Rail Groups Wants Light Rail Back on Election Agenda

Media release – Hobart Northern Suburbs Rail Action Group (HNSRAG), 21 February 2024

A Vote For the Liberals is a Vote to Rip Up the Tracks

In the lead up to the 2010 election, the Committee of the Hobart Northern Suburbs Rail Action Group (HNSRAG) felt that they had been largely successful in their campaign. Support for the return of rail services on the Hobart Northern Suburbs Railway was unilateral across all parties and independent candidates. Candidates from all three main political parties in Tasmania stood with banners beside representatives of the Rail Action Group.

Even going into the 2014 election it seemed that this tri-partisan support was still relatively strong. Indeed, in 2018 the then Infrastructure Minister, Rene Hidding, told reporters that ‘light rail would be operational in five years’ *

What went wrong?

In September 2022 the Liberal State Government announced that they now wanted to build a major stadium at Macquarie Point.

Michael Ferguson then announced in early October 2022 that their preferred option for the railway ‘corridor’ was a busway, despite damning and clear evidence that this was the wrong decision.

The Premier, Jeremy Rockliff, told Parliament that rail would cost $1.4 billion, despite the reports the Government commissioned indicating that, at most, it might be $596 million (a figure which is highly contestable).

President Toby Rowallan said, “It seems clear to us now that the Liberal State Government never had any real intention of pursuing the rail option, and that their preferred option was always to rip up the tracks to prevent anything other than possible heritage rail operations over very short distances.

The only reason they pursued the new reports was to find excuses to not go ahead with rail.”

The Liberals who stood beside the HNSRAG and other candidates are no longer in Parliament.

Mr Rowallan added; “For this coming election we know two things for certain; a vote for the Liberals is a vote to rip up the tracks and their major stadium will fail without rail. We await commitments from the other parties and candidates as to their intentions should they win government, or be in a position to influence the new government by dint of holding the balance of power.”

*His actual specific words are unknown, but it was words to this effect