In the federal parliament, Morris topped off his officials' scepticism with his own brand of spleen, perhaps tinted by his long union experience in the transport industry. On 12 September 1984, answering a Question without Notice in the House of Representatives, he described the proposal as grandiose, likening it to another proposal to build a canal through the centre of Australia. He said "I will not so recommend to the Government that resources should be allocated to even do a study on it." As a parting shot, he observed that "if, as has been suggested by its proponents ... the private sector is interested in it, I would say to Dr Wild that he should take the proposal back to the private sector ... and let them put it forward and fund it."