Shannon Deery: Blurred between Daniel Andrews’ promises and reality

Before Victorians went to the polls, Dan Andrews promised us we could have it all, but as the state budget looms, it seems we were duped.

A month before November’s state election Daniel Andrews promised Victorians they could have it all.

“There are some who think that this election is a choice between public transport and health,” the Premier said.

“They’re wrong. You have to do both. And under Labor, you get both a better public transport system and a better hospital system.”

A month out from the state budget, it appears we were duped.

We cannot have it all.

Funding is set to be slashed not only to transport infrastructure, but also to community health programs.

Andrews has promised more money for health across the board. But funding to community health programs will be cut.

Those cuts come despite data that shows worsening ambulance response times and longer waits in hospitals.

Frontline health workers are desperately needed, according to the Victorian Healthcare Association, and it is likely they’ll be catered for in the budget.

But that will come at the expense of community programs.

Andrews has promised more money for health across the board. But funding to community health programs will be cut. Picture: David Crosling

In the latest blow to a project decades in the planning, Melbourne’s long-awaited airport rail line is also set to be put on hold.

Almost $700m was allocated to the project in last year’s state budget. Another $123m was allocated to the Geelong Fast Rail, a project also bound to be put on ice.

“We can’t keep delivering this amount of major projects without it being a shambles,” a senior transport source said.

Inside the corridors of power there are real concerns that without serious spending cuts, Victoria’s debt could hit $200bn in the coming budget.

The embattled airport rail line has been 60 years in the making.

In the mid-1960s, years before the airport opened, then state transport minister Edward Meagher argued for a line that could be “conveniently linked with the suburban railway network” and provide “fast, cheap and convenient access to the city and suburbs”. By that time the Metropolitan Transportation Committee had recommended a new line as part of the city’s development.

“It will ensure that Melbourne’s new airport will not suffer from the lack of adequate fast public transport linking it with the city and suburbs, and at the same time will provide essential public transport facilities for the large population expected eventually to reside in the area zoned for housing purposes between Moonee Ponds creek and the airport buffer zone,” Meagher said.

In the latest blow to a project decades in the planning, Melbourne’s long-awaited airport rail line is also set to be put on hold. Picture: BigBuild.vic.gov.au

“I think it is generally accepted that the biggest problem of the air age is the contrast between the time spent in the air and the time spent on the ground travelling between the airport and the city centre.

“Melbourne is fortunate in that its new airport, although 14 miles from the city centre, is so located that it can be conveniently linked with the suburban railway network, thus providing fast, cheap and convenient access to the city and suburbs for air passengers, visitors and airport workers who do not desire to use their cars.”

Arguing in support of a Bill that aimed to acquire land for a future railway, Ivanhoe MP Vernon Christie argued it was “ridiculous that with Tullamarine it will take as long to travel to or from the centre of the city as it will take to fly from Melbourne to Sydney”.

“A jetport isolated by road and traffic congestion will not be a great advantage to this city, but a jetport connected by the permanent way to Spencer St railway station, with a 20-minute journey, would be of advantage to this great city,” he said.

The Bill was defeated. And so began the long history of problems that have plagued this piece of infrastructure.

The government had the chance to really get moving in 2020 when a private consortium, including Melbourne Airport and Metro Trains, offered a $7bn contribution towards a rail line that would have involved a new tunnel through Melbourne’s inner west. The state and federal governments agreed to chip in $5bn each.

Releasing a business case into the airport rail last September, Andrews talked up its importance.

“Rather than talking about an airport rail link, we’re getting on and building it, and it’s a very important project, one that we’re delighted to be supporting fully,” he said.

Given its apparent importance, why not push ahead with it, and press pause on the Suburban Rail Loop?

Given its apparent importance, why not push ahead with it, and press pause on the Suburban Rail Loop?

There’s perhaps less political capital to be lost in scrapping the forever troubled airport link than a pet project like the SRL.

But is a train line from Cheltenham to Box Hill really needed right now?

The state opposition promised to scrap the SRL, and invest the estimated $9bn of state funds saved in the health system.

It argued that given the economic crisis facing the state, the project was an unaffordable luxury.

As we await this horror budget, one thing is clear. Despite the promises, Victorians won’t be having it all.

Shannon Deery is Herald Sun is state politics editor