Wednesday, 11 September 2024

Public Accounts and Estimates Committee

Report on the 2023–24 Budget Estimates

David SOUTHWICK (Caulfield) (10:42): I rise to speak on the report on the 2023–24 budget estimates from the Public Accounts and Estimates Committee. Particularly I want to point out section ‍6.4 around transport infrastructure and the Suburban Rail Loop, and finding 53, which suggests the pause in Commonwealth funding decisions may result in financial impacts and project delays in the state capital program but these impacts cannot yet be determined. This is very, very important, because what this says is that if the federal government do not provide funding to the state government for some of these major projects, that could not only jeopardise the ability to deliver these projects but also impinge on things like our credit rating and our financial stability and ultimately cause huge issues in terms of where this state is going and where it is seen internationally in terms of consumer confidence, rising debt and paying for that debt.

Unfortunately once again this government pulled the wrong lever, because following that, in terms of uncertainty of Commonwealth funding, the government did not pause the Suburban Rail Loop, which everyone has been calling for – the government paused airport rail. By pausing airport rail after spending $1 billion we see a situation where a project that has been supported by the Commonwealth government has been paused by the Allan Labor government to instead pursue a very, very expensive, and unfunded by the Commonwealth, Suburban Rail Loop that unfortunately is seen by so many people except the Premier as a project that nobody is calling for and that everybody is suggesting desperately needs to be paused so Victorians can afford to get out of the debt that we currently have and so we can do many projects right across the state.

This is the fundamental mistake that the government has made despite lots of advice and having many people time and time again say, ‘Do the right thing: the Suburban Rail Loop is a project that Victorians cannot afford.’ Pursuing $216 billion worth of project that we simply cannot afford, when you are pausing a project like airport rail that has overwhelming support, ultimately simply does not make sense. I am raising this today especially because there is a Resolve poll out that backs up what I am saying. The Resolve poll not only talks about the fact that the Allan Labor government is becoming more unpopular than black M&M’s; it simply is a situation because of projects like this. Labor cannot manage money and major projects, and Victorians are paying the price. This is playing out.

The Allan Labor government has ignored all the advice about the Suburban Rail Loop. The Resolve poll says Victorians want airport rail. A billion dollars has been wasted on airport rail, and it has been stalled at the expense of the Suburban Rail Loop. How many times does the Premier need to be shown that this project is unpopular? The Resolve poll says that. The Premier has lost eight points as preferred Premier because the Premier is not listening. The Premier is ignoring what Victorians are telling her, and even Labor’s own backbench agree that Suburban Rail Loop needs to be paused. Standard & Poor’s, the credit rating agency, has suggested that if the government pursues Suburban Rail Loop, we could have risk in terms of our credit rating – more debt, more interest and unfortunately more tax and more pain for Victorian taxpayers. I mean, when will the Premier finally wake up?

This is a project that nobody wants or needs right now. This Resolve poll is just another example of people saying, ‘Pause the Suburban Rail Loop. Victoria cannot afford the Suburban Rail Loop.’ Get on and build airport rail, because unlike Sydney, Brisbane and Western Australia, who all have airport rails, the biggest and best opportunity for us would be to do airport rail. If you want to continue to roll out the carpet for international investment and for it to have confidence in this state, do things that people have been calling for for a long time, not your own pet project, like the Premier is doing with the Suburban Rail Loop. Pause the Suburban Rail Loop and pursue airport rail. That is what the Resolve poll is saying today, and if the Premier continues to not listen to Victorian taxpayers, the Premier will be looking for a new job very soon.