Updated national priority list

Peak national body for Australia’s freight Transport and Logistics industry, the Australian Logistics Council, has welcomed the release of Infrastructure Australia’s updated National Priority List – “Getting the fundamentals right for Australia’s infrastructure priorities”.

“ALC is very pleased that ‘Competitive International Gateways’ and ‘A National Freight Network’ have been identified as two of the seven themes to meet the infrastructure challenge,” said ALC Chief Executive, Michael Kilgariff.

“ALC has been highly engaged with Infrastructure Australia on a National Port Strategy and the National Freight Network Plan.

“ALC believes that the function of the National Freight Network Plan Framework is to ensure the regulatory environment, infrastructure and investment are in place to meet Australia’s freight needs. We therefore endorse the view that the goal should be ‘A national freight network capable of efficiently moving freight by rail and road’.”

ALC is pleased that Infrastructure Australia has already taken on board some of its proposals including:
– The requirement that port plans should have a 20 year horizon;
– The importance of ensuring planning instruments preserve freight corridors and that buffer strategies are in place;
– Further investigation of ‘port information community systems’ (information interchanges) amongst freight chain participants; and
– The need to identify transport corridors that should be treated as if they were part of the relevant port – an identification of the need to recognise that some intermodal facilities located away from destination points act as an ‘inland port’.

Mr Kilgariff added, “ALC hopes that other elements of its submissions are also ultimately incorporated into the National Freight Network Plan, including the development of a National Partnership between the Commonwealth and the states/territories which acknowledges that land use decisions should prioritise the efficient operation of nationally significant infrastructure.

“ALC also believes that a single national regulator should be responsible for freight movements in Australia through the administration of a uniform suite of laws seamlessly regulating all modes of freight transport.

He said the ALC will continue to support appropriate nationally consistent regulatory frameworks and transparent markets to ensure Australia enjoys the full benefits of national freight T&L policy development and reform.

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