Transport Infrastructure Minister, Jacinta Allan, before a hearing of the Public Accounts and Estimates Committee (PAEC) inquiry into the 2020-21 State Budget, refused to detail the amount of Victorian taxpayers’ money to be spent on her transport infrastructure projects.
Asked “Minister, will you provide to the Committee in tabular form the total estimated investment by project – of existing Department of Transport projects, including VicTrack projects?”, Ms Allan replied Victorians would have to wait until next year’s State Budget for an answer, effectively and unacceptably keeping secret transport infrastructure project budget blowouts for two years.
The 2020-21 State Budget papers have blind-sided the public about $76.3 billion of their money – projects and money for which Ms Allan is accountable, but which she and her government are determined to keep hidden from public scrutiny.
Comments attributable to the Shadow Minister for Transport Infrastructure, David Davis:
“The Victorian public has every right to be very concerned at Jacinta Allan and Labor’s lack of accountability for $76.3 billion of their money given her record of cost blowouts, most recently the Metro Tunnel by almost $3 billion.
“These are huge sums of money that Labor is adding to Victoria’s credit card without even committing to making the minimum monthly payment. Every Victorian family knows that is a recipe for disaster.
“It’s a scandal that Jacinta Allan and Labor refuse to release details or answer questions on their massive transport infrastructure blowouts. What an outrage.”
