Vito Trantino paid super-sized $560k to be director of stalled Airport Rail Link project

The public servant recently put in charge of the Airport Rail Link will be paid almost as much as the Prime Minister, despite the project being put on ice.

The Melbourne Airport Rail Link project was stalled pending a federal review, but the director is still pocketing a large sum.

The public servant recently put in charge of the Airport Rail Link will be paid more than $560,000 a year, despite the project being put on ice by the Allan government.

Special permission was sought from the state’s public sector pay-setting tribunal for the mega package, which is $160,000 above a salary cap for executives in similar positions.

The Major Transport Infrastructure Authority, which oversees the state’s Big Build, told the remuneration tribunal that paying 40 per cent above the cap was necessary to retain skilled leaders in a competitive sector, and was similar to “the remuneration of comparable positions in the MTIA”.

In July, the Herald Sun revealed a secret report on super-sized salaries among Victoria’s leading public sector road and rail executives, which totalled $12m across 25 roles.

At the time, the government defended the big spending in a hot market where competition for talent had been supercharged.

The Airport Rail Link director is experienced engineer Vito Trantino, who recently took over from Ben Ryan, who had led the project since its infancy but was headhunted this year to lead the $14bn Metro Tunnel project.

The $10bn airport project, which would create 30-minute train trips to the CBD from Tullamarine, stalled when a review of federally-funded infrastructure projects was announced in May.

Airport Rail Link director Vito Trantino. Picture: Facebook

Government insiders expect it to be mothballed for years once the review is considered, despite $720m being spent on early works and multiple packages released to market.

Opposition transport infrastructure spokesman, David Southwick, said the $563,630 package was “totally out of step with community expectations”.

He said the fact Victoria’s major projects were running billions of dollars over budget was no surprise “when money continues to be wasted on projects that have been shelved”.

“Once again, taxpayers are paying for Labor’s waste and mismanagement,” he said.

Mr Trantino’s huge pay packet puts him in the same league of pay as Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, who this year had his wage set at almost $587,000.

The Victorian Remuneration Tribunal says in its published decision that there were a number of factors involved in approving Mr Trantino’s inflated package.

“In providing its advice, the Tribunal has considered MTIA’s views on the value of retaining leadership capability, institutional knowledge and stakeholder management capability to deliver contracted works ahead of government decisions on the Melbourne Airport Rail project,” it says.

An MTIA spokesman said some works were continuing on the new link and the tribunal had “acknowledged the value of retaining leadership capability to deliver contracted works ahead of decisions on the Melbourne Airport Rail project”.

“The Melbourne Airport Rail Project Director will also be heading up the $4bn Regional Rail Revival when the current Program Director steps down in two weeks, as we get on with upgrading every regional passenger line in the state.”

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