Josh Murray

Work to build the largest heavy vehicle rest area of its kind in north-western NSW is now underway thanks to investments from the Albanese and Minns Labor Governments. This project on the Newell Highway near Narrabri will improve road safety and make journeys more comfortable for all drivers. Driver fatigue contributed to at least 20 per cent of heavy vehicle fatal crashes in regional NSW in the five years to December 2023. For the Newell Highway, fatigue is the highest contributing factor accounting for nearly 44 per cent of all heavy vehicle fatal crashes. For too long there has been a shortage of rest areas in north-western NSW and I’m pleased we're investing in new state-of-the-art facilities which will reduce risk of driver fatigue.

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We kicked off #AusRail Day 1 with an insightful presentation from Narelle Rogers, MAPP, Executive Advisor of Rail Capability and Engagement, at the NTC.  Narelle outlined how the National Rail Action Plan, led by the NTC, is connecting people and systems to create a mobile workforce. The program of significant national reform is reducing the burden on workers across the rail industry by achieving greater consistency and harmonisation of operating rules, processes, standards and technology. It’ll mean less time lost to training, better workforce mobility and reduced safety risks. Digital transformation in rail and the roll out of modern signalling systems will require the development of new skills and competencies. This presents an opportunity to align on operating rules and worker training from the outset. It’ll support a nationally skilled workforce that can build, operate and maintain these new digital signalling systems into the future. We’re also excited to hear from our Chair, Carolyn Walsh, who will be giving tomorrow’s opening keynote on how the National Rail Action Plan is shaping the future of rail in Australia. You can find out more about the National Rail Action Plan at https://shorturl.at/ASWgK AusRAIL

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The Victoria State Government (Victorian Government)'s plan for a new rail line, Melbourne Metro 2, aims to enhance connectivity with stations in Fishermans Bend. When asked for comment for a recent article by Patrick Hatch and Kieran Rooney in The Age, Linda Norman of the Fishermans Bend Business Forum welcomed the news, though emphasised the need for swift action and definitive timelines to dispel uncertainty. This clarity is essential for advancing plans among developers and institutions like the University of Melbourne, which has faced delays in its campus expansion due to transport challenges. Linda highlighted developers' frustration, calling for concrete plans and funding commitments. “Clarity on timelines is essential for moving forward,” she noted. Despite additional bus services, promised tram lines have not been delivered, further stalling development and investment in the precinct. According to BCI Central, Fishermans Bend has $3.4 billion worth of proposed and ongoing projects, yet a lack of public transport is stalling development. Guy Naselli, Vice-President of the Fishermans Bend Business Forum and Managing Director of NSL Property Group, emphasised that businesses are delaying investments due to poor connectivity with Melbourne. “Public transport is crucial for decisions on investment and development,” he said. Read The Age article below. #urbanrenewal #publictransport #infrastructure #urbanplanning #community #developer #train #investment #funding #melbourne #melbournenews #melbournerealestate Mary Barry David Hamilton

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Just launched | 𝗪𝗘𝗕𝗜𝗡𝗔𝗥 Transport for NSW is gearing up to release an updated set of guidelines for preparing Transport Management and Accessibility Plans (TMAPs). Originally developed in 1995 and last updated in 2002, these TMAP guidelines are crucial for understanding transport network and service requirements for future growth identified in Planning Proposals. 📍 Register now to hear more from our experts - https://lnkd.in/gyGB9fhw #TransportNSW #UrbanPlanning #FutureTransport #SustainableGrowth #TransportManagement

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🚛 Reforming NSW Toll Roads for Fairness 🚛 The Transport Workers' Union of Australia - TWU supports the recent independent review of NSW’s toll road network. Chaired by Allan Fels, the review recommends: 1️⃣ Creating a Middle Class Heavy Vehicle classification to reduce tolls for smaller heavy vehicles from 3x to 2x the car rate. 2️⃣ Collaborating with the government to ensure transparency and fairness in tolling. 3️⃣ Charging tolls on a per-kilometre basis, declining with distance, to deliver greater fairness. This change aims to provide financial relief to owner-operators, especially during the cost-of-living crisis. Over $195 billion in tolls is projected by 2060, with more than half coming from WestConnex concessions. Let's prioritise the needs of the transport industry and owner-drivers. Link to the full blog in the comments.. 👇 #TransportIndustry #FairTolling #OwnerOperators #RoadTransport #SydneyTolls #TWU #ManageVehicle #Australia #Sydney

