Letters to the editor, The Daily Advertiser, April 8

However, on Thursday I read in The Guardian Australia that the inquiry into the Inland Rail Project has concluded and it is now expected to cost taxpayers in excess of $30 billion. There are numerous other criticisms of the project that was going ahead even though it had no nominated beginning or end points.

Just wondering whether the ad was the swan song of a desperate bunch of people.

But I also wonder about the needless expense of advertising the project at all?

No wonder the costs have blown out.

Inland Rail, pet project of our local member, could well be the future but can we please have the route changed to avoid Wagga and all towns along the way?

The Weekend Advertiser (March 11, 2023) gave top billing to Jan Roberts with a news page headed: "Abortions treated as 'shameful'", in which she decried the slow acceptance of abortion services in the Murrumbidgee Local Health District - citing "objections from local Catholic doctors" and "the Catholic history of Wagga's health system" as the causal problem.

After all, Jan has worked for 50 years to normalise abortion in NSW.

The Women's Electoral Lobby pressured medicos in high places and politicians to decriminalise abortion - making it legal here and elsewhere.

Ethical concerns are shared by many in the community - not only Catholics.

Personally, I can attest that pro-lifers have seen the videos of little babies in utero - clearly human, moving and at times sucking their thumbs.

While most from my generation of ProLife NSW have either passed on, or are just 'past-it', a new generation of young ladies are responding to the needs of women with problem pregnancies or suffering from post-abortion trauma - never a move to 'shame' women - only the procedure.

While women have the human right to personal autonomy and control of their sexuality, the cost of abortion is too high, in terms of their own health and peace of mind, but also the sacrifice of wasted innocent human lives. What of their human rights?

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On April 6, the report of the Independent Review of Inland Rail was released. The review found significant deficiencies in the governance and management of Inland Rail.

Wagga City Council, in its Inland Rail A21 EIS Response, drew attention to shortcomings in the environmental impact study for the Inland Rail including a failure to consider wider the impacts on the city and the option of a bypass. This was not surprising since the EIS was confined to the immediate impacts on areas where new infrastructure will be required and did not consider the rail corridor as a whole.

The Inland Rail project will now cost $31.4 billion and will not be completed by 2027, as planned, but years later.

This means there is still time for Wagga Wagga to mount an effective campaign for a revised route around the city.

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