Member for Northern Tablelands Adam Marshall, right, with Independent Lake Macquarie MP Greg Piper today at State Parliament, moments after the Port of Newcastle (Extinguishment of Liability) Bill 2022 was introduced.
Thursday, 13 October 2022
NORTHERN Tablelands MP Adam Marshall has welcomed the introduction of a Bill into State Parliament today, which will allow the Port of Newcastle to establish itself as a leading NSW grain export and receivable facility.
Mr Marshall said the Port of Newcastle (Extinguishment of Liability) Bill 2022, brought forward by Independent Lake Macquarie MP Greg Piper, was a huge step forward in the tilt to finally break the impediments placed on the Newcastle Port, when Port Kembla and Port Botany were privatised by the State Government in 2013, requiring the State to compensate those two ports if container traffic at the Port of Newcastle exceeds a cap.
“These Port Commitments Deeds (PCD) created a monopoly for the movement of containers in NSW, for which our region’s farmers and businesses continue to pay the price,” Mr Marshall said.
“It is crucial that we move with the times and instead facilitate millions of dollars of private investment, which is ready to start constructing a new deep port container terminal, which would slash rail freight costs and grow profits for producers in northern NSW.
“Our grain growers have a gateway to world markets on their doorstep, now redundant rules are keeping the door to Port of Newcastle locked and bolted.”
Mr Marshall said when the Port of Newcastle was privatised in 2014, another PCD required that port’s operators to reimburse the State Government for any compensation paid to the operators of Kembla and Botany.
“These provisions have made establishing a container terminal and increasing capacity at the Port of Newcastle financially unviable for the owners,” he said.
“The Productivity Commission recently released a report blaming the government’s embargo on container shipments through Newcastle for ‘raising import and export costs across the container logistics chain’.
“They have led to congestion at Port Botany and a lack of competition – in fact, no competition – as well as promoting uncontrolled cost increases to move containers in and out of Port Botany, which, by the way, has been named by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission as one of the least efficient ports in the world.
“The fact is these deeds are no longer relevant and the time has come to open up our State to investment and export opportunities backing in our hundreds of millions of dollars of investment into the regions.
“The Port of Newcastle should be a shining regional jewel and is a natural gateway to many parts of New South Wales.
Mr Marshall said the establishment of a container terminal at Port of Newcastle would go hand-in-glove with the upcoming Moree Special Activation Precinct and freight hub.
“If a key purpose of the SAP is to streamline agricultural freight out of the North West, then it stands to reason steps should be taken to increase access to the most immediate international shipping port,” he said.
“Establishing a container terminal at Port of Newcastle has the potential of cutting the cost of grain rail freight by $16 to $22 per tonne – putting huge dollars back in the pockets of growers and the local economy.
“While there are grain facilities at Newcastle, a container terminal would increase the amount of grain which can be received and stored during record harvests, reducing the need to move product to the far-off Port Kembla at Wollongong.
“The Port of Newcastle has preliminary designs for the multi-purpose deep-water terminal at Mayfield and the money to proceed, it now needs the legislative framework to make it happen.
“I congratulate Greg Piper for bringing on this Bill and fully support the measures to have the Port of Newcastle released from its shackles to allow it to operate in a more fair, equitable way, in a free market, which subsequently leads to more job opportunities for young people, better results for our farmers and our businesses and all country communities.
“I know the NSW Government will give it the consideration it deserves.”