The 1920s didn’t get off to the best of starts, writes Rebecca Pickering*.
Emerging from the devastation of the Great War with the Spanish flu pandemic quick on its heels, Australia faced the enormous task of rebuilding from the ashes amid a level of uncertainty never seen in the country before.
And as we suffer through another pandemic, it’s tempting to ask whether history will repeat itself. Once the virus passes, will the 2020s roar the way the 1920s did?
Will this 10-year period be seen from a historical perspective as a decade defined by change?
At the Australian Rail Track Corporation (ARTC) we believe the Inland Rail project will deliver the potential to reform the way freight and logistics are undertaken in this country as Australia reshapes its priorities amid a changing world.
Over the last three years, the resilience of Australians has been severely tested just as it was back in the Roaring 20s.
Meeting challenge after challenge and adapting as businesses adjusted to a new paradigm, nowhere has this been more evident than those working across freight, logistics and supply chains.
Suddenly thrust into the spotlight, normal everyday people began to become aware of the tremendous amount of work that needs to occur to move freight across the nation so that our supermarket shelves are stocked ready for consumption.
And let’s not forget the natural disasters that have been part of our lives since the start of the decades, bush fires and floods have been dominating the headlines like never before.
ARTC is immensely proud of the Inland Rail project and the role it will play in the future.
Inland Rail has already delivered more than 700 contracts worth more than $2 billion as we begin this massive nation-shaping endeavour – a 1700km rail line from Brisbane to Melbourne which will not only reshape the national freight network in terms of delivery times but build resiliency into our network like never before.
Inland Rail runs through 13 federal electorates, 35 state electorates, 36 local government areas and 26 traditional owner areas.
This once-in-a-lifetime piece of infrastructure, which has been more than a century in the making, has come at a time when it can most benefit the nation into the future. The construction will provide the initial stimulus, but the ongoing benefits will result in more competitive supply lines for generations to come.
There will be more than 21,500 jobs during peak construction, boosting the Australian economy by more than $18 billion – much of this spend will be in regional communities.
Inland Rail is a world class project that is delivering enormous economic and social benefits to our country at time when we need it most.
It will complete the backbone of our freight rail network, it will help businesses move freight safer, faster, cheaper and with a lower carbon footprint. It will reduce our reliance on busy roads and highways. It will continue to create thousands of jobs for years to come.
Ultimately, it will reinvigorate regional Australia while bolstering our national economy. It’s time to make the 20s roar again!
*Rebecca Pickering is Inland Rail chief executive – interim at the Australian Rail Track Corporation (ARTC) and has the responsibility for overseeing the ongoing delivery of the 1700km Inland Rail Program.
A chemical engineer by background, she joined ARTC in 2018, most recently as director planning, communications and stakeholder relations.
Ms Pickering’s has held previous leadership roles in the energy industry in both the UK and Australia, spanning policy and regulation, strategy and portfolio management, stakeholder relations, gas field operations, safety leadership, and reputation management.
