Already a subscriber?Spend enough time around politicians, and you’ll hear plenty of interesting attempts to spin a bad situation. But Victoria’s Suburban Rail Loop Minister Danny Pearson’s latest efforts deserve special mention.
Victorian Transport Infrastructure Minister Danny Pearson says the Suburban Rail Loop has a strong mandate.The investment case is one of two steps – along with the submission of a project proposal report to the Infrastructure Department – in getting sign-off on federal Labor’s $2.2 billion election promise to the project – a part of the $11.5 billion the state wants from federal taxpayers., since IA asked for further information in September 2022, there’s been nada, zilch, nothing.
So what’s the reason for this delay? Surely cash-strapped Victoria with its burgeoning debt would want to get its hands on the federal cash post-haste.When asked about the two-year-plus delay on Thursday, Pearson claimed no more information had been forthcoming because of an Australian National Audit Office investigation into federal Labor’s $2.2 billion election pledge.
Second, the ANAO investigation came about 17 months after IA requested additional information from Victorian officials in September 2022. Again, it could have been handed over anytime in that period.Third, the suggestion that the ANAO investigation into federal Labor’s pledge somehow acted as an inhibitor to handing over either the extra information sought by IA or the project proposal report is an odd claim.