Friday, 19 August 2022

Adjournment

Ms SYMES (Northern Victoria—Leader of the Government, Attorney-General, Minister for Emergency Services) (15:51): I move:

That the house do now adjourn.

Suburban Rail Loop

Dr BACH (Eastern Metropolitan) (15:52): (2081) My adjournment matter this afternoon is for the Minister for Transport Infrastructure, and the action that I seek is for her to release to me the government’s costings of the Suburban Rail Loop. This week there has been much discussion in this place and more broadly in the community about the Suburban Rail Loop. I joined the Leader of the Opposition—it feels like some time ago now, but I think it was only two days ago—at Caulfield to make a major announcement about the opposition’s policy should we be so fortunate as to come to government at the end of this year. Minister Allan then did what she does most mornings, which was to put on a hard hat, stick on a hi-vis vest and make her way immediately to the Metro Tunnel, where she stood with many of her colleagues. She had this to say: that it is up to Matthew Guy to explain how he costs his cuts to the Suburban Rail Loop.

The very next day the Parliamentary Budget Office released its costings for the Suburban Rail Loop—the independent, apolitical Parliamentary Budget Office, which until yesterday experienced bipartisan support. This was the place, I thought—and so did Mr Guy, by the way—to go to when we wanted costings of this megaproject. The day before of course the minister had challenged us and said that it is up to Matthew Guy to explain how he costs his cuts to the Suburban Rail Loop. So we told the minister and the Victorian community how we would cost our cuts to the Suburban Rail Loop, and of course according to the Parliamentary Budget Office our position saves tens of billions of dollars, because despite what Minister Allan may say there is film footage from before the last election of her saying that this whole project would be delivered for up to $50 billion. That is a staggering sum of money. That is an eye-watering sum of money. However, the Parliamentary Budget Office says that just the first two stages of three will not cost $50 billion but cost $125 billion, before running costs of another $75 billion. God only knows what the whole project will cost.

However, even though she had asked for an explanation of the opposition’s costings the day before, Minister Allan was not satisfied by what the Parliamentary Budget Office had to say. Indeed she described the Parliamentary Budget Office’s work as ‘tricky, deceitful and underhanded’—an extraordinary attack on the Parliamentary Budget Office. If the Parliamentary Budget Office is indeed tricky and deceitful, if that is the wrong place to go to get costings, it is news to me. But now the Victorian people have the right to know from Minister Allan: what is the figure? If it is not $125 billion just for the first two of three stages, just for construction, what is it? She said it was $50 billion last time. She said quite frankly these figures are meaningless. Well, I think Victorians feel differently.