Wednesday, 21 September 2022

 Mr DAVIS (Southern Metropolitan—Leader of the Opposition) (20:16): (2140) On the adjournment I want to raise a matter for the Minister for Transport Infrastructure. Before I do so, I want to compliment the Liberal speakers tonight, who have made remarkable contributions. We will miss Bruce Atkinson and his thoughtful and understanding liberalism but also his huge links to and depths in the multicultural communities and his understanding of the business community. We will miss Mr Rich-Phillips in particular because of his understanding of this chamber, his huge commitment to democracy and his commitment to the Liberal Party. He has been a friend of so many in this chamber. I note his decision not to recontest, and we will miss having him here in the next Parliament.

Ms Cathrine Burnett-Wake also made an amazing contribution. I do want to put on record it is a brief contribution that she has made, but it has been a remarkable contribution. She has been one of the most impressive newer members of this chamber, and I do want to place on record my thanks and the thanks of the Liberal Party in particular for her enormous contribution. The President’s contribution was deeply heartfelt, and all of us are very aware of his huge heart and contribution to our multicultural community and the state more broadly. His integrity and his strong focus on advancing the interests of the chamber show that he had the trust of the chamber in a way that we can all be proud of.

In my adjournment tonight I want to raise the Auditor-General’s report that was tabled in the Parliament today for the Minister for Transport Infrastructure’s attention. The Minister for Transport Infrastructure has been out on a frolic the last few days trying to talk up a number of her large infrastructure projects. Well, this is the report card—the independent report card—on the processes behind those projects, the independent report card on the benefit-cost ratio of those projects. The airport rail fails seriously. I think the Auditor has done an enormous service to the community in Victoria in the release of this report, and I pay tribute to the very good auditing skills involved, against what I think was clear resistance from the bureaucracy.

In the case of the Suburban Rail Loop, what a disaster. It does not stack up. The benefit-cost ratio, when applied in a normal way with normal parameters and the normal arrangements that Treasury would normally apply and should normally apply, stacks up at 0.51. That means that for every dollar put into the project the community gets 51 cents back. What a complete and utter disaster the framing of this project has been. What a complete and utter disaster the so-called business case is. The Auditor points to the many failings in the business case—the failure to properly analyse alternatives and the failure to apply the right arrangements in proper assessment. The high-risk, high-value arrangements were not applied to the Suburban Rail Loop. It is the biggest project in the state’s history, and it is a project that is already careering out of control. The Parliamentary Budget Office has made it very clear that the capital costs of the first two parts of the project are $125 billion when the Premier and the transport infrastructure minister told us that the total cost of the project would be $50 billion for three stages—

A member: Up to 50.

Mr DAVIS: Up to $50 billion is what they said. What a lie, frankly, and what a travesty. It is no wonder the state’s financial position has deteriorated so dramatically, exactly as Mr Atkinson has outlined. What I ask of the transport infrastructure minister tonight is to follow the lead of the Liberal Party and the National Party and shelve the Suburban Rail Loop and divert the cash from the Suburban Rail Loop into health projects around the state. Our health system is crumbling, as Ms Crozier has well highlighted. Our ESTA system is crumbling—the 000 system. They badly need bolstering. The state government has a project that does not stack up. They should shelve it and put the money into health care, so that is what I ask the minister to do: shelve that project.