Inland freight route or 'second Bruce' priorities inspected

Speaking on behalf of the local government representatives along the projected inland freight route that would run from Mungindi to Charters Towers, Central Highlands Regional Council mayor Kerry Hayes said it was the continuation of a consultancy project that DTMR outlined over 12 months ago.

"This togetherness, or collegiate approach, is about respecting the fact that we were invited as stakeholders to have input into it, which is quite unique, and TMR is to be congratulated for that," he said.

"They've listened to the input we had at our stakeholder engagement forum, and local government suggested to them a good way of validating what we've talked to you about is to drive the route with everyone involved.

"Doing it together is a key part."

Cr Hayes said it was easy for governments to ask for individual input to infrastructure planning but doing a trip together and understanding all the elements and why they were important, meant everyone was "singing from the same hymn sheet".

"And we get the right answer," he said.

Frasers Livestock Transport representative Athol Carter described it as a 'show and tell' exercise.

"I really think people don't have an appreciation for how big Townsville is, and the industry that is in North Queensland, that services Australia," he said.

"Freight can originate from out of Townsville that can be in Perth, can be in the markets in Melbourne, in Brisbane, in Sydney and Adelaide. That's truly what this inland freight route means to the rest of Australia."

The main barriers to moving major freight operators off the Bruce Highway and onto an inland route is the roughness of some sections, along with their narrowness, and poor quality culverts and bridges, according to Queensland Trucking Association spokesperson Frances Schaefer.

"A lot of the produce at the moment can't come down the inland freight route, because there are sections that are just too rough," she said.

She was following up a statement from Mr Carter, that if it's improved, Australia's major operators would shift their vehicles off the Bruce to the inland route.

"It's just going to follow," he said.

Mr Carter said improving the route would mean transport operators would be able to do more with less, using high productivity, multi-combination road trains end to end with no break points.

"That's the problem that we have at the moment," he said.

"There are four or five major break points where we cannot run an end to end multi-combination road train.

"When we move from a type 2 route down to a type 1, back to a 26 metre B-double route, we have to reconfigure those combinations numerous times across the route, to deliver the freight, which increases the truck movements on the road."

Central Highland Regional Council mayor Kerry Hayes added that it would reduce costs all along the line, as well as reduce fatigue.

"At the end of the day, we would be delivering product to market at reduced margins to growers, to suppliers, and ultimately consumers who are paying for that," he said. "If we're doing something to make it more sustainable, that's what we're trying to do here."

Changing habits as a result of the COVID pandemic was also adding to the road freight burden, Cr Hayes said, whereby businesses were regarding trucks as their store instead of having a shopfront for people to go into.

"That just in time idea is now a factor on the balance sheets of big companies, and it relies on freight," he said.

Ms Schaefer pointed to the growth in the farming sector they'd travelled through in the Central Highlands.

"All of that extra tonnage, it's all got to go via truck," she said.

As far as prioritising funding, Cr Hayes said from a local government perspective, his colleagues would be understanding if they saw money allocated for a part of the route that didn't directly benefit their shire.

"Rather than us all sitting in isolation - we've all got parts that need fixing, but we will hopefully get that opportunity," he said.

"We believe that prioritisation studies have been done, by the state.

"I guess this engagement is a chance to validate some of that, reassess one or two."

Ms Schaefer said that by seeing them firsthand, stakeholders would have a better understanding of why their priorities may have been overlooked for something else.

Regarding outcomes of the trip, Cr Hayes said he was an optimist in that it had given decision-makers a chance to see that they'd gotten their plans right, to give it a green light.