Wednesday, 26 August 2026

 Gaelle BROAD (Northern Victoria) (17:27): I am pleased to be able to speak about the Victorian Auditor-General’s report that has been tabled in the Parliament today, Delivering the Suburban Rail Loop. Reading it, they are just extraordinary, some of the revelations in this report. Some may not surprise us. They have said the project is more likely than not to exceed its publicly disclosed cost of up to $34.5 billion, and going on the government’s track record, we certainly should not be surprised there – cost blowouts seem to be part of Labor’s nature. But also the report notes that the Commonwealth has not given enough – $6 billion. The state wants them to put in $11.5 billion. Really, I think it is like a high five to Albo and there is just no response. To read from the report, it says:

The government’s strategy to fund the project is not transparent and some funding sources are uncertain.

The state does not yet have enough funding approved to sign the contract for the second stations package. The Australian Government has publicly committed $6 billion of the expected $11.5 billion …

Another extraordinary element in this report is certainly the secret tax that has been put on regional fares and regional commuters. The secret 1 per cent fare levy on metropolitan and regional fares was decided back in 2021. It was brought in by the Allan Labor government – still the same team that is there now – but Victorians have not been told about it until now, until this this report. Again, to read from the report:

These measures include a levy on all public transport fares in metropolitan Melbourne and regional Victoria. It has been using this levy to raise revenue since January 2025.

That does frustrate me greatly, because I think the people that have been paying for this Suburban Rail Loop are the people that have been sitting on the floors of V/Line trains and have been travelling , as I have, on replacement bus services because V/Line has not been in operation. As I speak with other passengers, they say it is just a regular part of the system. Like our roads, V/Line has been left to crumble. But guess what, they have put a nice little levy, another little tax. This government absolutely love taxes because they have got a debt that is out of control.

Another element that was found in this report, which I think we have been aware of – and I know as I speak to people in the housing industry – is that the government talks very big about the SRL being a housing project and all these extra houses that are going to be built. But the report says:

However, these benefits depend on private investors, who already face challenging market conditions to buy and develop property. This puts both the project’s expected benefits and revenue from new value capture measures at risk.

This value capture has been spruiked by the government quite a lot, saying that is how they are going to pay for this project, but this report shows there is a real question mark over that.

Another element in this report I think it is important for the public to be aware of is that the government made the decision to slow down spending on the project to manage the state’s debt levels. To quote the report:

In April 2024, the government directed SRLA to delay spending around $1.4 billion on the project until after the state Budget’s forward estimates period of 2023–28. The government made this decision to manage challenges to the state’s finances …

and so it goes on. Treasurer Colin Brooks has today acknowledged that the government could have been more transparent about the secret levy built into public transport fares. Premier Ben Carroll was the Minister for Public Transport when the hidden tax was first approved, and his deputy Gabrielle Williams introduced the levy last year when she was public transport minister. Labor may have changed the Premier, but it is certainly the same team. A future Liberal and Nationals government will stop the waste, end the corruption, pause and review the SRL project and make decisions in the best interests of taxpayers.