Mayor Darren Power took charge as he bravely stood up for Logan City and local residents affected by the Inland Rail Project at the Senate Inquiry in Brisbane this week, calling all attempts at community engagement ‘a facade’.
The Australian Rail Track Corporation (ARTC), is delivering the proposed freight connection between Brisbane and Melbourne, with the Kagaru to Acacia Ridge and Bromelton (K2ARB) section running through the western side of the City of Logan on the existing interstate rail line.
It is expected that longer trains (up to 3.6km long) and double-stacked carriages will be used on the route, with the frequency of services rising from approximately eight trains a day to up to 45 by 2040.
The trains are expected to operate 24 hours a day and are likely to carry coal in the future.
By 2041 17,000 Logan residents are anticipated to live within 500m either side of the K2ARB route, while 38,000 residents will be within 1km.
Logan City Council has regularly raised concerns about the impacts of noise, vibration, and air quality on the community.
At the Senate Inquiry yesterday (Wednesday January 27) Cr Power was given a voice for Logan City, and he got straight to the point.
“I’ve met with the ARTC representatives on multiple occasions and many of my questions to these officers of a government owned entity have gone unanswered or responses have been completely unsatisfactory,” he said.
“The community expects better.
“It’s clear the impacts (noise, vibration, air quality, etc) are significantly over and above what residents expected when they moved into the area (Logan City).
“The increased noise will become unbearable….these hard working people have spent years tirelessly chipping away at their mortgage, their homes are their most valuable asset, only to have them devalued over night with no recall.
“My fellow councillors and I demand accountability from the ATRC and the State and Federal governments in managing the environmental impacts.”
Cr Power then went on to address the ATRC’s ‘failure to communicate’.
“While some consultation took place in December last year…what a waste of time that was…many residents are still in the dark,” he said.
“There was a week of consultations…I attended one at Hillcrest at the community centre…there were very little answers.
“The residents walked out of there upset…I was talking to them afterwards and they said it was a waste of time.
“We invited the ATRC into Logan City Council (halfway through 2020), we had them in our committee room where we asked them questions and they didn’t answer any of our questions.
“It was a waste of time. It was an absolute joke.
“We’re here to protect the residents and we don’t think they’re getting a good deal.
“It’s called a public consultation but really it’s a facade…it’s designed to pretend as if somethings happening when it’s not and when answers aren’t available.”
Cr Power said Council does not have a role in the approvals for Inland Rail, nor has the K2ARB section yet been declared a coordinated project by the Queensland Government.
“We have made our concerns clear in meetings and correspondence with Federal Government Ministers and Local Members and the ARTC, as well as in a submission to a Senate inquiry into the project,” he said.
“We will continue to raise these issues on the community’s behalf until we are satisfied that decision makers are genuinely considering the impacts to quality of life of existing and future Logan residents living within the Inland Rail route corridor.”
