Experts call for halt to three rail projects as royal commission hearing nears and election campaign begins

Premier Ben Carroll on Tuesday visited the Governor to issue the writs for the November 28 election, which he described as the most consequential in Victoria’s history. The campaign opened with the Reserve Bank lifting the cash rate to an 18-year high.

The royal commission, led by former South Australian chief justice Chris Kourakis, is examining allegations of political interference and compromised planning in multibillion-dollar rail investments. The submission argues each project was selected through a "deeply flawed, whimsical" process that did not comply with the Transport Integration Act and lacks credible business cases.

"It is our view that the Suburban Rail Loop, the Melbourne Airport Rail, the Sunshine Super Hub (recently renamed Airport Rail stage 1) and the Big Build must stop," the submission reads. "Before changes to these projects or any future projects are enacted, an independent, open and peer-reviewed program must be completed and a business case provided to the public."

A separate submission by independent transport planner William McDougall, who worked on the West Gate Tunnel, North East Link, SRL and airport rail, urged the inquiry to tackle a deeper cultural problem. He said worthwhile outcomes do not excuse a system in which announcement precedes analysis, dissent is discouraged, and accountability is weakened.

"Such a system increases the risk of selecting inferior projects, misallocating public funds, suppressing professional advice and creating conditions in which misconduct can flourish," he wrote. He called for a governance system that selects initiatives because they solve demonstrated problems and provide enduring public value, not because they offer short-term political advantage.

McDougall told the royal commission that the practice of pork-barrelling for votes with billions of dollars of public funds was clearly not stopping.

The Age reported this week that a Transport Department planner alleged cost estimates were doctored and a senior public servant was threatened with dismissal to favour the Sunshine route for the airport rail link. Former premier Jacinta Allan, who was the minister responsible at the time, has described the allegations as incorrect. She is expected to be called as a witness.

Premier Carroll, speaking Tuesday before visiting Government House, said he was not aware of the allegations until he read about them in The Age. He insisted airport rail is in the public interest. "Victorians need it and deserve it," he said.

Opposition Leader Jess Wilson resisted pressure to extend her "pause and review" promise from the SRL to the airport rail project. "Under this term of the Labor government, we have seen it kicked out time and time again," she said. "The contracts have been signed, the works are under way. We will deliver this."

The article also notes that a 2015 market-led proposal for an airport rail link along the Maribyrnong route at no cost to taxpayers was rejected without cabinet consideration. University of Melbourne emeritus professor Colin Duffield said both sides should be open to such proposals. "If you take a level playing field, you would hope that the private sector can bring expertise and a hard-edged robustness to some of the decisions and expenditures that maybe government can’t take," he said.