catchment, which is prone to “strong overland flows” that have not been accounted for in the “inadequate and inaccurate” modelling to date.

NSW Farmers and CWA NSW have called for independent assessments of the hydrological modelling and the Narromine-Narrabri route; details of how much has been set aside for compulsory acquisition; and clear guidelines developed for how ARTC deals with landowners.

“Failure by the ARTC to proceed accordingly will mean that NSW Farmers and the CWA will have no choice but to instruct their members to immediately cease all communications with the ARTC,” the letter stated.

Ms Leys said the CWA and NSW Farmers had been trying to get answers from the ARTC on its concerns for three years.

“We’ve had lots of meetings, lots of roundtables – we just keep asking the same questions over and over again and don’t get answers,” she said.

ARTC disputed this, with ARTC chief executive Richard Wankmuller saying it had worked with NSW Farmers “genuinely and consistently” since 2018, including coming up with agreements on land access protocols and principles.

“We have met with over 100 of the farmers and landowners that we are working with collaboratively to deliver inland rail between Narromine and Narrabri in the past couple of months,” Mr Wankmuller said in a statement.

“Those are productive meetings that will ensure that we can build inland rail to the highest standards while mitigating the impacts on those farmers.”