Pouring an extra $3.25 billion worth of federal funds into Melbourne’s North East Link is a good use of taxpayer money, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has insisted, despite the project’s cost doubling just a few months ago.
But the prime minister has remained tight-lipped about how the latest investment will affect the investment pipeline for Victoria’s other major infrastructure projects, including the Allan government’s controversial Suburban Rail Loop and the long-touted Airport Rail.
Albanese visited the North East Link’s two huge tunnel-boring machines for Thursday’s announcement, which will bring the Commonwealth’s total contribution to $5 billion. The project, which will link major arterial roads, is expected to take 15,000 trucks off suburban streets and slash some travel times by half an hour.
However, the North East Link blew out by more than $10 billion in December, taking its total estimated cost to $26 billion. Asked why his government was tipping more money into the project, instead of putting it into settling the Airport Rail dispute, Albanese said it was because the North East Link was “here, it’s real and it’s now”.
“You can’t drive on a media release,” the prime minister said. “What you can do is drive on a road that’s properly funded. We believe this $5 billion is an appropriate contribution by the Commonwealth to what is a vital nation-building project.”
Premier Jacinta Allan’s first budget, handed down on Tuesday, confirmed that more than 100 transport, school and health projects were being pushed back to help the state’s bottom line. Airport Rail has now been delayed by at least four years amid a dispute between the state government and Melbourne Airport over whether the rail line should be above or below ground.
“The airport should get serious about actually getting things done,” Albanese said. “I’m familiar with airports. From time to time, they think they operate in a way that forgets their social licence.”
Albanese also batted away questions about whether his latest investment meant there was no money in next week’s federal budget for the Suburban Rail Loop (SRL). He said Victorians would have to wait until the budget was handed down on Tuesday.
The state opposition’s major transport infrastructure spokesman, David Southwick, said this stance all but confirmed a vote of no confidence in the SRL.
“The Allan Labor government has lost control of the North East Link’s price tag and had to go cap in hand to the federal government for a bailout,” Southwick said.
“When funding a project blowout is a more attractive prospect than contributing to the Suburban Rail Loop, it’s clear the Albanese Labor government has no confidence in Jacinta Allan’s $216 billion pet project.”
Victoria hopes to secure two-thirds of the money needed for the $34.5 billion first stage of the project – Suburban Rail Loop East – from the Commonwealth. The federal government has so far committed just $2.2 billion. Tunnel boring machines are due to start work in 2026.
The 90-kilometre orbital rail loop was announced on the eve of the 2018 election. Then premier Daniel Andrews sold the project as a city-changing initiative that would eventually link Cheltenham, in Melbourne’s southeast, to Werribee in the west.
The Age
