Thursday, 12 September 2024

Suburban Rail Loop

Richard WELCH (North-Eastern Metropolitan) (19:07): (1165) My adjournment matter is for the Minister for the Suburban Rail Loop, and I want to address what I consider a serious concern regarding the misuse of taxpayers funds. The government is using Big Build and SRL community grants programs to compromise the Victorian community in some instances, to camouflage funding of political causes in others and to elicit support in yet others. These funds, under the guise of fostering community engagement, are too often nothing more than exercises in exploiting the needs of local organisations or funding allies.

The obscenely bloated $250 million SRL Community Projects Fund, the $10 million North East Community Fund and the $2.2 million Creative Projects Fund may sound like benevolent initiatives, but they are being used as pork-barrelling at its finest. In a previous adjournment I highlighted some of the more spurious examples of these payments, but it is getting worse. These funds are selectively allocated to marginal electorates or politically sensitive areas, exploiting with caveats on silence or disguising political collateral as project information. This is corrupt practice, and it needs to be called out. These funds are being allocated far outside all the normal protocols of oversight and due process for allocating taxpayer money – and it is exploiting the opaque governance structures of Big Build enterprises to camouflage and hide it.

At a time when money is short and debt is high, no Victorian wants payments going to non-essential artworks or self-indulgent trimmings on these projects. The expectation must be that our taxpayer dollars go to projects that matter, projects that build a stronger, more prosperous future for all Victorians, not just those in the way of projects and certain privileged individuals. Will the minister rule out any non-essential promotional materials or artworks or other non-essential expenses on the Suburban Rail Loop?