Wednesday, 17 August 2022

Suburban Rail Loop

Dr BACH (Eastern Metropolitan) (17:51): (2060) My adjournment matter tonight is for the Minister for Transport Infrastructure, and the action that I seek is for her to update me as to whether she has sought an independent analysis of the business case for the government’s proposed $35 billion rail line from Cheltenham to Box Hill from Infrastructure Victoria. Previously I have sought information from the minister as to why it is that she has never sought independent analysis of the business case from Infrastructure Australia. In 2015 the Premier stood in the other house and said that ‘never again’ would the government fail to hand over a business case seeking independent assessment from Infrastructure Australia. Mr Pakula said to fail to do so would be ‘economic vandalism’. Yet since the government announced its so-called Suburban Rail Loop—with much fanfare on Mr Andrews’s Facebook page, to the great surprise of half of his cabinet and the Secretary of the Department of Transport, who then resigned—the minister has continually refused to seek independent analysis of the business case. Why would that be?

Today in the other place the minister got to her feet to read out a very short list of people who thought that the government’s proposed $35 billion rail line from Cheltenham to Box Hill is a very good thing. But I was struck by the names that she did not read out. She did not read out the names of Infrastructure Australia or Infrastructure Victoria, a creation of this government. She certainly did not read out the names of the Rail Futures Institute or the Grattan Institute. She did not read out the name of Michael Buxton, professor of environment and planning at RMIT. Recently he wrote a scathing opinion piece in the Age newspaper, and he called this project ‘world’s worst standard’. The very next day, in a clash of the titans, the government sent out somebody else to also write an opinion piece in support of the so-called Suburban Rail Loop. They sent out a gentleman by the name of Frankie Carroll. Do you know what his day job is? Well, he is the CEO of the Suburban Rail Loop Authority, but he is the only person the government could find to send out to support its plan. The minister did not read out the name of Professor Jago Dodson, the director of RMIT University’s Centre for Urban Research. She certainly did not read out Sir Rod Eddington’s name, and she did not mention the federal department of transport. All of these expert bodies and all of these experts have a very strong negative view about this project.

The minister continues to say that this project will deliver 24 000 jobs. That is the government’s assessment over the next 40 years. She says there are significant economic benefits. Well, Sir Rod Eddington thinks not, Michael Buxton thinks not, and so do the Grattan Institute and the Rail Futures Institute, among others. If the minister would like to know whether or not she can continue to make these claims while holding her head up high, will she hand over the business case to Infrastructure Victoria or Infrastructure Australia?