The Andrews Government still has no timeline to finish the Murray Basin Rail Project.
In State Parliament today, Transport Infrastructure Minister Jacinta Allan was asked to detail the Government’s plans to complete the once-in-a-generation freight rail upgrades, but refused to say when – or if – the project will be completed.
Stakeholders have lost all confidence in the Minister, with Rail Freight Alliance CEO Reid Mather recently saying “we were better off before the project started”.
Farmers and freight stakeholders should be reaping the benefits of the Murray Basin Rail Project.
But after five years of the Andrews Government the project is a mess of cost blowouts, missed deadlines, poor procurement and appalling contract management.
The Victorian Government is now required to submit a revised business case to the Federal Government by December that outlines how the final stages will be completed.
Comment attributable to Shadow Minister for Regional Victoria and Decentralisation Peter Walsh
The Andrews Government can’t walk away now and leave this project half done.
Producers and stakeholders are demanding the State Government finish this project, in full.
It was the worst kept secret in regional Victoria that this project went off the rails, but Daniel Andrews and his Minister for Excuses Jacinta Allan did nothing to fix it.
The Minister’s attempt to smear the credibility of the Rail Freight Alliance in Parliament today is another desperate attempt to avoid responsibility.
The Minister is on notice. She must stop ignoring the Federal Government’s requests for more information, get the revised business case in by December, and finish the Basin Rail upgrades – in full.