REGIONAL CITIES WELCOME FREIGHT REFORM

Image: City of Goulburn, courtesy Goulburn Mulwaree Council

Regional Cities New South Wales welcomes the New South Wales (NSW) Government’s intention to reform the state’s freight network, and has congratulated the Government for taking on board feedback from regional cities.

Regional Cities NSW Chair Cr Mathew Dickerson explained that regional cities have long advocated for a contemporary reset to the state’s freight network including road, rail and the state’s ports.
 
“Regional Cities NSW believes that removing bottlenecks in the freight network is critical to our state’s ability to be competitive on a global scale,” Chair and Mayor of Dubbo Regional Council Cr Mathew Dickerson said.
 
Regional Cities NSW was successful in securing NSW Government funding last year to develop a business case to prioritise local road freight choke points and to identify viable solutions.
 
“Regional Cities NSW is rolling up its sleeves to identify freight choke points in the local road network and we would like to thank the New South Wales Government for funding the first step of this important project,” Cr Dickerson said.

“Regional Cities NSW will be contributing our own independently conducted research to the Freight Reform Program once the research is finalised, to ensure that regional cities are front and centre of the solution,” Cr Dickerson said.

The NSW Freight Reform Program will consider the following:

  • Determination of compensation to be paid by the Port of Newcastle for increasing container operations as part of NSW Port Policy;

  • Review of the port regulatory framework and the regulation of the movement of containers at Port Botany;

  • Identify short, medium and long-term actions for Government to support the ongoing improvement of freight transport across NSW.

Regional Cities NSW’s policy advocates:

  • That the NSW Government funds the Regional City Road Freight Network Pinchpoint Program to enable improvements to the regional NSW Freight Network;

  • That the NSW Government prioritises an update to the NSW Freight and Ports Plan 2018-2023 to reflect the capacity of the state’s three major ports to increase regional NSW’s exports; and

  • That the NSW Government removes the container tariff out of the Port in Newcastle to ensure a cost competitive exporting option for regional NSW producers.

 The NSW freight and ports network is forecast to move over 618 million tonnes by 2036. Regional NSW accounts for 30 per cent of NSW Gross State Product (GSP) and 33 per cent of goods manufactured in NSW. Regional NSW’s freight task is forecast to grow from 255 million to 286 million tonnes in the next 5 years.[1]
 
“Regional Cities NSW looks forward to collaborating with the government to make our freight and port network more competitive, safe and better equipped to deal with the challenges of the future,” Cr Dickerson said.
 
“Removing inflationary pressures and unnecessary costs from the supply chain is something that everyone can benefit from,” Cr Dickerson concluded.
 

 

[1] https://www.transport.nsw.gov.au/projects/strategy/nsw-freight-and-ports-plan-0/part-2-state-of-freight

Edwina Blackburn