Transport Minister Mark Bailey forced to reveal cost of Gold Coast Faster Rail project blown out by $2.5bn

While slamming the federal government for its infrastructure cuts, Mark Bailey has been caught out with another massive project cost blowout.

State Transport Minister Mark Bailey has again been exposed hiding billions of dollars in project blowouts just months after he almost lost his job for trying to hide a major overrun.

Taxpayers will spend an extra $2.5bn to build the Gold Coast Faster Rail project, which is now tipped to cost “a bit more” than $5bn.

Other major projects including Boundary Rd level crossing, Centenary Bridge upgrade, Rockhampton Ring Road and Pacific Motorway Varsity Lakes-Tugun upgrade have also had increases, but Mr Bailey refused to say by how much.

The blowouts were discovered through the controversial infrastructure review by the federal government, which allocates almost $500m extra to the four projects.

Mr Bailey, labelled “incompetent” by the LNP, argued that project overruns were “not unusual” and blamed soaring steel, asphalt and concrete costs. He refused to be drawn on rising labour costs through his Best Practice Industry Conditions policy – which critics say adds hundreds of millions of dollars to the cost of major projects.

The latest multibillion-dollar blowout comes just months after Mr Bailey was caught attempting to hide a $2.4bn increase in the Queensland Train Manufacturing Program at Maryborough.

On Thursday, Mr Bailey would not say why taxpayers had again been kept in the dark over the soaring cost of the Gold Coast rail project.

Queensland Transport Minister Mark Bailey has been forced to reveal that the cost of the Gold Coast Faster Rail project has blown out by $2.5bn. Picture: Dan Peled

The state government website still lists the cost of doubling the number of rail tracks between Kuraby and Beenleigh at $2.6bn, but Mr Bailey admitted the cost was likely now “a bit more than five”.

“There has been a cost escalation there like many projects right across the nation, we’re in a high inflation environment, it’s not unusual,” he said.

Mr Bailey said that once the federal government provided “formal confirmation of approved funding, we will update published costs”.

Federal Infrastructure Minister Catherine King said the existing process of providing extra cash to states as project costs increased was unsustainable. The infrastructure funding list has an extra $2.25bn for Queensland projects as costs increase, and more than $250m in unallocated cash.

Mr Bailey, Deputy Premier and Infrastructure Minister Steven Miles, and Treasurer Cameron Dick held a joint press conference on Thursday to slam the federal government for cutting road and rail projects in the state.

“Anybody who understands the construction industry ... knows that cost escalations are common, because materials have gone up,” Mr Bailey said.

“For someone to be running a line about one particular factor being the cause of cost escalations, it’s just a pure political spin.”

Mr Miles said, under a “worst case scenario”, the review would rip up to $14bn out of projects over 10 years.