{"id":53615,"date":"2024-05-26T11:43:23","date_gmt":"2024-05-26T01:43:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/?p=53615"},"modified":"2024-05-26T11:49:47","modified_gmt":"2024-05-26T01:49:47","slug":"gov-accused-of-suppressing-the-truth-to-hide-suburban-rail-loop-cost-blowouts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/?p=53615","title":{"rendered":"Gov accused of \u2018suppressing the truth\u2019 to hide Suburban Rail Loop cost blowouts"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Victoria\u2019s financial watchdog has been asked to probe \u201csecrecy and misleading reporting\u201d in the state budget, amid concerns about hidden road and rail cost blowouts. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a letter to Auditor-General Dr Andrew Greaves, Opposition Leader John Pesutto says budget papers include a $33.3bn pool of funding referred to as \u201cdecisions made but not yet allocated\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mr Pesutto says putting money into so-called \u201ccontingencies\u201d, despite decisions already being made, was shielding major project funding from proper scrutiny. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

He took aim at the $34.5bn Suburban Rail Loop East<\/a>, a 26km underground line planned between Cheltenham and Box Hill that has funding estimates listed as \u201cto be confirmed\u201d. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

An artist’s concept of a Suburban Rail Loop train Source: Suburban Rail Loop Authority<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mr Pesutto says a pattern of obscuring costs has recently emerged, pointing to an investigation by Dr Greaves into the Commonwealth Games fiasco<\/a>, which exposed how the Government hid a $1bn funding blowout in \u201ccontingencies\u201d before the event was axed. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe Government engaged in this practice to suppress the truth about blowouts in the cost of the Commonwealth Games,\u201d he writes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt now appears to be doing the same thing regarding the SRL.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The concern about financial secrecy comes after the government refused to reveal the cost of its latest extension of Metro Trains\u2019 rail contract<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

An initial 7 year deal, worth $6.3bn and inked in 2017, is now set to expire in 2027 \u2014 well past the next state election and when the $14bn Metro Tunnel opens \u2014 after a second 18-month extension was suddenly announced on Friday. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rail industry figures say concerns about potential delays opening the tunnel, scheduled to take passengers next year, may have been one motivation to push out the contract. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

A government spokesman said the latest 18-month extension will \u201censure we can get the most competitive bids for the next contract and deliver the best outcomes for passengers and Victorian taxpayers,\u201d but did not answer questions about the cost to taxpayers of the current extension.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

Opposition Leader John Pesutto has accused the government of shielding major project funding from proper scrutiny. Picture: NewsWire<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The extension announcement was made just days after Public Transport Minister Gabrielle Williams appeared before a parliamentary inquiry on budget estimates. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In response to concerns about the budget, a government spokesman said holding cash in a central pool was standard practice but would not reveal what projects were included. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cGovernments routinely centrally hold funding in contingency pending allocation to departments upon the achievement of program milestones, particularly for capital projects and major reforms,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

Victoria\u2019s financial watchdog has been asked to probe \u201csecrecy and misleading reporting\u201d in the state budget, with billions allegedly shielded from proper scrutiny \u2014 and comparisons being made to the Commonwealth Games fiasco.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":21,"featured_media":53616,"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":[163,47,8160],"tags":[8832,8751,9126],"class_list":["post-53615","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-rail-industry-news-australia-new-zealand","category-rail-news","category-suburban-rail-loop","tag-victorian-budget-2024","tag-victorian-government","tag-victorian-liberal-party"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53615","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=53615"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53615\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":53624,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53615\/revisions\/53624"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/53616"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=53615"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=53615"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=53615"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}