Rowan Ramsey (Grey, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Today I want to speak about the Strzelecki Track, a 450-kilometre inland trail connecting Lyndhurst at the northern tip of the Flinders Ranges to the Birdsville and Strzelecki tracks, both leading to south-east Queensland. Historically the routes were opened up to service the cattle industry, bringing stock to the Ghan rail line. In later years both tracks have become popular tourist drives, but the Strz stands alone because over the last 50 years it has been the main service route to supply the Moomba gas fields, one of South Australia's greatest economic assets. While the Cooper Basin has been exploited for over 40 years, the advent of new technologies means we probably have not accessed more than 15 per cent of the resource. The best is yet to come.

However there is one important proviso here—the Strz is as rough as guts and the 400 kilometres from Lyndhurst to Moomba can take more than 12 hours in a road train. The road inflicts a very heavy and expensive toll on equipment. In recent years the Queensland government has bituminised their network to the border, and South Australia is threatened with missing out on any economic advantage. The Strzelecki track needs to be sealed. I had a meeting last week with the Premier Jay Weatherill. He has shown an interest in trying to bring this joint project to fruition, and I am working on the minister at the moment to make sure we get the appropriate attention.