Landowners directly impacted by the Inland Rail could be entitled to compensation for noise abatement and access – not just for land acquisition – Parkes MP Mark Coulton says.
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The government announced its preferred study corridor around the south-east of Narromine late last year, a decision which was received with anger by some residents of the High Park and Villeneuve estates who found themselves within the two-kilometre wide area.
While compensation would be available for land acquisitions, many landowners had expressed concern they would not be compensated for any loss of the lifestyle which had attracted them to the area.
On Thursday Mr Coulton took questions from the media in Dubbo ahead of his return to Canberra for the 2018 Parliamentary year, including a range of questions on the $8.4 billion Inland Rail project.
When asked whether the federal government and the Australian Rail Track Corporation (ARTC) – the body delivering the project – would compensate for losses other than physical land, Mr Coulton said: “there is money”.
He said the government had $580 million set aside for compensation.
“Obviously it won't be a spot where everyone will be happy, and everyone has different points of view. I’ve had people who are going to be a kilometre away from it are upset because it’s going to impact them with noise … and others that have got it coming quite close to their property so we need to do the best that we can,” Mr Coulton said.
“Where it’s inevitable that … the rail line will impact on people then there needs to be a conversation around compensation and how that might work.
“There’s quite a large criteria, from obviously the purchase of land that would be required, to noise abatement and a large number of other things, and access as well. It might be about having appropriate crossings for vehicles, maybe underpasses for livestock as well.”
When the Moree bypass was constructed, “some of the motels got double glazing to reduce noise”, Mr Coulton said, which could be another option to make the rail line more acceptable for Narromine residents in close proximity to the line.
“Obviously different people have different levels of acceptance. Some people, I’d be quite happy to have a train go past my place because I’m a bit of a train nut,” he said.
“Other people don’t find that and obviously in many cases people have lived in relative isolation where this line goes so they’re not used to, nowhere in their plans was there going to be a railway line going through.
“This is an important project for the country and we will do the best we can to alleviate those problems but ultimately when they can’t be alleviated, hopefully they can be through compensation.”
Principal at Victorian-based law firm Maddens Lawyers, Brendan Pendergast, said many rural and regional landowners positioned on, or adjacent to, the new sections of track will have their land compulsorily acquired by the NSW and Queensland governments.
He said property owners often misunderstood and underestimated the financial impacts associated with the compulsory acquisition of their land, and the heads of loss they were entitled to recover.
“Valuation fees, stamp duty and conveyancing costs, loss of use of the land, relocation costs, consequential financial losses and solatium or non-financial disadvantage are some of the impacts for which compensation is recoverable,” Mr Pendergast said.
“This is why we recommend landowners seek advice from an experienced lawyer so that they ensure they secure the full measure of compensation to which they are entitled to by law.”
Mr Coulton said the discussion was “academic”, with more work to be done before the two-kilometre wide study corridor is narrowed to the final, 40 to 60 metre alignment.
