There are three things wrong with the mad route insisted on by Barnaby Joyce. Firstly, maintenance costs. The Condamine floodplain isn't the only problem - the route also goes over the black soil around Moree. As NSW Railways is well aware, black soil turns to mush in the wet, even without a flood. Freight trains would sink into it and stay there.

Secondly, higher costs to customers. Trains have to compete with trucks, but Joyce made the railway take a huge diversion (Werris Creek to Moree to Goondiwindi before even pointing towards Toowoomba and Brisbane), so that trucks would always have an advantage in both time and customer charges. Instead, from Werris Creek the line should follow and rebuild existing tracks through New England and Warwick to Toowoomba. On steep sections, there's no need for any extra thought or originality - just electrify those stretches of track, like the Kiwis did at Arthur's Pass on the South Island.

Sharp-eyed Queensland readers have spotted already that this route goes through Barnaby Joyce's own electorate. Yes, for just once, pork-barrelling would be in the national interest. But for some reason best known to a psychologist, when Joyce was National Party leader he insisted that the pork-barrelling had to be that of John Anderson, a long since retired National Party leader whose electorate had been based on Moree - and to hell with the running expenses.

Thirdly, opportunity costs. Building the Brisbane-Melbourne railway through New England will have the effect of duplicating and unclogging the Brisbane-Sydney railway. At present, there is only a single-track line up the NSW North Coast, useless for the traffic which it should carry. Duplicating it on the coast would bankrupt the nation because of the necessary bridges, starting with a new one over the Clarence at Grafton. But routing the Melbourne railway through New England means the Brisbane-Sydney line would be duplicated for free (the Brisbane-Sydney distances are much the same). Yes, that's right, two lines for the price of one. Better for Queensland, better for NSW, better for Australia.

I'm so glad that a group of Darling Downs farmers have finally been able to get the tin ear of the Federal government on what's wrong with Anderson and Joyce's mad railway. City slickers from Sydney and Canberra have been saying all this for over thirty years, but no part of the LNP would pay any attention whatever.

Grant Agnew, Coopers Plains Qld

Just a question, are other residents of Tamworth sick of picking up or finding dog poo on their front lawns and footpaths? I know we are. We have tried tying dog waste bags nearby for anyone to use without much success. Owners should realise it's offensive, anti- social, germ spreading and outright laziness. Surely it's time for Council to enforce their regulations in relation to this.

B. Johnson, Tamworth