Tuesday, 19 March 2024

Adjournment

Gayle TIERNEY (Western Victoria – Minister for Skills and TAFE, Minister for Regional Development) (18:18): I move:

That the house do now adjourn.

North East Link

Katherine COPSEY (Southern Metropolitan) (18:18): (780) My adjournment is to the Minister for Transport Infrastructure. Like many, many mega road projects, the North East Link is proving itself to be an expensive folly at a time when Labor is sacking public workers across the state and defunding services in a cost-of-living crisis. There is already a sad and sorry history to this colossal waste of Victorian taxpayers money –

Members interjecting.

The PRESIDENT: Order! Ms Copsey, can you just stop for a second. Can we stop the noise other than Ms Copsey doing her adjournment, please. You are welcome to start from the start if you like, because I am not sure the minister heard it.

Katherine COPSEY: Thank you, President. I will just continue.

There is already a sad and sorry history to this colossal waste of Victorian taxpayers money. In 2016 the North East Link road project was originally touted as costing $10 billion, which two years later supposedly went up to $15.8 billion. According to a 2021 briefing from the government’s insurer and risk adviser, only obtained under FOI, it was supposed to cost $18 billion. Finally the extent of recent cost blowouts was revealed in December 2023, when Premier Allan announced the total cost was actually now $26.1 billion. It is an increase of 160 per cent from the original estimate.

That is the cost summary; now let us look at the benefits. What does $26 billion actually get us? This project was submitted to Infrastructure Australia in 2018 and had a cost–benefit ratio of 1.3 to 1.4 based on a cost of $10 billion. Shamefully, that cost–benefit ratio figure has never been publicly updated as the costs have blown out to $26 billion. This analysis was always dubious at best, since the benefits assumed that the road would reduce traffic congestion. Half a century of freeway building has shown us that, in reality, building these mega roads just encourages more car dependence and induces demand, making traffic congestion worse.

Even if we accept that the initial project had the benefits that were claimed in the business case, those benefits have not substantially changed since 2018, but the price of building this mega road has more than doubled, from $10 billion to $26 billion. Logically it follows that the cost–benefit ratio of the North East Link Project must now be substantially negative. Minister, I request that you release an updated cost–benefit analysis and business case that justifies Victorians paying $26 billion on this polluting mega road project.