A Legislative Council committee wants a plan for a quicker journey across to Central West

A Legislative Council committee looking at fresh food prices in the state has included a bullish transport suggestion from the NSW Farmers’ Association in its final report, which was delivered on Thursday.

The committee recommended that the NSW Government convene a taskforce to develop a plan to improve rail and road corridors for industry across the Great Dividing Range.

Ash Salardini, the chief economist at the NSW Farmers' Association, was quoted in the committee’s report saying neither rail nor the Great Western Highway had been optimised for freight.

“Grain growers face an average of 300 kilometres to shift their product to the coast, necessarily travelling through already heavily congested corridors,” Mr Salardini told the committee. 

“The commitment we are looking for from the government is a sub-three-hour journey from the Central West to Sydney, and that would be a game-changer not just for agriculture but for food manufacturing, other manufacturing and the economic development of the Central West.”

Western NSW Business Chamber regional manager Vicki Seccombe said the chamber was calling on the NSW Government and the NSW Opposition to support the committee’s recommendations.

“It is important rail and road corridors are improved as it can facilitate the establishment of the food economy and can transform a major food producing region like the Central West into a regional economic powerhouse, reinvigorating regional food processing and manufacturing,” Ms Seccombe said.

“Getting food from paddock to plate to the booming Asia-Pacific middle class is an opportunity that we simply cannot afford to miss out on.

“A sub-three hour journey could also open up a lucrative east-west visitor economy starting at the new airport through to the Blue Mountains and the Central West.”

The Legislative Council committee looked at trends in pricing, comparable to other states in Australia and internationally; the relationship between the wholesale price paid to farmers and the retail price paid by consumers; and the payment arrangements between growers, wholesalers and fresh food retailers.