Editor’s view: Feds must step in to get $31bn Inland Rail back on track

With revelations that costs for the Inland Rail project have blown out to $31 billion with no end to construction in site, federal intervention is needed to save this major project from becoming a white elephant, writes The Editor.

Taxpayers are sick to death of cost blowouts for public projects and rightly expect rigorous scrutiny to ensure value for money.

So for the proposed Inland Rail project to double in cost to $31bn in the past two years alone is a particularly tough pill to swallow.

A new report has found a range of problems with the project – including that construction started “without knowing where it will start or finish”.

That would be laughable if there was not so much money involved.

The 68-page report found a range of issues in Queensland in particular, including the disputed and yet-to-be finalised route and a “poor quality” environmental report.

Slow approvals in the state are also being blamed for delays to the project, which was undertaken by the former Coalition government.

The result? The project will be finalised about four years earlier in other states before Queensland.

Inland Rail is a critical piece of what we need to open up Queensland’s potential in the southeast and all across the state, and keep up with the freight demands of a growing population.

It also has the potential to create jobs in regional Queensland with the thousands of positions that could be on offer during the construction phase.

Costs for the Inland Rail project have doubled to $31 billion.

Report author and respected Australian executive Kerry Schott expressed “surprise” construction on the project started “without knowing where it will start or finish”.

“There is little doubt that the major task of delivering this project was greatly underestimated by (Australian Rail Track Corporation) and by the former government,” Dr Schott said in the report. She backed Ebenezer in Ipswich as the final destination – but questions still remain why the Port of Brisbane has not been considered.

Cost blowouts and delays were blamed on the Australian Rail Track Corporation’s “underdeveloped” plan in 2020, which required “major additions” to it as it progressed.

The project is now predicted to be finished in the early 2030s, rather than 2027.

But, the report noted, even this time frame should be “treated with great caution”.

Transport Minister Catherine King used the opportunity to blast the handling of the Inland Rail so far as “shameful”.

“They have let down communities and businesses which have already invested time, effort and money in the prospect of Inland Rail,” she said.

Finance Minister Katy Gallagher also had a crack, saying the former government had ignored its obligations in a move she labelled “delinquent”.

The astronomical cost blowout certainly reflects very poorly on the former government.

But it is now up to the current Labor government to fix this mess and put the checks and balances in place to ensure a cost increase of this magnitude does not become the norm.

We are in uncertain times, with massive projects almost routinely blowing out due to supply chain issues, wage increases and more.

Just last week, the Queensland government announced a blowout of almost $1bn for the Cross River Rail Project.

So it is apparent that now is the time to scrutinise each and every project to ensure value for money.

Dr Schott’s report made 19 recommendations, including further analysis of the costs and time frame. She also recommended an independent specialist review the mooted design solutions.

The federal government must address the issues now and get this project back on track.

MORE THAN A SIN BIN FOR ATTACKING REF

Queensland Rugby League officials need to come down hard on those responsible for the alleged assault on a Brisbane referee.

These men and women who spend their weekend officiating the game should be treated with the utmost respect, not subjected to kicks and abuse.

Referees like Brian Roper, who has dedicated the past 19 years to the game, should not feel “frightened” doing their job, nobody should.

They should be able to referee a game of footy and go home to their families, not spend two nights in the hospital because someone was upset with a decision they had made on the footy field.

“I don’t care who wins or loses a game – referees can only adjudicate on the rules and what is before us,” Mr Roper told The Courier-Mail.

Rugby league is a sport that brings communities together, allows those with a shared passion for the sport to join a club and be social and the game should be played hard, but fair.

What happened to Mr Roper is anything but fair.