Victorians to pay for Labor’s latest major project cost blowout
Victorians continue to pay the price for Labor’s inability to manage money and projects, as the Metro Tunnel project suffers a further almost $1 billion cost blowout.
Confirmation Victorian taxpayers will pay an additional $837 million brings the total expected cost of this project from a promised $9 billion to $13.87 billion –an increase of $4.87 billion, or 54 per cent.
Furthermore, it comes after Minister for Transport Infrastructure, Danny Pearson, last month refused to provide details in State Parliament when it was revealed the Allan Labor Government secretly offered the Cross Yarra Partnership consortium additional payments to complete the project.
Following a decade of financial mismanagement under the Labor Government, major projects have blown out by more than $40 billion as Labor’s debt is set to reach a record $187.8 billion by 2027-28.
Shadow Minister for Transport Infrastructure, David Southwick, said: “Labor blames everybody else for their major project blowouts, but yet again this confirms they cannot manage money, cannot manage major projects and it’s Victorians that are paying the price.
“Just last month Labor was caught trying to do a secret backroom deal to finish a mismanaged project without any proper scrutiny or oversight.
“Labor’s major project cost blowout mean more debt, higher taxes and less money for urgent priorities across health, housing, roads maintenance, education and community safety services”.
