Ripper rejects Pilbara rail access speculation Thursday,...

Ripper rejects Pilbara rail access speculation


Thursday, December 06, 2007

MEDIA reports that the Western Australian Government was preparing to 'force' BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto to allow third party access to its rail lines in the Pilbara have been labelled as wrong by State Development Minister Eric Ripper.



According to news reports earlier this week, a confidential report - yet to be handed to Cabinet - proposed that the mining majors would operate the rail system but charge junior miners in the region for access to their rail lines.

However Ripper has announced that there was no report before him or the State Government.

The Minister said the ABC TV suggestion of a confidential report to State Government which made such recommendations was wrong.

"The simple fact is, there are no such recommendations before Government, nor has it considered any such report," he said.

"The Government does not intend to force anyone to grant a free ride to other parties seeking access rights. This story is simply a beat-up."

Ripper said the Pilbara Rail Access Interdepartmental Committee (PRAIC) had been discussing a draft regime with interested parties. But he stressed no such draft had been considered by the Government.

The Minister said Rio Tinto, BHP Billiton and Fortesque Metals Group all operated under State Agreements which contained provisions for third party access.

BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto had already entered into further agreements with the State containing requirements for third party access to their rail infrastructure.

Ripper said the ABC had not approached his office for comment on the claims made in their report but had used footage of him taken five days earlier, responding to general inquiries about progress on rail access.

"I explained at that time that the Government was still working through these issues, but it was a difficult exercise," he said.

"I said we needed to get an appropriate balance between the interests of owners of infrastructure and the interests of those people that seek access to that infrastructure.

"It is disappointing that the ABC has taken my comments out of context and did not clarify the position regarding rail access rights before reporting on the matter," he added.