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The Minns and Albanese governments continue to partner with local governments across New South Wales to get high-priority road and community infrastructure off the ground. This includes partnering with Singleton Council to replace Brunners Bridge, thanks to $6.5 million from the Restart NSW Fixing Country Roads Program and $700,000 from the Albanese Government’s Bridges Renewal Program. It is fantastic to see all levels of government working together to make a project like this possible. Gresford Road is an essential route for residents and the agricultural suppliers of the region. This bridge replacement will allow larger trucks that can carry more freight per trip to safely cross the bridge. Replacing the bridge and facilitating access for more efficient trucks will also have a positive impact in lowering heavy vehicle traffic volumes in the region. https://lnkd.in/gV72aCAx

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How much do you know about Activity Based Models? Many Australian state government transport authorities are currently developing ABMs, which differ from the strategic models that currently underpin infrastructure and policy planning across the country. Keep reading to learn more about the basics of ABMs and how they could be beneficial to Australia’s transport planning future: #activitybasedmodelling #transportmodelling #strategicmodelling

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Where did Federal funding go for HSR? Some Australian high speed rail trainspotters must have cried themselves to sleep last night after questions were raised about Federal budget provisions for the newly established High Speed Rail Authority (HSRA). https://lnkd.in/dhSG5Nxb. HSRA was created at the end of 2022 with a Federal government war chest of $500m to prepare the Sydney to Newcastle HSR Final Business Case, the first stage of a future 2,000km Brisbane - Sydney - Melbourne high speed line. But the Federal budget released this week shows no funding for the program after the 2025-26 Budget. So what happened to the rest of the money? The explanation, its seems, is simple. HSRA's job over the next two years is to complete the Sydney to Newcastle Final Business Case, a Product Definition Report and a Pathway to Deliver Report. The Product Definition Report will use the 2013 High Speed Rail Study as a starting point, but update findings to take account of changing conditions since 2013. The Pathway to Delivery Report will be a strategic roadmap for delivering the HSR network and will be completed in 2024-25. The Report will identify route alignments, station locations, costs and benefits, city shaping and land use opportunities, and other environmental and technical specifications for the full network. HSRA CEO Tim Parker and his team need all three reports to provide the Federal government with an updated budget for the full HSR network. So step back from the ledge and take a deep breath, HSR fans. The HSR train hasn't left the station.

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Today, the Federal Treasurer will announce the Albanese Government's third budget. Our chamber highlighted some important priorities with the ABC this morning, including: 🛣️ Infrastructure Investment: "Our population is booming, but our roads, public transport, and digital connectivity aren't keeping pace," says Zac Revere, VP of SGCCC. We need increased infrastructure investment to support this growth. 💡 Cost of Living Relief: When Australians have more money in their pockets, they're more likely to support local businesses. We hope for measures that reduce utility, housing, and essential costs, benefiting both consumers and businesses. 📈 Small Business Support: We're advocating for support to help small businesses navigate regulatory changes, including recent IR Law updates. #FederalBudget2024 #Infrastructure #CostOfLiving #SmallBusiness #SGCCC

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The Federal Government has announced $21 billion of new funding initiatives under the Future Made in Australia Act strategic framework. Federal Budget include: A new $7 billion critical minerals value-adding Production Tax Credit (PTC). $3.2 billion additional funding for ARENA technology commercialisation. A $6.7 billion hydrogen production tax incentive and $1.3 billion of additional hydrogen headstart funding. $209m into the Net Zero economy authority. $168m to prioritise approval decisions for renewable projects of national significance. $500m Battery Breakthrough Initiative. $14m to strengthen high-quality critical minerals benchmarks with trade partners. $179m in additional employment & skills supports for regions. $56m in Building Women’s Careers program. $91m to accelerate the development of the clean energy workforce and to expanding the New Energy Apprenticeship Program. $777m for strong First Nations workforce participation & development. This is Australia’s biggest investment, employment, and export opportunity in a century to reorient from our fossil fuel-reliant past.

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You won't often see rail type-approval in the press, but great to see NSW and Vic governments getting recognition for their leadership on this critical aspect of national harmonisation. Not only would realising a harmonised national type-approval framework bring untold benefits to the rail supply chain and support markets of scale for local manufacturing, but help address persistent interoperability challenges which constrain rail freight.

