Senate Rural and Regional Affairs and Transport Legislation Committee, , 3:56:44 to 4:01:36
The hearing concludes with a debate over the government's refusal to release certain documents related to the Suburban Rail Loop, citing commercial prejudice and impacts on state relations.
Topics: Infrastructure, Orders for documents, Integrity
Speakers: Hon Bridget McKenzie, Hon Anthony Chisholm, Mr. Jim Betts, Lachlan Wood, Senator Glenn Sterle
just on the order of production of documents um with respect to um getting to the bottom of what information was provided by the Victorian government that satisfied you the project was on track as we started this line of questioning. you've accepted Victoria's view that it's on time and on budget and yet um I think in estimates in May this year um Victoria had provided an updated cost estimate for the project and the price remained the same $34.5 billion. How is it that the auditor general's office found just three months later that there was no way the project [clears throat] would meet that budget? >> What changed in those three months?
>> So, I can't speculate on what the auditor general's reviewed and what they based their information on. We reviewed the cost estimate that was provided to us by Victoria in late 2025. >> Um, which was supported by the fact that the contracts that they had let to date were within the expected budgets which gave us a that degree of confidence that the project remained on track.
>> They don't have a great track record though, do they? It's hardly Western Sydney Airport level of
what >> it is being delivered differently to Western Sydney airport but the cost estimate remains the same for SRL
can you understand why we're having difficulty understanding the justification for the Albani government's decision to spend the $6 billion on this project when the documents we're told that you relied on remain secret. We have OPDS. The Senate says let us have a look at these documents.
>> So the decision to invest in the project is a decision for government. The management of OPD is what gets released and what doesn't is a matter for the minister. Um I would I would point out that in um uh accompanying the investment decision that the Australian government made, the documentation was independently reviewed by Infrastructure Australia and its advice is in the public domain. IIA put down some markers around the further evidence we should seek to elicit from the Victorians before we made a further investment decision and we have acquired that information and put advice to government. Uh we're now working through the next stage of that um including the process of negotiating milestones and so on but that will await the outcome of the various independent reviews that Victoria itself has instigated.
>> Anyway,
>> well Minister, my last question last question. Minister, is the government hiding these documents because the documents confirm that your government knew about Victorian Labour's decision to slug public transport users with a secret Or that you were also in the dark, which flies [clears throat] in the face of your evidence that the Victorian government was foolsome in the additional information they provided to justify the project. Which is it,
Minister? Uh well my understanding is that the documents weren't released because they'd prejudice commercial matters or damage Commonwealth state relations. Senator McKenzie
>> damage the relationship between >> the Albani Labor government and the Ben Carroll Labor government.
>> The last question. So Minister Minister did you wish to say anything before we
>> Yeah, just just wanted to add to earlier answers in regards to election commitments. So uh estimates is obviously about government processes. Questions about how the ALP makes election election commitments are not relevant in the same way that questions about how the coalition makes election commitments are not relevant. Uh happy to answer questions about the grant program to deliver the commitments following the re-election. And to be clear, ministers are members of caucus and many were candidates obviously at the last election and naturally were involved in party processes relating to election commitments. But we will of course answer questions in regards to government processes since the election.
>> Thank you, Minister. And that is one >> Um, we shall uh suspend till 2:00 p.m.