The controversies surrounding the Victorian Labor Government’s $6.7 billion West Gate Tunnel continue to pile up.
By way of background, the project was inked in late-2017 when Premier Daniel Andrews signed a shady deal with Transurban to build the project, which would see Transurban contribute $4.4 billion towards the cost in exchange motorists paying $15 billion in additional tolls on CityLink until 2045.
Under the deal, tolls are permitted to rise by a whopping 4.25% a year until 2029 – well above inflation and wage growth – and then rise by CPI, with the current CityLink toll trip cap to increase from just over $9 currently to more than $20 by 2045.