The Budget also provides $4 million over two years for a committee to work with the Northern Territory to help develop Darwin as Australia’s northern link to Asia. It would be chaired by former NSW Premier Neville Wran.
The Minister for Transport and Communication, Bob Collins, said the railway survey would be “”put to open tender”. Presumably, a deposit will be required to establish bona fides.
The survey would give private-sector proponents a better idea of costs. Senator Collins said the Government “”would welcome any commercially viable proposal for a Darwin to Alice Springs rail link and would support private investment through taxation incentives such as infrastructure bonds”.
Last year, the Very Fast Train project between Melbourne-Canberra-Sydney faltered after the Federal Government refused to give the tax incentives wanted by the VFT consortium.
Senator Collins said that to date there had been no commercial proposals. Part of the difficulty had been making accurate cost estimates.
Senator Collins announced also Budget provision of $965,000 for an expert task force to advise the Government on a nationally integrated transport system.
It would focus primarily on the interstate movement of freight by road and rail and report by March 31, 1995. It would also look at the social and environmental effect of the transport system and safety.
The Northern Australia-East Asia link committee will include Lady (Jessie) Kearney, Dr Stephen Fitzgerald and Geoff Stewart. It will look fir ways to develop Darwin and its region as a conduit for Asian trade and for it to be a major commercial centre taking advantage of its proximity to East Asia.
In another transport measure, the Budget announced that departure tax would rise from $20 to $25 from January 1.
On the expenditure side, outlays inthe Transport and Communications portfolio will fall 46.5 per cent in 1993-94. It will fall from 2.2 per cent of outlays to 1.1 per cent.
The reason for the large fall is the repayment of a $300 million debt by the Federal Airports Corporation to the Commonwealth; the return of $200 of capital from Australia Post; the winding down of the One Nation commitments to roads; the completion of three major transport projects and the waterfront reform project; and the withdrawal of the Commonwealth from non-FAC aerodromes.
The fall is part of a general trend following the commercialisation of much of the Commonwealth’s transport functions. It will result in a 0.8 per cent cut in staff.