Regional Victorians have been paying a secret tax to help fund the Suburban Rail Loop, The Nationals’ Member for Northern Victoria Gaelle Broad said today.
Ms Broad told Parliament the revelations in the Victorian Auditor-General’s report that was tabled in the Parliament, Delivering the Suburban Rail Loop, were just extraordinary.
“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,” Ms Broad said.
“The report also notes that the Commonwealth has not given enough – $6 billion, when the state wants them to put in $11.5 billion.”
The report says:
“The government’s strategy to fund the project is not transparent and some funding sources are uncertain.
Ms Broad said the secret tax of 1 per cent on metropolitan and regional fares was decided back in 2021 and brought in by the Allan Labor government, which has used it to raise revenue since January 2025. Victorians were not told about it until the VAGO report was tabled this week.
Ms Broad said this was extremely frustrating.
“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 on buses, as I have, on replacement services, because V/Line has not been in operation. Like our roads, V/Line has been left to crumble.”
Ms Broad said the report also questioned the government’s claims that the SRL would spark extra housing construction. The report said:
“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.”
Ms Broad said the report also revealed 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 …”
Ms Broad said the Treasurer had 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 as public transport minister. Labor may have changed the Premier, but it is still 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.”
The Victorian Auditor General’s report is available here: Delivering the Suburban Rail Loop
Video of my Statement on Reports: YouTube
Media Contact: Linda Barrow 0484 303 764 linda.barrow@parliament.vic.gov.au
