PARKES mayor, Neil Westcott, and his Queensland counterpart, Toowoomba Regional Council mayor, Geoff McDonald, have expressed deep disappointment following the Federal Government’s decision to halt the Inland Rail project.

Cr Westcott said terminating the Melbourne to Brisbane Inland Rail north of Parkes is a shock and profoundly disappointing for the community, and the nation.

“For decades, Parkes has advocated for Inland Rail in good faith,” Cr Westcott said.

We have hosted symposiums, led national conversations, mobilised industry, and built our regional future around the promise that Australia would finally commit to long-term nation‑building infrastructure, first espouse by Sir Henry Parkes more than 130 years ago.

“To see such a strategically vital project abandoned at the stroke of a political pen sends a chilling message: that Australia has become a nation where major infrastructure start and stop at political whim. That is not how serious countries build prosperity,” he said.

“The Inland Rail is critical national infrastructure. For freight and agriculture, it offers a faster, higher‑capacity alternative to an already constrained and weather‑exposed coastal route, giving inland producers reliable access to ports and international markets.

“From a defence and national resilience perspective, a second north-south rail spine is essential, providing redundancy if coastal corridors are disrupted by natural disasters or strategic shocks.

“It also supports future inland fuel storage and distribution, strengthening energy security,” he said.

Toowoomba Regional Council mayor Geoff McDonald also expressed deep disappointment, saying the decision to halt the project at Parkes represents a major missed opportunity for Queensland and the Toowoomba region.

Cr McDonald said Inland Rail had long been positioned as a nation‑building project capable of transforming freight movement, strengthening supply chains, and delivering long‑term economic benefits across regional Australia.

“Communities across Queensland were told Inland Rail would deliver faster, more efficient freight connections, reduce pressure on our road networks, and support industry growth,” Cr McDonald said.

“For the Toowoomba Region, it represented a once‑in‑a‑generation chance to leverage our strategic location as a major logistics hub.

“Toowoomba’s strategic advantages extend well beyond freight, given our region is within a 12-hour flight to 50 per cent of the world’s population and within a 24-hour drive to 85 per cent of Australia’s population, reinforcing our role as a critical gateway for trade and investment,” he said.

“One of the most significant benefits of Inland Rail was its potential to remove up to 6000 heavy vehicles a day from Queensland roads which would have eased congestion, improved safety, and reduced wear and tear on key freight routes.

“That reduction alone would have delivered enormous value to regional communities,” he said.

“It would have meant safer roads for families, lower maintenance costs for taxpayers, and a more efficient freight system for producers and operators.”

Cr McDonald said the project was expected to complement existing regional assets such as the Toowoomba Wellcamp Airport, the Toowoomba Trade Gateway, and the Second Range Crossing, creating a fully integrated freight and logistics network that would support jobs and investment for decades.

“Local businesses, producers, and transport operators have been planning around the opportunities Inland Rail was meant to bring,” he said.

“The announcement leaves many of those stakeholders uncertain about the future and questioning the long‑term vision for freight infrastructure in this country.”