Mr JOHN COBB (1:21 PM) —In the recently announced budget, over $11 billion has been allocated to target road and rail infrastructure around Australia. Just in the state of New South Wales, the ARTC will receive about $450 million to be put into the main lines around New South Wales, as we finally take over the main lines in that state. That is a stark contrast: the Commonwealth is looking to the future, building our nation and preserving our infrastructure—in fact it is taking it a lot further, given the export-oriented nature of Australia's trade. At the same time, New South Wales cuts back on its road and rail funding. Nowhere is that more evident than in country areas of New South Wales.

In Orana in the far west or the central west of New South Wales in the electorate of Parkes, branch lines are under threat of closure. In the north of the state, branch lines have been closed in recent times, and we have a lot of them. In the central west—from West Wyalong through to Ungarie, Tullibigeal to Lake Cargelligo, and areas like Hillston and Merriwagga—those branch lines are an enormous factor in regard to trade. For example, they help to get wheat to port. We all know that freight is going to double throughout country areas over the next 20 years but here we have the state government totally ignoring it.

That is happening not just in the central west. In the Orana region major branch lines from Bogan Gate to Tottenham, through Tullamore and Trundle carry an enormous amount of grain. We cannot afford to let that go. The more grain that goes on the road the harder it is for the roads to bear it. At the same time, the state government has cut back on its road funding. We are not talking about national highways. If it were not for the Roads to Recovery funding that was recently extended for a further four years, I really wonder where the state government would see our roads going in the near future and especially in the long term. We would not want to end up like Brazil, with infrastructure falling down around our ears and unable to get our goods to port. This is a safety issue. The more wheat that goes on the road—roads that were not built to carry such loads—the more dangerous it is for the population.

Recently in a mail-out to my constituency, knowing the concern amongst the population about what was happening to our branch lines, I included a petition which I asked them to sign and return to me if they also had major concerns about the way in which branch lines were being treated or, more to the point, not being treated by the New South Wales Carr government. This is not just an issue of the ARTC fixing up major lines such as the Indian Pacific line or the transcontinental line which travels through the middle of my electorate. They are quite happy to use the branch lines but, until the lines are serviced to the point where the big trains can carry a full load on them at normal speeds, they simply cannot afford to use them. The constituency is well aware of this, and over 1,700 people have signed my petition and forwarded their responses to me. I will be taking this petition to the New South Wales parliament tomorrow morning and presenting it to the Leader of The Nationals, Andrew Stoner. I will be asking him, on behalf of the constituency of Parkes, to present to the New South Wales government the enormous concern that abounds in the Orana region and the central west regarding the state of the rail lines, and the branch lines in particular, which service—or are supposed to service—the wheat industry and the people of the Parkes electorate.

Main Committee adjourned at 1.26 p.m.