Greens to push for high-speed rail link

The State Greens candidate at Saturday's Senate election, Lee Rhiannon, says she will push to have the New South Wales south east included in a high-speed rail link between Newcastle and Melbourne.

The service is a key issue for the party, and may become a reality when the Greens assume the balance of power in the Upper House next year.

Ms Rhiannon says the final route for the train has not been determined, but towns on the Monaro and far south coast are set to benefit.

She says the environmental impact of building the line would be minimal, compared to the long-term benefits.

"Being able to cut those numbers of flights and get more people onto trains clearly has a huge environmental benefit," Ms Rhiannon said.

"Now certainly, the actual building of the line, we acknowledge would have some local environmental impact, and that would need to be assessed in terms of how we can reduce that.

"So it's one of those situations where we need to balance out the benefits."

Although Ms Rhiannon was a candidate in last Saturday's Senate election, the poll is yet to be declared by the Australian Electoral Office.

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