MP’s vow on best rail deal

MEMBER for Mildura, Ali Cupper, has pledged to sell her support to the party with the best deal on rail in the event of a hung parliament at the November state election.

Ms Cupper yesterday called for a new deal on rail freight, as well as the return of passenger rail, instead of getting “bogged down” in the completion of the Murray Basin Rail Project that was “getting nowhere”.

“We need to change the conversation,” the Mildura MP said.

“To continue talking about the completion of the Murray Basin Rail Project is to put us on a highway to nowhere treading water,” she said.

“What is much more productive is for us to talk about a new project … a new deal for fright, and we need the passenger rail back on track.”

Ms Cupper’s launch of the “Mind the Gap” Mallee train campaign on Tuesday came on the same day The Nationals Member for Mallee, Anne Webster, urged the Federal and State Labor Governments to work together to complete the original business case, and two days before Mildura Council is expected to consider seeking a commitment from Victoria’s major political parties to finish the project in its original scope.

Almost 12 months to the day earlier, Ms Cupper vowed to “continue to fight for the Murray Basin rail project and the network and complementary projects” after the project was rescoped, completed and “hearts broken”.

Ms Cupper said her campaign launch followed a “dereliction of duty and decades of missed economic opportunities”.

“The most isolated region in the state should be at the front of the queue for rail, not at the back,” she said.

“The Murray Basin Rail Project was completed, but not to its original scope – the finished product is a far cry from the original vision and many of our farmers were sold a false promise.

“Today I am formally calling on the big parties to commit to passenger rail for Mildura and a new deal for freight.

“In the meantime, the big parties are on notice that the price for my support in a hung parliament would be rail.”

Ms Cupper said she was “exasperated” that successive governments “has such little respect for us” despite the region being an “economic powerhouse” of the state.

“The government may not listen to what I’ve got to say … they may not hear these arguments, it may be water off a duck’s back, but as a matter of principle we’ve got to say it,” she said.

“If there’s one thing about the true Mallee is that we don’t go down without a fight and we will always take the fight to them. We have that spirit of fierce independence and just making our voice heard.

“I’ve got six months to go (before the state election) and I’m not going to go down without a fight.”

Asked if stakeholders including the Mildura Council, Dr Webster and the Rail Freight Alliance were united in “fighting the same fight”, Ms Cupper responded: “Absolutely, but there’s different ways of approaching it.”

“What we don’t want is to only ever talk about the completion of the Murray Basin Rail Project which is a misnomer, and then miss out on all the potential incremental steps along the way that we could be getting now,” she said.

“If we get bogged down in the completion of the Murray Basin Rail Project, by bipartisan agreement that has been closed off, we are getting nowhere – we need to change the conversation.”

Ms Cupper said a plan was needed if she was re-elected at the November poll and held the balance of power.

“That’s my plan – it’s simple, straightforward and clear – and everyone knows where they stand,” she said.