Thursday, 20 February 2025

Suburban Rail Loop

Richard WELCH (North-Eastern Metropolitan) (18:00): (1443) My adjournment matter is for the Minister for the Suburban Rail Loop. We learned in the Victorian Auditor-General’s Office report yesterday, the VAGO report, that the Suburban Rail Loop project costs have been in review since June last year. We also learned that the minister receives detailed monthly reports on project scope, risks, costs and progress. You have repeatedly made statements to this house and in writing that the SRL project is on schedule and on budget. But this is a concerning scenario, because we have learned in the report that the budget has already gone over by over $300 million and digging has not even started. It is a concerning scenario, all of this, and there are some clear gaps in reporting and transparency. There are clearly questions about the true cost of the project, because this seven-month review either has not been completed or has been completed but not published and incorporated into funding models.

Where are the updated costs? It raises another series of doubts and questions that need answering. When will the updated costs be released? Will any extra funding required be incorporated into the May budget, or will it be off books as a Treasurer’s advance or a direct loan from the Treasury Corporation of Victoria? If the costs are greater than the current pseudo-budget of $34 billion, then how will that excess be funded? There is already a $20 billion shortfall. Why have you not alerted the Victorian public to the cost blowout you must surely know of given the monthly reporting you receive? What are you going to do about costing the remediation of numerous contaminated sites along the route of the SRL? Do you even know how much they will add to the cost? You could go a long way to addressing these serious questions and doubts by a simple action. The action I seek from the minister is to release the updated costings for the SRL that the Auditor-General identified were in progress. The obvious corollary to that request is that if the updated cost review is not complete, advise when it will be complete.