Infrastructure projects
John PESUTTO (Hawthorn – Leader of the Opposition) (14:18): My question is to the Premier. The federal infrastructure review states that reporting by the Victorian government on major project performance is ‘not timely, relevant or sufficient’. Now that the federal Labor government has called out the mismanagement of major projects, will the government commit to publishing comprehensive business cases for every project?
Jacinta ALLAN (Bendigo East – Premier) (14:19): I thank the Leader of the Opposition for his question, and I would suggest that the Leader of the Opposition has taken more than a little bit of licence with the executive summary that has been released by the federal government. The reviewers I believe made a number of observations and recommendations to the federal government about jurisdictions across the country, so I would caution the Leader of the Opposition for making misrepresentations of the work of the independent reviewers. What we know here is every year for the past now nine years the Victorian budget papers have been produced and they have provided information on how we are getting on and delivering the projects that Victoria needs, how we are –
John Pesutto: On a point of order, Speaker, the question was very simple, just asking whether the government will commit to publishing comprehensive business cases.
The SPEAKER: The Premier was being relevant to the question that was asked.
Jacinta ALLAN: I was taking the Leader of the Opposition through how he will find in nine budgets we have provided increased infrastructure investment, additional investment in infrastructure, and do you know what that infrastructure is doing – that infrastructure investment is going towards building the road and rail connections our city and state need so that people can get to work, to school and to hospital services quickly, safely and more efficiently.
The Leader of the Opposition asked me specifically about comprehensive business cases. We do produce business cases for the projects that we commit to. I remind the Leader of the Opposition of the business case we released in August of 2021 for the Suburban Rail Loop. I know that this is a favourite topic of the Leader of the Opposition, just as it is a pretty popular topic for members like the members for Ashwood and Glen Waverley. We have released a comprehensive business case, for example, for the Suburban Rail Loop. We will continue to work carefully through our pipeline of infrastructure projects.
This is also an important point. When we came to government in 2014 there was no pipeline. There were a whole bunch of projects promised but never delivered by those opposite. We now have built up a pipeline where today young kids can go to TAFE with confidence to get their apprenticeships, to start their trades, knowing that there is work ahead of them. We know too there are people who have worked on the tunnels in the West Gate Tunnel who are now working on the North East Link tunnel. That is what a pipeline of projects means. It gives Victorian families the confidence that they will have pay packets coming home to them every single week, because we are supporting tens of thousands of jobs through things like the business cases that end up as projects on the ground.
John PESUTTO (Hawthorn – Leader of the Opposition) (14:22): The federal infrastructure review also stated that the government’s ‘decision-making on the SRL program since 2018 has not followed the standard investment development process’. Will the government pause the SRL and refer it to Infrastructure Victoria?
Jacinta ALLAN (Bendigo East – Premier) (14:23): Again, I am very pleased to have the opportunity to talk about the Suburban Rail Loop and explain to the Leader of the Opposition why we have had to develop the Suburban Rail Loop. We released the business and investment case in August of 2021 and we submitted that business and investment case to Infrastructure Australia. The Leader of the Opposition is fundamentally misunderstanding the role of Infrastructure Victoria and Infrastructure Australia. I refer to Infrastructure Victoria, who have recently in a couple of reports highlighted that we need to build more homes closer to good, strong transport connections, which is exactly what the Suburban Rail Loop is about. We have submitted that business case to the federal government and we have submitted that business case to Infrastructure Australia, and we will continue to pursue the delivery of this project, because we must make sure that Australia’s largest university and places like Box Hill TAFE and Box Hill Hospital are better connected by rail.