{"id":48028,"date":"2024-05-19T13:24:01","date_gmt":"2024-05-19T03:24:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/?p=48028"},"modified":"2024-05-19T13:26:06","modified_gmt":"2024-05-19T03:26:06","slug":"airport-accused-of-rail-project-conflict-of-interest","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/?p=48028","title":{"rendered":"Airport accused of rail project conflict of interest"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Melbourne Airport has been accused of a conflict of interest as rank-and-file Victorian Labor members pile more pressure on the state government to \u201cget serious\u201d on building a train line to Tullamarine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A motion to get the city\u2019s stalled airport rail link project back on track was unanimously passed by party members and unionists at the Victorian Labor state conference on Sunday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In his 10th budget, Treasurer Tim Pallas on May 7 revealed Melbourne Airport Rail would be completed at least four years later than its original 2029 target.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Melbourne
 Melbourne\u2019s lack of airport rail line was embarrassing, a union leader said. Image by Joel Carrett\/AAP PHOTOS<\/em> <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The motion called for the state government to \u201cget serious about the development of the airport rail link\u201d, for all parties to \u201croll up their sleeves\u201d to get the project done, and condemned the airport\u2019s \u201cgreed\u201d for \u201cprotecting their parking revenue\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe don\u2019t care if it is or isn\u2019t underground or above ground,\u201d Transport Workers Union state secretary Mem Suleyman told the crowd to cheers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou need to get on with it and get it done now.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Victorian and federal governments have previously committed to contributing $5 billion each to the project, which is expected to cost between $8 billion and $13 billion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But the state government and airport have long been at odds over whether the Tullamarine station should be underground or elevated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Victorian
 Rail projects were a hot topic on day two of the Victorian Labor State Conference. Image by Con Chronis\/AAP PHOTOS<\/em> <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

A mediator was appointed by the Commonwealth in April to resolve the long-running stalemate between the two parties.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission\u2019s latest monitoring report on the nation\u2019s four major airports showed Tullamarine generated $160.9 million from parking revenue in 2022\/23, down 3.9 per cent since 2018\/19.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Moonee Valley Council Mayor Pierce Tyson accused the airport of tanking the project to safeguard its parking revenue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a clear conflict of interest,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe airport doesn\u2019t want this project to happen.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rail, Tram & Bus Union\u2019s Vik Sharma was critical of the project being kicked \u201cdown the road\u201d and said it was a global embarrassment Melbourne remained without a train line to the airport.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cLet\u2019s build a train line that should have been built 60 years ago,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Melbourne Airport has been contacted for comment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

AAP<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Rail, Tram & Bus Union\u2019s Vik Sharma was critical of the project being kicked \u201cdown the road\u201d and said it was a global embarrassment Melbourne remained without a train line to the airport.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":21,"featured_media":48029,"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":[273,513,163],"tags":[7,8,8751],"class_list":["post-48028","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-australia","category-melbourne-airport","category-rail-industry-news-australia-new-zealand","tag-transport","tag-victoria","tag-victorian-government"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48028","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/21"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=48028"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48028\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":48032,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48028\/revisions\/48032"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/48029"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=48028"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=48028"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=48028"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}