Victoria remains committed to Suburban Rail Loop amid more cash for airport rail

Premier Jacinta Allan has brushed off disastrous poll results and insisted her government remains committed to the contentious Suburban Rail Loop project.

Allan on Saturday partly blamed the disastrous poll results – published by this masthead on Friday, which showed Victorian Labor’s primary vote had collapsed to a historic low of 22 per cent – on cost-of-living pressures on families.

Jacinta Allan talks to reporters in Werribee on Saturday. Credit: Simon Schluter

“I do acknowledge that this is one of the challenges that we are seeing being played out in governments around the country and around the world,” she said when asked about the exclusive polling for The Age.

The results of the Resolve Political Monitor poll represent a collapse in public support for the Allan government, with Labor’s primary vote dropping six points in two months.

If the results of the Resolve survey were to be replicated at next year’s state election, it would bring to an end 12 years of Labor rule and deliver a Coalition government in Victoria for just the second time this century.

Speaking in Werribee in Melbourne’s outer west, where Labor will contest a byelection on February 8, Allan said the Reserve Bank of Australia’s decision to make multiple interest rate rises was “crushing” and had put immense pressure on household budgets.

On Saturday, this masthead revealed the federal government had offered Victoria an additional $2 billion to build a rail link to Melbourne Airport, putting pressure on the premier to dump the Suburban Rail Loop, which will take decades to complete in its entirety.

Two sources with knowledge of talks between the state and federal governments, who were not authorised to speak publicly, said Canberra had made clear its willingness to provide additional funds towards the project, which the Commonwealth and state government have previously committed $5 billion each to build.

The new money would be used to meet the cost of a new Sunshine station, where the airport link would connect to existing suburban and regional rail networks. It would bring the estimated $13 billion project close to being fully funded.

Allan told reporters on Saturday the federal government was still committed to the Suburban Rail Loop.

“We’ve got a partner in Canberra on the Suburban Rail Loop [and] on the North East Link project, and we will continue to fight for Victoria’s fair share because that’s my job,” she said.

Asked if Victoria had been offered extra money for the airport rail project, Allan said: “We’re having a range of discussions.”

The state government had been in dispute with Melbourne Airport, which had initially wanted the railway station to be built underground.

The Victorian government had insisted on an above-ground station.

The Allan government, blaming the stand-off with the airport, delayed the project in May last year by at least four years to 2033.

In July last year, airport management said it was time to compromise and agreed to have a station above ground, ending a stalemate with the government and clearing the path for the overdue project to proceed.

On Saturday, Allan would not say whether her government would prioritise the airport rail link above the Suburban Rail Loop.

“We already are committed to both projects.”

The Victorian government is yet to accept the extra funds for airport rail project from the federal government.

Allan has previously argued that the Commonwealth should commit any additional infrastructure funds to the Suburban Rail Loop, her government’s priority project. Stage 1 is expected to cost $35 billion.

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