Deafening silence is government’s shameful habit when it comes to taxpayers’ money

The state government has a problem. It does not know how or when to speak to people. It seems unable, either through incompetence, ignorance, arrogance or just plain lack of will, to communicate to Victorians about things that will profoundly affect them.

Memo premier and ministers, photo ops in high vis at construction sites don’t cut it. The latest example of Victorians being left in the dark is the Outer Metropolitan Ring.

An artist’s image of the proposed Beveridge terminal, which would handle goods moved on the Inland Rail.

The Age revealed this week that the OMR, one of the largest transport projects in the state’s history, is slowly grinding its way into reality. The plan is for a 100-kilometre rail and road corridor to be carved out in Melbourne’s outer north and west. A public acquisition overlay was placed on the corridor 15 years ago. Some might argue this was later than it should have been, but still this was an act of thinking about the future.

The state has spent $350 million compensating landowners along the route for taking their property. This is a logical progression from the land reservation if the government plans to proceed with the project. But does it? We know that in 2021-22, the state and federal governments jointly put together $20 million in a preliminary business case.

We don’t know what it found. A freedom-of-information request by The Age was rejected on the grounds of cabinet confidentiality. This is unacceptable. We can accept confidentiality is necessary on matters such as security. The Outer Metropolitan Ring is a transport project. Victorians should know what is being discussed concerning their money, especially as now at least $350 million has been spent.

Acting Premier Jaclyn Symes said this week that the project was “not a proposal that we’re actively considering” but “preserving land for a future decision is an appropriate course of action”.

This walks past The Age’s revelation that the government’s own planners warned that the first component of the OMR was needed by 2031 to help address stifling congestion and the growing population in Melbourne’s north and west.

Then there is the associated freight rail line. This is a crucial part of the project, giving freight trains exclusive use of a 73-kilometre link from Werribee to Beveridge, thus removing them from the suburban rail network.

As The Age also revealed this week, the state government unsuccessfully sought $6 billion from Canberra for the rail line. The Albanese government is instead content for the national Inland Rail project to terminate north of Melbourne. What that would mean on Melbourne streets is more trucks as containers would have to get from the port in the city’s centre to Beveridge at the federally backed rail hub.

And so we stagger on, pouring every available dollar of capital expenditure into the Suburban Rail Loop. This is not a benign decision. Not building the outer ring has consequences.

Infrastructure Victoria warned if the link is not built sections of CityLink, the M80 Ring Road and the West Gate, Western and Calder freeways would be overloaded by 2051, causing heavy congestion. The M80 Ring Road is expected to carry an extra 1800 trucks in the morning peak alone by then.

In the face of these ticking clocks for people who rely on these roads – they have to partly because promised rail projects to places like Melton are also nowhere to be seen – the government’s silence is as deafening as it is galling.

Has the state government tried anything, for example recycling capital as NSW has done leveraging private investment? It may have. We don’t know. It hasn’t said.

A “future decision” is the best the public can expect. It’s not good enough.

In March, The Age, on the Suburban Rail Loop, wrote: “The presumption of secrecy around the activities of this government and its agencies is eating at the fabric of our democracy and the public’s right to know and hold officials accountable. The one thing that is transparent about it is the desire of a defensive and paranoid government to shape the narrative around its policies. The rest is murk.”

Nothing has changed. Again, we say Victorians have a fundamental right to know. To withhold information involving such vast amounts of money is to treat them with contempt.

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