General News
13 May, 2026
Federal government ditches Inland Rail in May budget
The federal budget, delivered on May 12 did not include funding to complete the Inland Rail.
The dumping of the funding ahead of the budget, was announced by federal infrastructure, transport, regional development, and local government minister, Catherine King, on May 6. After it was revealed costs for the competition of the project are now expected to blow out to $45 billion, the Inland Rail will effectively end at Parkes. This will enable increased freight transportations from Perth to Victoria, via Parkes, not Melbourne-to-Brisbane.
Local government areas in NSW are directly affected by the project’s cancellation, including Gilgandra, with communities and local councils already preparing for the influx of jobs and money into local economies.
Sections of the Inland Rail are already complete including Parkes-to-Narromine and Narrabri-to-North-Star. The greenfield section from Narromine-to-Narrabri (N2N) which transverses Gilgandra, was more recently put on hold by the federal government.
Gilgandra Shire Council’s mayor, Doug Batten, said the announcement that the federal government will now ditch the completion funding is “disappointing” for Gilgandra.
Mayor Batten said while the construction expenditure commitment has been withdrawn, Inland Rail have advised that the environmental approvals and corridor acquisition within the N2N section will continue.
“It’s disappointing to see funding for Inland Rail north of Narromine suspended, particularly given the expectations it created for regional communities like Gilgandra,” said mayor Batten.
“That said, the work and development undertaken by Gilgandra Shire Council to prepare for the Inland Rail project since 2017 has been positive.
“Council and our community have invested in planning, infrastructure readiness and workforce capacity to support major projects like this, and that has positioned Gilgandra well to attract future investment opportunities particularly around the renewable energy projects.
“Whilst the federal government has withdrawn their construction funding for the Inland Rail (north-south rail alignment), it does present an opportunity for the NSW government to focus on improving their east-west rail corridors linking western areas of NSW with efficient rail to the eastern ports.
“As we know efficient freight movement to/from regional areas to the ports is critical,” said mayor Batten.
Mayors and representatives of the affected NSW local government areas, including Gilgandra’s deputy mayor, Nick White, met with NSW Nationals leaders and federal member for Parkes, Jamie Chaffey at NSW parliament last week to “send a clear message to minister King and the prime minister: stop the pork-barrelling in metropolitan areas and deliver the Inland Rail in full”.
Inland Rail released their own media statement late last week, confirming that “Inland Rail remains committed to successfully completing all sections of the project from Beveridge (Victoria)-to-Parkes by 2027”.
“Inland Rail has been focusing our construction activities on the Beveridge-to-Parkes section of the project since a staged approach to delivery was recommended by the independent review into Inland Rail in April 2023 and has made substantial progress towards delivery.
“The government also confirmed that it is focused on working with the Queensland and NSW governments to preserve the rail corridor north of Parkes. We are working through the details of this currently with the federal government.
“This work will be led by our new permanently appointed chair of the board, Dr Collette Burke, and by our incoming chief executive officer Dr Sean Sweeney, who will begin with Inland Rail on July 1, 2026. Dr Sweeney has substantial experience in delivering major infrastructure projects, including serving as program director at the MetroLink project in Dublin and as the chief executive officer of Auckland’s City Rail Link, and was appointed following a global executive search.
Dr Collette Burke, chair of board of Inland Rail said “Seeing the leadership of this talented team through the next critical stages of project delivery will be a personal career highlight, and I look forward to working closely with our project partners and key stakeholders to deliver on our commitments.”
On Monday, May 11, the coalition launched a ‘Rescue our Rail’ online petition. Federal leader of The Nationals, senator Matt Canavan, said Labor’s decision to scrap the Inland Rail project halfway through was devastating for regional communities and must be overturned. “It would be groundbreaking for communities including Beveridge, Albury, Illabo, Stockinbingal, Parkes, Narromine, Narrabri, Moree, Toowoomba, and Ebenezer near Ipswich, but its impact would be felt across the entire country,” senator Canavan said.
“That’s why the coalition is asking regional families and businesses to sign the petition to tell Labor to reverse the decision, finish Inland Rail and back our regions.”
At the same time, it has also been revealed that another $3.8 billion will be spent on Victorian Labor’s unfunded $200 billion Melbourne Suburban Rail Loop. Shadow minister for infrastructure and transport, Bridget McKenzie, said Inland Rail was a once-in-a-generation project to connect our regions, get freight off our roads, and back the industries that feed and power Australia.
“The Inland Rail is an investment in the future of a more productive and prosperous Australia but by axing this project the Albanese government is more about short term spending taking priority over long-term productivity enabling infrastructure,” senator McKenzie said.
“The Inland Rail would take 200,000 truck movements off our roads and cut freight sector carbon emissions by 750,000 tonnes per year by 2050. But Labor is treating our regional communities with contempt, in an attempt to redirect taxpayer funds to bail out the failing Victorian Labor government.
“This is another Labor betrayal of regional Australia and we won’t accept it.
“Businesses have invested in plant and equipment to build the rail, moved their warehouses to be on the route, families uprooted their lives to work on the project and whole communities invested everything in the future it promised.
“Every business decision, every family that moved, every community that planned around Inland Rail - Labor wants to throw it all away.”
