Melbourne Airport Rail Link important for Victoria MP Catherine King says
Infrastructure Minister Catherine King has backed the $10bn Melbourne Airport Rail Link despite mounting pressure to dump big projects to curb rising inflation.
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Infrastructure Minister Catherine King has backed the $10bn Melbourne Airport Rail Link, as pressure to cut big projects to curb inflation grows.
The project was mothballed after it was controversially included in a review of the federal government‘s infrastructure investments.
Ms King on Monday revealed the long-awaited review had looked at 250 projects, but would not confirm how many it recommended cancelling amid $33bn in cost blowouts.
She warned that heavy rail was “often very, very expensive” and the Morrison government had not put enough money on the table for some projects to be built.
But when asked if the airport rail project should go ahead, Ms King said: “It‘s a project I think is very important for the state of Victoria.”
“I think we’re the only airport that does not have a heavy rail link or a rail transport link to it,” she said.
“It is an important project but it is delayed because we haven’t finalised where the planning is for that.”
Ms King said the project had been delayed because an agreement had not been reached on where the station would be located at the airport.
“What we did learn from Inland Rail is that you shouldn’t start a project if you don’t know where it’s going to start or finish and that piece of work is really important in order to plan for airport rail,” she said.
Ms King said the review had recommended both large and small projects be on the chopping block.
The International Monetary Fund last week encouraged the federal government to roll out infrastructure investment in a way that gets it “value for money”.
Treasurer Jim Chalmers on Sunday said this meant “difficult decisions” would need to be made about the infrastructure pipeline.
Opposition infrastructure spokeswoman Bridget McKenzie blasted the government’s claims it must reduce infrastructure spending to curb inflation as “complete misinformation”.
Senator McKenzie said the IMF had urged the government to co-ordinate projects with states and territories to take pressures off workforce and supply shortages.
“If the Albanese government truly believes the infrastructure build is cause for inflation, why aren’t multibillion-dollar pet-projects such as the derided Suburban Rail Loop and stadiums in Brisbane and Tasmania somehow, magically, excluded?” she said.
Senator McKenzie called on Prime Minister Anthony Albanese to guarantee projects that help with congestion in crowded cities and suburbs would not be cut.
“Local governments and grassroot organisations have already been waiting too long to find out if their local community building projects have fallen victim to Albanese’s razor gang,” Ms McKenzie said.
“Suddenly putting the brakes on projects creates uncertainty and damages confidence in the sector.”
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