SAVE Our Rail will lodge an application for an injunction in a last-ditch effort to stop the state government’s truncation of Newcastle’s heavy rail line on Boxing Day.
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The group’s president, Joan Dawson, is expected to head to Sydney on Friday to file papers with the Supreme Court, seeking a hearing early next week for the injunction as part of a challenge to the government’s stance that it doesn’t need an act of Parliament to remove the heavy rail infrastructure.
The group will pay for the action with funds raised for its campaign to stop the rail cut, and will be represented by barrister Shane Prince.
It will rely on the Transport Administration Act that says Parliament’s authority is needed to close a rail line.
‘‘A railway line is closed if the land concerned is sold or otherwise disposed of or the railway tracks and other works concerned are removed,’’ the act states.
The government has said it does not believe it needs an act of Parliament ‘‘at this stage’’, depending on final plans for the soon-to-be vacant rail corridor land.
But Mrs Dawson said the group had advice this was contestable given the infrastructure was to be removed as well as train services ceasing, and that the government had indicated it would support development on the corridor land not needed for its light rail system.
‘‘We wouldn’t go ahead with this unless we thought we had a strong case,’’ Mrs Dawson said.
Labor is publicly backing the test of the government’s claims.
‘‘I want to improve public transport, not remove it. “This is a Premier thumbing his nose at the law, the parliament and the Hunter community,’’ leader John Robertson said.
‘‘A rail line provides the opportunity to build a world-class city and a connected region for the future.
“The fight to save the Newcastle rail line is only just beginning.’’
A parliamentary inquiry has also called into question whether the government has the legal authority to remove the heavy rail infrastructure.
In its interim report issued on Thursday, the committee behind the inquiry said it had not received ‘‘authoritative legal advice on this matter’’ and was unable ‘‘to draw a conclusion in this regard’’.
But inquiry chairman and Christian Democrat MP Fred Nile has written to Premier Mike Baird asking for him to release any legal advice in the government’s possession.
The government has said Newcastle City Council will have the final say on plans for the rail corridor land.