Member for Kennedy Bob Katter has thrown his full support behind Chatham Rock Phosphate Limited\u2019s proposal to build a rail link from Cloncurry to Karumba, hailing it as a bold and long-overdue vision to open up the region\u2019s economic potential.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe applaud them,\u201d the federal MP said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cSince my grandfather\u2019s time, which was a long time ago, we have been waiting for a railway line from the North West to the Gulf. They were building it once, but when they struck gold, they stopped at Julia Creek.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThis company is doing what governments have failed to do for over a century \u2013 they\u2019re getting on with the job, and I wholeheartedly applaud anyone involved.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Mr Katter noted the proposed use of light rail from Nardoo Station for part of the journey, dramatically reducing transport costs. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
He also noted current reports indicated a high cost per tonne was incurred to move raw materials \u2013 something light rail and water transport could reduce significantly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The long-time MP said it was time to reconsider using man-made canals, connecting with existing river systems in the Gulf, to make exporting more viable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cMaterials can be moved into the Leichhardt River Canals using the Panamax-class vessels,\u201d Mr Katter said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cOnce on water, freight costs are slashed dramatically. This isn\u2019t a transport solution; it is a nation-building project. It opens up vast areas of untapped wealth, gives us the infrastructure we should have had generations ago, and puts Australian enterprise back in the driver\u2019s seat.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Mr Katter said he hoped all levels of government would support the initiative, but stressed that even without it, the private sector leadership shown here was a more than welcome change.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cToo many times, we see bureaucrats and politicians sitting on their hands while regional Australia gets left behind. Well, these people aren\u2019t waiting. They are building, and we should be backing them,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The MP believes the use of canals in the Gulf could make the job even easier.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":265169,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[167,47],"tags":[17717,17718,7465],"class_list":["post-265168","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-queensland-rail","category-rail-news","tag-cloncurry","tag-karumba","tag-queensland"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/265168","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=265168"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/265168\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":265170,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/265168\/revisions\/265170"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/265169"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=265168"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=265168"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=265168"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}