A LONG-time campaigner for the State's Tier 3 grain rail lines to be reinstated has called on the CBH Group to "meet the government halfway".
Speaking at a WAFarmers meeting in Kulin, which was attended by about 50 people, Australian Rail, Tram and Bus Industry Union (RTBIU), Western Australian branch secretary Craig McKinley said all of the key stakeholders in WA's rail export business had a responsibility to provide an efficient pathway to port for the State's grain.
"It is not about any one identity having a domain over it," Mr McKinley said.
"The government has been frustrated about the headwinds it has received when dealing with this issue, particularly from CBH.
"We have secured about $200 million from Infrastructure Australia already - but we need CBH, Brookfield and Aurizon to all come together and push in the same direction so we can get the job done."
With two years having passed since 240 farmers unanimously passed two motions calling upon the State and Federal governments to fund an upgrade and re-open the State's unused Tier 3 rail lines, and requested that CBH work closely with the State government to bring Tier 3 lines back into operation for a long-term, least-cost rail freight to port, Mr McKinley said fundamentally, the problem was that the task of getting WA's grain to port had been privatised.
"Those private identities are looking at their own calculation sheets and running their own race," Mr McKinley said.
"But if we are going to solve this problem, all stakeholders have to come together."
With the Kwinana CBH grain facility the largest in the southern hemisphere and primarily dependent on a single rail line for supply, limiting its ability to maintain sufficient grain supplies, the WAFarmers' meeting highlighted that the 35 million tonne per annum export facility had been underutilised since its inception and required additional rail to fully utilise its export capacity.
A motion requesting that the government plan to construct a rail line from Narrogin to Pinjarra to provide additional export capacity to port was unanimously supported by the meeting.
"This reduces pressures and dependence on the current line to Kwinana, improves the distance efficiency to existing lines to port via Narrogin and enables flexibility to reduce grain volume pressures from both Kwinana and the Albany Port zones," the motion said.
"Carbon footprint reduction sought by governments and communities is significant from the above actions as all grain takes the least distance to port."
In order for WA graingrowers to be competitive and to have the ability capture premium grain prices in world markets, the meeting also encouraged and supported the CBH board "giving formal and serious consideration to borrowing the required funds over an extended period to bring forward the Horizon 3 strategy targets as presented to growers and fast forward the implementation within five years".
State opposition leader and Central Wheatbelt MLA for The Nationals WA Mia Davies encouraged the agricultural industry to continue to work collaboratively to ensure mixed messages weren't being sent to the State government regarding its investment in the State's grain rail network.
READ MORE:
"Whether it's PGA (Pastoralists and Graziers' Association of WA) , WAFarmers or CBH - being able to come up with a strategy that the vast majority of our sector actually agrees with and putting that to the State and Federal government has to be one of our priorities as an industry," Ms Davies said.
"Otherwise it's too easy for governments of either persuasion to pick us off."
With the agricultural sector as close as it had ever been in terms of having a strategy for the way forward for the State's grain rail infrastructure, Ms Davies said it would be disappointing if the government was "given an in to separate the industry out" by not having a clear message from the industry's stakeholders.
"We have asked questions in relation to commitments that the State government have made around rail," Ms Davies said.
"We haven't been able to see detail in relation to, in particular, the commitments that have been made in the Tier 3 space.
"But whatever we end up with, it has to be a strategy that suits the 21st century and beyond for the industry as it is now and for the next 10 years."
