Victorian Suburban Rail Loop Minister Danny Pearson has sensationally claimed he didn’t provide critical information about the controversial project to the federal government for two years because it wasn’t “appropriate” to do so while an audit was under way.

Mr Pearson on Thursday also dismissed findings from the state’s Parliamentary Budget Office, which found the $125 billion mega project would “definitively realise a net cost to society” with a return of 60¢ to 70¢ for each dollar of taxpayer money spent.