Responding to questions today about whether the Suburban Rail Loop could provide value for money – issues also raised by the independent Victorian Auditor-General and the Parliamentary Budget Office – Treasurer Tim Pallas said: “there are no blue seats along the alignment of the Suburban Rail Loop for a reason”.
This confirms the $216 billion Suburban Rail Loop is nothing more than a duplicitous political ploy.
Following a faux community consultation process, which withheld plans for suburban skyscrapers from SRL East communities, Labor has concealed the project’s true cost andactively used misleading community survey questions to deceive residents.
This comes as communities across Melbourne’s booming north and west have seen critical infrastructure projects cut, shelved, and delayed to make room for the SRL and its suspected $6.9 billion pre-construction blowout.
These include the Airport Rail and its new station at Keilor East, the electrification of trains to Melton and Wyndham Vale, the Geelong Fast Rail, and long-promised upgrades to the Calder Freeway.
Shadow Minister for Transport Infrastructure, David Southwick, said: “After a decade in power, the Allan Labor Government wants to cut crucial projects right across Victoria, just so they can use generation’s worth of infrastructure funding to persist with the SRL.
“Labor continues to treat Melbourne’s outer suburban communities with contempt and with debt hitting a record high, the Allan Labor Government is more than happy to cut billions of dollars due to its financial mismanagement.”
