Melbourne Airport has been accused of a conflict of interest as rank-and-file Victorian Labor members pile more pressure on the state government to “get serious” on building a train line to Tullamarine.
A motion to get the city’s stalled airport rail link project back on track was unanimously passed by party members and unionists at the Victorian Labor state conference on Sunday.
In his 10th budget, Treasurer Tim Pallas on May 7 revealed Melbourne Airport Rail would be completed at least four years later than its original 2029 target.
The motion called for the state government to “get serious about the development of the airport rail link”, for all parties to “roll up their sleeves” to get the project done, and condemned the airport’s “greed” for “protecting their parking revenue”.
“We don’t care if it is or isn’t underground or above ground,” Transport Workers Union state secretary Mem Suleyman told the crowd to cheers.
“You need to get on with it and get it done now.”
The Victorian and federal governments have previously committed to contributing $5 billion each to the project, which is expected to cost between $8 billion and $13 billion.
But the state government and airport have long been at odds over whether the Tullamarine station should be underground or elevated.
A mediator was appointed by the Commonwealth in April to resolve the long-running stalemate between the two parties.
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission’s latest monitoring report on the nation’s four major airports showed Tullamarine generated $160.9 million from parking revenue in 2022/23, down 3.9 per cent since 2018/19.
Moonee Valley Council Mayor Pierce Tyson accused the airport of tanking the project to safeguard its parking revenue.
“It’s a clear conflict of interest,” he said.
“The airport doesn’t want this project to happen.”
Rail, Tram & Bus Union’s Vik Sharma was critical of the project being kicked “down the road” and said it was a global embarrassment Melbourne remained without a train line to the airport.
“Let’s build a train line that should have been built 60 years ago,” he said.
Melbourne Airport has been contacted for comment.
AAP
