{"id":44445,"date":"2024-05-15T17:29:27","date_gmt":"2024-05-15T07:29:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/?p=44445"},"modified":"2024-05-15T17:29:36","modified_gmt":"2024-05-15T07:29:36","slug":"anthony-albaneses-order-to-melbourne-airport-over-clash-with-victorian-government","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/?p=44445","title":{"rendered":"Anthony Albanese\u2019s order to Melbourne Airport over clash with Victorian government"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Anthony Albanese has weighed into the public dispute between Victorian Labor and Melbourne Airport<\/a> over an airport rail link in the city, demanding the private operators \u201cget serious\u201d to deliver the project.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As the Allan Labor government blamed Melbourne Airport for the minimum four-year delay<\/a> to the project that would see the airport connect to Victoria\u2019s regional and metropolitan train network, the Prime Minister backed his state Labor colleagues.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWell I\u2019d say this, the airport should get serious about actually getting things done,\u201d Mr Albanese said on Thursday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAt the moment there isn\u2019t an agreement with the airport. I\u2019m familiar with airports, from time to time they think they operate in a way that forgets about their \u00adsocial licence.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mr Albanese shut down \u00adsuggestions the federal government could intervene to speed up the delivery of Melbourne Airport Rail.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe don\u2019t control Melbourne Airport, it\u2019s commonwealth land which is leased,\u201d he said. \u201cThat privatisation decision was made some time ago.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The Prime Minister flew into Melbourne in the aftermath of\u00a0\u00adJacinta Allan\u2019s first state budget \u2013<\/a>\u00a0which revealed Victoria is on track to reach almost $190bn of debt by 2027-28 \u2013 to announce the federal government had allocated an additional $3.25bn to the state\u2019s North East Link, bringing its contribution to the project to $5bn.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He said he chose to pour the extra funding to the North East Link over Melbourne Airport Rail because the project \u201cis here, it\u2019s real and it\u2019s now\u201d, as he remained tight-lipped on whether the Suburban Rail Loop<\/a> would also receive extra cash in next week\u2019s federal budget.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Last December, the Premier announced the North East Link \u2013 estimated in 2016 to cost $10bn \u00adbefore that figure was revised to $15.8bn in 2019 \u2013 would now cost $26.1bn.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mr Albanese said infrastructure was \u201ccosting more \u2026 and that is right around the nation, and one of the problems that occurred that Catherine King<\/a> inherited was a pipeline of projects that had unfunded or underfunded projects and contributions\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe believe this $5bn is an \u00adappropriate contribution by the commonwealth to what is a vital nation building project,\u201d the Prime Minister said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Premier spruiked the \u00adproject and welcomed the extra funds, but unlike the Prime Minister walked off and did not answer any questions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Victorian Opposition Leader John Pesutto <\/a>said the state needed Melbourne Airport Rail ahead of other projects in the Big Build like the Suburban Rail Loop.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

He also raised questions as to why the federal government had chosen to throw money at the North East Link.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cLet it be clear \u2013 $3.25bn to the North East Link won\u2019t even cover a fifth of the blowouts on that project,\u201d Mr Pesutto said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere just seems to be a lack of direction, a lack of unified vision between state Labor and federal Labor over just what projects are being funded.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Liberal leader said the money would be better spent on resolving the Melbourne Airport Rail dispute, which centres around the private operator wanting the station to be built underground, while the state govern\u00adment is insisting on a cheaper, above-ground design.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Australian Newspaper<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cWell I\u2019d say this, the airport should get serious about actually getting things done,\u201d Mr Albanese said on Thursday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":20,"featured_media":44448,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1697,273,999,513,163],"tags":[8898,472,9214,8733,993,7,8751],"class_list":["post-44445","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-airport-railway","category-australia","category-australia-politics","category-melbourne-airport","category-rail-industry-news-australia-new-zealand","tag-airport-rail","tag-australian","tag-federal-budget-2024","tag-federal-government","tag-melbourne","tag-transport","tag-victorian-government"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t