PM heaps praise on SRL East but promises money elsewhere

Gus McCubbing and Ronald Mizen

Feb 26, 2025 – 7.40pm

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Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has shunned handing over more federal taxpayer cash for Victoria’s controversial Suburban Rail Loop megaproject, instead pumping $3.3 billion into road and rail in Melbourne’s west.

Albanese has been under pressure from the Victorian Labor government to hand over an additional $9.3 billion, on top of an already promised $2.2 billion, to fund a third of the $34.5 billion SRL East, the opening phase of the loop.

Gus McCubbing is a markets reporter in the Melbourne newsroom. He was previously the Australian Financial Review’s Victorian political correspondent.

Ronald Mizen is the Financial Review’s political correspondent, reporting from the press gallery at Parliament House, Canberra.