Country Labor convener and

Tamworth-district resident Christine Robertson has suggested that changes to laws around disused rail lines would benefit rural communities across the state.

Well, we’re pretty sure that those rural communities would rather the trainloads of wheat and other grains were on the rails rather than heavy transports chopping up the roads that have to be repaired by local government while her government fritters away any chance of keeping this state on an even financial keel.

What sort of message does this send to regional and rural people: get on your bikes and ride along the rail beds while your roads are chopped up by B-doubles of grain.

The MLC – who unfortunately won’t be up for election in March 2011 – notes, “Changes to the use of these disused rail lines will only happen after extensive community consultation.”

Where was the community consultation when the decisions were taken to close lines like the Weemelah line near Moree?

Regional community leaders who read the MLC’s supposedly well-meaning intentions for old rail lines will be gritting their teeth as sealed roads are being changed back into dirt surfaces because of the damage heavy transports incur while carting freight that used to be hauled on rail wagons.

This government deserves censure on so many levels for how it has treated rural and regional NSW: maternity wards dwindling, allied health services winding back and air services non-existent in the far western reaches of the state.

Yes, the idea proposed for disused rail lines has worked in other states, but one can hardly imagine bike tours on those western rail lines keeping nearby communities afloat.

This is just another example of hands-off government management.