Mr WOOD - 2002-08-22
The Adelaide River Railway Heritage Precinct has been named as one of the country’s 23 endangered heritage sites by the Australian Council of National Trusts. Is it true that the agreement negotiated with the railway authorities, which would have avoided most of the heritage precinct, has been violated, and much of the heritage track has now been taken up and will need to be removed. Will you, as minister, request ADrail, as the National Trust has asked, that work stop immediately and a new route determined which is protective of the fragile structures of the precinct and which allows the heritage rail to Snake Creek to proceed in safety?
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, I thank the member for his question and my answer is certainly not. I am not going to ask ADrail to stop their work and I give you the reasons why. The laying of the railway track in the Adelaide River Station Precinct was approved. It was assessed first by the Heritage Advisory Council, according to the Burra Charter, which is a nationally and internationally recognised set of standards that assess this kind of development and try to find out if they actually can be put in a heritage place like Adelaide River. It was approved and the member for Daly, in October 2000, signed the agreement - and well done - because I find that laying a railway track in the middle of a railway yard in front of a railway station is an appropriate use, instead of actually laying it on top of a pioneer cemetery, as it was requested to be done.
The other thing is that, this morning when I found out that the Australian Council of National Trusts declared the Adelaide River Railway Station an endangered heritage place, I personally rang the national President, Mr Simon Molesworthy, and complained to him that he never picked up the phone to ring and question me about the Adelaide River Precinct. He acknowledged that. I also gave him some other information about the Friends of the Adelaide River Railway Heritage Precinct, and their dream of a tourist train, without having done any costing and never acquiring an operating steam engine like the Pine Creek people did, and never having any carriages. It is a pie in the sky dream. They have nothing in place.
Mr Baldwin: Oh, I don’t know about that.
Mr VATSKALIS: Pie in the sky, and the member for Daly knows that very well.
Mr Baldwin: How do other railways of this kind start? That is a bit derogatory. It is not a pie in the sky.
Mr VATSKALIS: He also attended a meeting in Adelaide River station recently, together with those people, complaining about the railway line passing through the railway station - the railway line that he signed to pass through Adelaide River Railway Station.
No, I am not going to ask ADrail to stop their work because it has been found that laying a railway line in a railway yard in front of a railway station is an acceptable use. It will not affect the railway station and, certainly, this government is committed to protect and preserve the Adelaide River Station and the railway bridge at Adelaide River.
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, I thank the member for his question and my answer is certainly not. I am not going to ask ADrail to stop their work and I give you the reasons why. The laying of the railway track in the Adelaide River Station Precinct was approved. It was assessed first by the Heritage Advisory Council, according to the Burra Charter, which is a nationally and internationally recognised set of standards that assess this kind of development and try to find out if they actually can be put in a heritage place like Adelaide River. It was approved and the member for Daly, in October 2000, signed the agreement - and well done - because I find that laying a railway track in the middle of a railway yard in front of a railway station is an appropriate use, instead of actually laying it on top of a pioneer cemetery, as it was requested to be done.
The other thing is that, this morning when I found out that the Australian Council of National Trusts declared the Adelaide River Railway Station an endangered heritage place, I personally rang the national President, Mr Simon Molesworthy, and complained to him that he never picked up the phone to ring and question me about the Adelaide River Precinct. He acknowledged that. I also gave him some other information about the Friends of the Adelaide River Railway Heritage Precinct, and their dream of a tourist train, without having done any costing and never acquiring an operating steam engine like the Pine Creek people did, and never having any carriages. It is a pie in the sky dream. They have nothing in place.
Mr Baldwin: Oh, I don’t know about that.
Mr VATSKALIS: Pie in the sky, and the member for Daly knows that very well.
Mr Baldwin: How do other railways of this kind start? That is a bit derogatory. It is not a pie in the sky.
Mr VATSKALIS: He also attended a meeting in Adelaide River station recently, together with those people, complaining about the railway line passing through the railway station - the railway line that he signed to pass through Adelaide River Railway Station.
No, I am not going to ask ADrail to stop their work because it has been found that laying a railway line in a railway yard in front of a railway station is an acceptable use. It will not affect the railway station and, certainly, this government is committed to protect and preserve the Adelaide River Station and the railway bridge at Adelaide River.
Last updated: 09 Aug 2016