Story by Hamish Broome •
FORMER BALLINA MP Don Page has warned that sections of the rail corridor could eventually be in the hands of private developers if the region didn’t back the construction of “one of the best rail trails in the world”.
In practice, watering down legislative protections for the rail corridor is a big obstacle for any government.
Under Section 99A of the Transport Administration Act 1988, any closure or disposal of rail lines can only be authorised by Parliament, rather than an individual Minister.
A proposed bill by the Rees Labor government in 2009, came close to removing protections on all disused rail corridors across NSW, but it failed to pass.
In Parliament last week NSW Greens MP Dr Mehreen Faruqi asked Transport Minister Andrew Constance to commit to keeping the Casino to Murwillumbah corridor in public hands”.
Mr Constance replied: “One of the great elements of railway infrastructure is a Minister can turn off the service but cannot dispose of the assets; it requires an Act of Parliament to do that.” He went on to say: “I am not coming forward to dispose of any asset in this regard.”
But while this gives the 132km corridor protection for now, Mr Page said today that protection was by no means a permanent guarantee.