Following the release of the Phase 2 report in late 2015, businessman Nick Cleary began taking
options on land along the proposed route of the high-speed rail line. However, he found that the land was already mostly
subdivided and therefore prohibitively complex and expensive to acquire. As such, Cleary shifted his focus to
greenfields land outside the major existing regional centres. He did not inform landowners the details of his intentions, instead telling them that he represented a "major infrastructure project". The
domain name clara.com.au was registered by investment banker Geoff Moore in October 2015, and the website was activated with only "coming soon" placeholders. In March 2016, a scheduled appointment between CLARA and the office of
Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull was reported by media outlets, along with rumours that the meeting would discuss a proposal for a high speed railway line between Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane.
The Age reported that the company was based in Melbourne, and was apparently unrelated to any other major Australian companies, although it appeared to be backed by an American infrastructure investor. Federal
MP John Alexander emerged as a supporter of the plan, explaining that it was based on a "
value capture" funding model including the purchase of regional land along the route. The CLARA plan was officially launched in Melbourne on 13 July, with
chairman Nick Cleary announcing that deals had been finalised for the purchase of land on which to situate 8 new
railway stations and
greenfield property developments, following 12 months of negotiations. The announcement followed discussions with officials from the
Victorian and
NSW governments conducted throughout April. At the event, former
Premier of New South Wales Barry O'Farrell and former
Premier of Victoria Steve Bracks spoke in favour of the proposal, revealing that the project was backed by former American infrastructure planners. By the end of 2016, however, a managing director of CLARA had resigned, and O'Farrell and Bracks had resigned from the advisory committee. In October, Cleary presented a speech to the
Australian Property Council, stating that construction on the rail line could begin by 2021. Later that month, the CLARA proposal was presented to a federal
parliamentary committee (chaired by John Alexander) alongside a competing
Hyperloop One proposal, which differed substantially from the CLARA model by gearing its service towards existing regional centres. Cleary suggested that the CLARA model could be constructed using
Hyperloop technology, but a Hyperloop spokesperson rejected the suggestion, stating that the plans were not compatible. At the same time, Cleary publicly announced that the
ACT government had not entered into discussions regarding a
spur line to Canberra. The parliamentary committee handed down its findings in February 2017, recommending that the government actively seek privately-funded proposals for a Melbourne-Sydney high speed rail link. Meanwhile, shadow infrastructure minister
Anthony Albanese introduced a
private member's bill to the parliament, calling for a dedicated High Speed Rail Planning Authority to be established by the federal government. During the second half of 2017, CLARA met with
councils along the route, encouraging them to support the project for the benefits it would bring to local government areas. Geoff Kettle, a former
mayor of
Goulburn Mulwaree Council in New South Wales, led the consultation process, stating that although CLARA had acquired rights to around 50% of the total land required, the remaining portion would become increasingly expensive to obtain because of development. Five councils ultimately provided written support to the CLARA proposal following the process. At the end of October, CLARA announced it had assembled a consortium of 13 companies to lead planning and construction of the project, including
Hitachi,
Cardno, the federal government's
CSIRO,
DLA Piper and other smaller design and construction companies, as well as
PwC to oversee the financial modelling for the plan. At the same time, its plan was placed under consideration for a $20 million federal government grant to facilitate the development of a
business case, while competing proposals from other companies and
Transport for NSW were announced. The federal government announced that the CLARA proposal had been granted public funding to continue developing its business case on 9 March 2018, along with two other proposals in different states. One competing proposal, from the NSW government, is for a line between Sydney and
Newcastle, while the second, from a Queensland-based consortium, proposes a line from Brisbane to the
Sunshine Coast. The business case was completed in 2019 but never released. == Funding model ==