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Interesting to see that applications are open for this fund which was announced to kick off on 1 July 2025. See this launched a lot earlier than we expected might mean if it is significantly over-subscribed, that might create some good market pressure to allocate further funding to meet the (inevitable) demand!! If we take the incredible response to the Queensland Government’s $1million e-bike encentive scheme (which was allocated within a single week!) and then had a second million dollars injected into the scheme, Minister King may find she is in the happy situation of having to respond to Australians desire to choose active travel more. The other instructive example that is perhaps even more relevant is the $50 million NSW Govt program for active infrastructure that was 300-400% over-subscribed in the last round and resulted in many worthwhile bikeway and shared path plans left on the shelf!!! Here is what you need to know: https://lnkd.in/gnDs-_iw

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The Queensland government's decision to offer a pre-election 50 cent fare sweetener has renewed debate over the merits of free (or nearly free) public transport. As opposed to other things that are more effective at (a) getting people on public transport and (b) helping relieve cost of living pressures. I'd argue that the dearest trip is that which cannot be made on public transport. 50 cent fares won't fix that. But better service, eg attention to coverage, operating hours and frequency might. My comparison on how Brisbane compares with other large Australian capitals on this is here: https://lnkd.in/gwPX_JgR

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The critical East-West rail corridor has been out of service due to flooding events on average for 40 days per year for the past three years, causing major strain on supply of essential grocery items, adding to cost-of-living pressures and eroding the competitiveness of rail freight services. Australasian Railway Association (ARA) analysis shows that four separate flooding events throughout 2022 causing cumulative critical network outages of over 300 days and cost the economy a total of over $408m. But today is for good news. The detailed modelling and long-term planning conducted in response to these events by the team at ARTC, culminating in the development of a comprehensive Network Investment Program has secured over $1b in funding to build the resiliency and redundancy of critical national rail infrastructure. This is an unprecedented investment in upgrades of existing freight track capability across the country in recent years. There is no project list which can guarantee infrastructure won't be impacted by extreme weather, but a pipeline of investment is key to improving continuity of operations in the face of volatility, and to restoring market confidence in rail freight as a key partner in critical national supply chains. Congratulations to Hon Minister Catherine King, Wayne Johnson, Adrian Teaha and the whole team at ARTC. The ARA are proud to have been able to support. Learn more - https://shorturl.at/fipxP #FederalBudget #Budget2024 #resilience #railfreight

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TAS colleagues, I look forward to seeing many of you at our Transport 2024 conference starting in Melbourne in three days time (27-28 June). In the mean time there are other things happening in the transport world we should keep in mind. Below is a link to the Federal Infrastructure Department's Net Zero Roadmap, which is now in the consultation phase. I commend anyone interested in climate change and transport to read it and make a submission. We are having a panel session on this issue at Transport 2024. #climatechange #transportplanning #transportengineering https://lnkd.in/gc7wvkfn

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Advocating for Bruce 3 On Tuesday and Wednesday We met/meet MPs who live along the Bruce. We are meeting 9/10 Federal MPs, Senators and candidates and seven state MPs including the transport and main roads minister and shadow minister for TMR. We will discuss how The Bruce is the backbone of Queensland but it has osteoporosis and the further north you drive the worse safety conditions become. The five worst sections for OT Lanes per 100 klm are north of Gladstone. The five worst sections for narrow bridges per 100 klm are north of Gladstone. The seven worst sections for road defects per 100 klm are north of Gladstone. Eight of the top ten worst fatality and Serious injury (FSI) Crash sections are above Gladstone. On five star roads near Brisbane and in regional NSW and Victoria the average FSI crash rate is 1.4. On northern two star Bruce sections the average FSI crash rate is four times higher. Around Mackay it’s seven times higher. Around Townsville and south of Cairns it’s 6 times worse, while Rockhampton to Ayr is five times worse than the FSI rate on five star highways. There’s more than 1 million people north of Gladstone who drive and depend on the Bruce. That’s 18.3% of Queenslanders who contribute 31.7% of the state economy depending on a comparatively dangerous two star road. They also contribute 2.3 times their population fair share to the national economy. The north is an Agriculture, mining, tourism and defence powerhouse and all these industries depend on Bruce. Northern Queensland is a national and international food bowl. The businesses and people who live here contribute billions in tax revenue and state mining royalties. Come the Olympics international road tourism on the Bruce is set to increase. People north of Gladstone are five star taxpayers driving on a two star highway. The Bruce is the backbone of Queensland but it has osteoporosis and needs urgent attention. Rob McCahill Steven Minnikin Dale Last Rob Katter, MP Nick Dametto Andrew Willcox MP Susan McDonald Bart Mellish Shayne Whitehouse Taha Chaiechi CITBA James Cook University Heidi Turner Trent Twomey

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