Tony Windsor (New England, Independent) Share this | Hansard source

I congratulate the member for Hinkler and others on the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Transport and Regional Services for their report entitled The great freight task: is Australia’s transport network up to the challenge? I have not had time to read the whole report, but, after looking at its recommendations and flicking through some of its other pages, I think it contains a lot of very good material.

It was obvious to me from the contribution by the member for Hinkler, the chair of the committee, and that of one of the opposition members, Sharon Bird, when she spoke in the main chamber earlier this afternoon, that there was a coming together of views on this issue. It is a unanimous report that engages the problem, as the member for Hinkler said, of trying to get across state boundaries by addressing some of the issues at the local, state and federal government levels. So I would concur with what the member for Hinkler has said. I just hope that this report, which many people have put a lot of effort into, does not end up gathering dust somewhere. As the opposition and the government are one on this issue, I would urge them both to keep on with it. Irrespective of who wins the next election, there are matters in this report that need to be addressed for the national good, and we should pursue them.

I am pleased to see that some of these issues have been addressed in an objective sense. That is very important because it gives the report much more credibility. In the Hunter area, there are various problems with the coal-loading facilities at the Newcastle port.

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