A 90-day independent review of the nation’s $120 billion 10-year infrastructure pipeline will scrutinise most of the transport projects in Victoria that are slated to receive federal funding.
This has put the Airport Rail, Geelong Fast Rail, North East Link and the M80 Ring Road projects at risk of being scrapped.
However, the controversial Suburban Rail Loop (SRL) is the one Victorian infrastructure project that is assured of continuing to receive federal funding.
“The Commonwealth government have confirmed for us that all money that is allocated to those projects that are under review – and everything is under review other than the Suburban Rail Loop, so all other commitments are all being reviewed – but that money stays in Victoria”, Premier Daniel Andrews said.
The SRL is an unmitigated disaster that is sucking vast funding out of genuinely needed infrastructure all through the state.
It is the first project that should be scrapped by the Albanese Government, and yet it has stupidly chosen to make it a sacred cow and quarantine it from scrutiny.
Remember, the $125 billion SRL project was announced as a shock-and-awe’ announceable’ in the run-up to the 2018 State Election in response to voter worries about unsustainable population expansion and worsening traffic congestion.
The SRL was never submitted to Infrastructure Australia or Infrastructure Victoria for review.
Prior to its announcement, no business case was conducted.
Victoria’s transport department wasn’t even told about the project because it feared it would be blocked from within government.
The SRL has been universally derided by transport experts, the state’s Auditor General and the Parliamentary Budget Office (PBO).
Still, the Albanese Government agreed to contribute $2.2 billion towards the SRL, despite it not being assessed by Infrastructure Australia.
The PBO assessed that the first two stages of the SRL had a cost-benefit ratio of 0.6 to 0.7, implying that the state would receive a return of between $0.60 and $0.70 for every dollar spent.
Similarly, when the benefits and expenses were evaluated in compliance with state Treasury norms, the Auditor-General predicted that the SRL project would produce a loss of 51 cents for every $1 invested.
In other words, the SRL is a giant financial black hole that will forever suck funding away from other more important projects and social programs.
Sadly, because the Victorian Labor Government concocted this boondoggle as a centrepiece project, the Albanese Government is happy to throw billions of taxpayer dollars at it.
It seems infrastructure waste is fine, so long as it is from a Labor government.
Welcome new pork-barrelling government. Same as old government.
