{"id":56044,"date":"2024-05-30T11:30:36","date_gmt":"2024-05-30T01:30:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/?p=56044"},"modified":"2024-05-30T11:30:45","modified_gmt":"2024-05-30T01:30:45","slug":"report-to-outline-options-on-the-ways-forward-with-the-project","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/?p=56044","title":{"rendered":"Report to outline \u2018options on the ways forward with the project\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

A high-level report about the way forward for Melbourne\u2019s stalled Airport Rail Link is set to be handed to the federal transport department within weeks. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Senior bureaucrats were on Tuesday grilled about the mediation between the airport and the Victorian government amid an ongoing stoush about whether the rail station should be underground or elevated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Herald Sun last month revealed Neil Scales, former director-general of the Queensland transport department, had been appointed to get the project back on track.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Officials said Mr Scales, who is on a $50,000 contract until September, had conducted 10 meetings but none involved the state government and airport meeting together.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

Mediator Neil Scales is on a $50,000 contract. Picture: Dan Peled<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Two meetings were held with the Victorian transport department secretary, as well as one with the delivery agency. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

He also met with Melbourne Airport, federal transport department officials, IMF investors, civil engineering company Laing O\u2019Rourke, the Suburban Rail Loop Authority, High Speed Rail Authority and Transport Minister Catherine King.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mr Scales\u2019 report, which the department expects will outline \u201coptions on the ways forward with the project\u201d, is set to be finalised \u201cin the next few weeks\u201d. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Federal Infrastructure Department secretary Jim Betts said the department would review the report and then provide advice to Ms King, with the government to decide if it would be made public.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe question is whether it is affordable and if so, at what price, and at what price does an underground option become prohibitively expensive,\u201d Mr Betts said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThat\u2019s the question that everybody has been grappling with. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not about what is in a master plan or not \u2026 that does not constitute an investment decision.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis is a question of what is affordable and is there scope for agreement on a preferred option between Melbourne Airport on the one hand and the Victorian government on the other.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

Federal Infrastructure Department secretary Jim Betts said the department would provide advice to the minister, Catherine King. Picture: Toby Zerna<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mr Betts said the Commonwealth stood ready to invest when common ground was reached, however, the project had to have \u201cvalue for money\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At least $70.7m of federal taxpayer dollars has been spent on the project\u2019s detailed business case, with a further $30m on the preliminary business case. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

He said the Commonwealth did not have a preferred model for airport rail, adding it just wanted a \u201csolution which will be in the interests of passengers\u201d. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019m not here to defend one option or another but it would not be the only airport in the world where there is an above ground rail connection,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Assistant Minister for Infrastructure and Transport, Senator Carol Brown, said airport rail was a project that the Australian government was \u201ckeen to see rolled out and completed, as most Victorians probably are, and that\u2019s why the minister appointed a mediator\u201d. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe\u2019re going to be expecting that report in the coming weeks,\u201d Senator Brown said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe are going through a proper process to deliver what is a vital project, we all agree with that.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bureaucrats said they had not received any requests from the Victorian government about investigating the potential for a rail link between Avalon airport and the CBD. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Stalemate may drag on for years<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The Allan government says it can\u2019t guarantee the Airport Rail Link stoush <\/a>will be resolved before Victorians head to the polls in 2026. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It comes after Deputy Premier Ben Carroll yesterday opened the door to an underground station at Tullamarine that would end a long-running stalemate. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But on Tuesday, Transport Infrastructure Minister Danny Pearson said building the project will cost billions more and take years longer if the government was to meet Melbourne Airport\u2019s demand to build an underground station. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt just costs so much more money and it takes so much longer and I don\u2019t think it results in a better experience,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mr Pearson said there is no guarantee that the stalemate would be sorted out before the next state election. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI can\u2019t guarantee that because we are dealing with a rapacious private operator that has shown no interest to date,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

Deputy Premier Ben Carroll has opened the door to an underground station at Tullamarine. Picture: Getty Images<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe can\u2019t get this deal done unless the airport gives consent to do the deal. Today, I\u2019m telling you there\u2019s been no interest. They\u2019re basically just saying \u2018so long as you do what we want you to do, it\u2019s all going to be fine\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mr Pearson said he is \u201cfrustrated\u201d by the wasted years fighting with the airport. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2019, Melbourne Airport was part of a consortium that offered up to $7bn towards an underground airport station and express tracks from Sunshine to Southern Cross. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mr Pearson said while the government would consider any proposal that would benefit taxpayers, he lashed Melbourne\u2019s Airport\u2019s previous offer. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThey don\u2019t any money on the table,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhen they put up a supposed deal last time, it was a dud deal. It was a sham and it stank to high heaven which is why the Andrews government and the Morrison government comprehensively rejected it out of hand.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Deputy Premier Ben Carroll on Tuesday morning doubled down on his shock comments a day prior, where he outlined a willingness to negotiate with the airport. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The comments were a shift in rhetoric and put Mr Carroll at odds with senior members of the government, including Treasurer Tim Pallas. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

Transport Infrastructure Minister Danny Pearson says building an underground station as part of the Melbourne Airport rail link said will take years longer to complete. Picture: Newswire<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On Tuesday morning, Mr Carroll called for the project to be built as a matter of urgency. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIf Melbourne Airport is serious and they\u2019ve got their $7bn they offered in 2019, we can get this project done,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Asked why the Airport Rail Link project isn\u2019t being prioritised over the contentious Suburban Rail Loop, Mr Carroll responded: \u201cThat\u2019s a matter for the Transport Infrastructure (Minister).\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBut if you think about it, we\u2019re sort of getting them both done together,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Niddrie MP \u2013 whose electorate would benefit directly from the project \u2013 yesterday suggested Melbourne Airport would need to contribute financially to speed up the process, saying a previous offer of $7bn \u2013 which was to go it alone and build a new tunnel to Southern Cross station \u2013 would see the project built \u201ctomorrow\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

His willingness to negotiate with Melbourne Airport \u2013 which the Allan government has accused of holding the project \u201chostage\u201d \u2013 is a shift in rhetoric and put Mr Carroll at odds with senior members of the government, including Treasurer Tim Pallas.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

It follows a long-running dispute between Melbourne Airport and the state government over whether the station should be built above ground or underground.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The federal government was forced to bring in an independent mediator to sort out the stalemate, which has delayed the project\u2019s finish date by at least four years, until 2033.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2019, Melbourne Airport was part of a consortium that offered up to $7bn towards an underground airport station and express tracks from Sunshine to Southern Cross. The government has lashed that consortium proposal a \u201cterrible deal\u201d for commuters and taxpayers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

A mediator\u2019s report on the future of Melbourne\u2019s stalled Airport Rail Link will soon be handed to the federal transport department amid an ongoing stoush about the location of the rail station.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":20,"featured_media":26743,"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":[273,999,163],"tags":[993,8],"class_list":["post-56044","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-australia","category-australia-politics","category-rail-industry-news-australia-new-zealand","tag-melbourne","tag-victoria"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56044","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\/20"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=56044"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56044\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":56049,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56044\/revisions\/56049"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/26743"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=56044"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=56044"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=56044"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}