Concerns over use of public money in Morrison government train station car park scheme

The Morrison government is under fire over its train station car park scheme, with concerns it may not be an “economical and ethical use of public money”.

The Morrison government promised hundreds of millions of dollars for new railway station car parks at the 2019 election without knowing if the projects could be built or what they would cost.

A scathing report by the Auditor-General has revealed the bulk of the projects were proposed by federal MPs, with 30 out of the 47 car parks announced for Victoria including 25 in Liberal-held seats.

They were ticked off and announced despite bureaucrats telling Alan Tudge, the urban infrastructure minister at the time, that they were “not in a position to recommend funding” and had no “detailed information on train station car parks”.

A new carpark at Kananook station is one of several projects which has since been dumped by the government. Picture: David Smith

“The advice did not include an assessment of the project,” the Auditor-General found.

“It did not include advice on project feasibility, costs, risks or value for money. There was no information provided on the need for additional parking bays at the proposed sites.”

“There was no merit criteria in place to provide a transparent and consistent basis for assessing whether the identified projects represented an efficient, effective, economical and ethical use of public money.”

The damning findings come after a series of Herald Sun revelations about the problem-plagued program, which Liberal insiders admitted earlier this year was used to sandbag government MPs in Melbourne’s eastern suburbs ahead of the 2019 poll.

Two years after the car park commitments were announced, construction had only started on five of the initial 47 projects, with work completed at just two stations. At least 13 projects did not have any established timelines to be delivered.

Last month, the Herald Sun revealed the government had dumped five projects at Brighton Beach, Balaclava, Mitcham, Kananook and Seaford stations.

It also decided to pump another $87.8m into its $405m spend in Victoria so that car parks could be built at Frankston, Heathmont, Ringwood, Ferntree Gully and Berwick stations.

The Auditor-General found the Berwick project — which received a $49m top-up in the May budget — was announced by the government without any departmental advice.

Last year, consultants were called in to provide a cost benchmark for new station car parks, which was set at $26,700 per space for at-grade parking and up to $39,600 per space for multi-story parking. The Berwick project was tipped to cost a whopping $115,000 per space.

The report also blasted record keeping for the project, declaring it was not compliant with department and federal government rules, as the Audit Office was forced to obtain internal emails to monitor how the commuter car park fund was managed.

The Herald Sun understands planning complications and a lack of funding means the government will struggle to deliver its full commitments to commuters at several other stations including Boronia, Surrey Hills, Narre Warren and Sandringham.

Urban Infrastructure Minister Paul Fletcher — who launched a review of all the projects when he took over the portfolio late last year — said the department had accepted the report’s recommendations.

In a statement, he said the department was now ensuring “increased reporting frequency and quality, improved data management and enhanced project tracking”.

But opposition urban infrastructure spokesman Andrew Giles said the findings of the audit were “truly shocking”.

He said that “most damningly”, spreadsheets to decide the projects that were funded were shared with the Prime Minister’s office.

“The Prime Minister needs to urgently explain what went on in that meeting and release the spreadsheets shared with his office,” Mr Giles said.

“And if Minister Tudge cannot adequately explain his part in this appallingly partisan abuse of due process, he should resign.”

“This is sports rorts on steroids.”

Parking Australia chief Stuart Norman said the rationale for the program was sound but that the government had failed to incorporate industry expertise.

“While building car parks seems simple, they are unique and require specific knowledge and skills,” he said.