Once again, I have heard the desperate pleas of the people this Albanese Labor government have very conveniently left behind. These are the people, the families and the businesses who have heard for the first time this year that the Inland Rail project will not go ahead north of the township of Parkes. This is after years of planning, years of negotiation and years of businesses and farms restructuring. I spoke to a family in the Dubbo region recently who have been in acquisition negotiations with the Australian Rail Track Corporation for years. Since the federal government's Inland Rail announcement in May, there has been nothing. They were left in uncertainty about their future and the future of their property. Many others are in the same boat—landholders on the point of acquisition, businesses who have invested heavily in the project that is now not going ahead and farmers who have already sold. About $100 million in property has already been acquired in my community, in my electorate, north of Parkes.

Then this family and other landholders in negotiations received a letter at the end of September from the Inland Rail that notified them all negotiations had come to an end. I quote from this letter: 'We recognise that this decision is likely disappointing given the time, effort and consideration that you and your families may have invested in the process. We also appreciate the uncertainty that this may create and assure you that this decision has not been made lightly.' The letter then states the Inland Rail understands the news 'may be difficult to receive' and thanks landholders for their engagement. Then it goes on to offer free consultation. This is the end result of a horrible political decision by an Albanese government that shows they are not serious about lifting national productivity and they're only interested in playing political games with regional Australians. Following years of talks and promises with individuals, with families, with farmers, with businesses and with local government who have taken this federal government at their word and invested, planned, moved and sold, there is now nothing—only the offer of free consultation. How is this good government?

This is, of course, only one aspect of the fallout of this disastrous decision. This project has been in the planning since 1998, when a nation-building initiative was proposed to take trucks off the road, to build our freight capacity and to help the progress of our regional towns along the route. That work has been progressing since that time. Throughout my electorate, the New South Wales government have invested multimillions in special activation precincts in towns like Parkes, Moree and Narromine. Local governments have invested millions in infrastructure planning and investment attraction. Businesses have invested multimillions of dollars on plans and built infrastructure. Families have uprooted their lives to work on the project. Whole communities have invested in this as part of their future. Then mid-development and mid-negotiations comes the announcement that the 960-kilometre stretch from Parkes to Brisbane has been axed. Jobs, plans, time and money have all been lost.

More than 3,500 people have signed a petition to rescue our rail. Even the same minister who presided over the decision to axe this part of the Inland Rail described the project last year as 'a really significant project that the Australian government is very proud to be delivering for the Australian people'. Well, this Labor government is certainly not delivering for the Australian people who choose to live in the federal electorate of Parkes. My electorate includes Inland Rail's longest new section of track, from Narromine to Narrabri. This is 306 kilometres of disappointment, financial hardship and uncertainty. In Narrabri, one business built to facilitate the Inland Rail has gone from 85 full-time jobs plus subcontractors to now just 40 full-time staff. Councils from one end of this disaster to the other are trying to make sense of the 10 years of planning investment towards this project that has gone down the drain. I've heard from mayors and general managers across the electorate that the Inland Rail is critical to their income and economic future. This Labor government cannot just leave businesses, councils, landholders and families floundering. (Time expired)