Queensland Transport and Logistics Council Chairman Neil Findlay welcomed in new Chief Executive Officer Renata Berglas (pictured) this week. Renata is taking over the role following Charles Burkes’ move back to the Department of Agriculture and Fisheries to head up the team transitioning the Queensland Agriculture Colleges.   

Renata brings with her a wealth of skills in industry engagement, issue identification and navigating government to achieve results. Her previous roles in the Department of Agriculture and Fisheries and AgForce Queensland Farmers provide a strong base in policy development and application. She has found pathways to progress industry issues, amend legislation to facilitate competitive markets and collaborated with Government on biosecurity strategy development and action planning from industries perspective. 

Queensland is a net commodity exporter with 85 per cent of this being coal and the next largest commodity exported is beef. Where coal has a direct freight task to port, reliable supply and dedicated rail slots, beef is complex often intermodal and unique. The movement of live cargo hauled by small one truck businesses through to large scale operations, from breeding property, to fattening and on to processing facilities primarily in the South East of the state. Followed by truck transportation of finished product through to the port. 

    “Facilitating agricultural freight networks is my comfortable place and I am looking forward to expanding my horizons with general freight in this role.” Renata said.

    “The QTLC is in a good space with a new strategic plan, and engagement strategy. We are focused on growing our stakeholder base and delivering value to industry participants. QTLC is primed and ready to take on new challenges build partnerships and grow.” Neil said 

Added to this the Government has now released the much anticipated Queensland Freight Strategy – Advancing Freight in Queensland and plans to develop a two year rolling action plan. There are clear opportunities in the strategy to leverage industry investment and facilitate improved freight outcomes, and QTLC is in a unique position to facilitate engagement and articulate the issues. 

    “I am looking forward to seizing all opportunities to work with industry, identifying constraints in the system and collaborating with government to find public private answers to Queensland freight task.” Renata said

• Central Queensland Transport Supply Chain Forum
• Rail Freight Use by Agriculture and Livestock Industries Public Hearing
• Meeting with Minister– Department of Transport and Main Roads.
• Meeting with Assistant Minister Jamie Briggs – Department of Infrastructure and Regional Development and Mr David Whitrow, Chief of Staff, Office of the Deputy Prime Minister Warren Truss
• QTLC Members Meeting
• QTLC Board Meeting
• Australian Freight Council Meeting
• Submission to Australian Government for ongoing funding for freight councils

The 5th Annual Queensland Transport Infrastructure Conference provides delegates with an opportunity to discuss the topics and issues that impact delivering and maintaining Queensland’s transport infrastructure.

As an endorser of the Conference this year the QTLC looks forward to supporting an event that provides a forum for discussions around prevailing transport infrastructure issues including; evaluating prioritisation, planning and delivery of critical transport infrastructure projects.

Attendees will hear presentations and case studies from distinguished experts discussing the latest news and developments relevant to the transport industry.

For further information about the Conference and to register please CLICK HERE.

THE Premiers of Queensland and Western Australia and the Chief Minister of the Northern Territory recently agreed to join a new Strategic Partnership to inform the development and implementation of Australia’s first Northern Australia White Paper.

Northern Australia is broadly defined as the parts of Australia north of the Tropic of Capricorn, spanning Western Australia, Northern Territory and Queensland; an area of approximately three million square kilometres with a population of around one million people.

The White Paper will set out a clear, well-defined and timely policy platform for promoting the development of Northern Australia with a view to more investment, infrastructure, jobs and services, , including a plan for implementing these policies over the next two, five, 10 and 20 years..

The White Paper will provide pathways to harness opportunities which capitalise on the region’s strengths, including ways to advance trade, cultural and investment links with the Asia Pacific region, and to provide the best regulatory and economic environment for business.  It will also identify the critical infrastructure needed to support the long-term growth of the region, ways to incentivise public and private planning and investment while tackling impediments to growth.

The Strategic Partnership will be supported by an Advisory Group made up of business, community and Indigenous leaders of the north. This group will meet for the first time in the coming months.

A Parliamentary Joint Select Committee on Northern Australia has also been formed, chaired by the Hon Warren Entsch MP, which is making a valuable contribution to the Government’s agenda for the north. This Committee will commence community consultation next month and report to Parliament in July.

Aligning with the focus of the White Paper on Developing Northern Australia, the QTLC is engaging with government to highlight the importance of increasing access along the Inland Freight Corridor to deliver productivity and safety benefits for the movement of livestock, agricultural commodities and general freight between South East and Far North Queensland.

The government will produce a White Paper on Developing Northern Australia within 12 months.  More information regarding the White Paper can be found at http://northernaustralia.dpmc.gov.au/.

A significant upgrade to Queensland’s inland highway network could substantially reduce transport costs for the livestock industry, new research from Australia’s scientific research body has found.

The CSIRO has developed a suite of mapping tools to analyse the worth of small and large infrastructure projects to the livestock sector.

It found that upgrading 510km of highway between Clermont and Roma to accommodate type 2 road trains and removing tick clearing requirements for cattle being taken to slaughter could save the industry $75.6 million – a 19 per cent reduction in livestock transport costs.

The tools also found that building a new abattoir at Darwin could provide a $13.2 million dollar fillip to seven Northern Territory property owners, who currently send cattle an average of 2,047km to Queensland abattoirs. The CSIRO says the new abattoir would reduce average distance travelled to 835km.

The CSIRO spent two years developing the tools, which incorporate data from more than 50,000 properties, 88,000 origin to destination combinations and more than 1.5 million recorded vehicle movements.

The tools take into account truck configuration, livestock weight and changing road conditions.

Queensland, Western Australia, the Northern Territory and the Federal Government funded the research to address a shortfall in information on infrastructure investment.

 The report Livestock Industry Logistics: Optimising Industry Capital Investment and Operations and the suite of tools are available online at www.csiro.au/livestocklogistics