$7.4m annual bill for Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan’s army of Suburban Rail Loop spruikers

Victorian taxpayers are funding an army of almost 50 staff tasked with communications and engagement for Jacinta Allan’s Suburban Rail Loop, despite the mega project’s multibillion-dollar funding black hole.

Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan. Picture: Luis Enrique Ascui / NewsWire.

You can now listen to The Australian's articles. Give us your feedback.

You can now listen to The Australian's articles.

Victorian taxpayers are forking out $7.4m annually for an army of almost 50 staff tasked with communications and engagement for the Allan Labor government’s Suburban Rail Loop, despite the mega project’s multibillion-dollar funding black hole.

A document seen by The Australian reveals the Suburban Rail Loop Authority’s strategic communications and engagement division team is stacked with 49 staff, who appear to be led by an executive general manager earning between $419,001 and $557,435 annually.

Assuming the 49 employees earn the mid-point salary of the public service band they fall within, the figures reveal the team earns a combined $7.4m a year – for an average salary of $147,946 a person.

The figures come after an exclusive Newspoll conducted for The Australian in June revealed a majority of voters – 59 per cent – either somewhat supported or strongly supported the project, the first stage of which will connect Cheltenham and Box Hill in Melbourne’s east at an estimated cost of $34.5bn.

The Victorian government has continued to plough ahead with the construction of its signature project, despite multibillion-dollar funding black holes and warnings from the nation’s major projects watchdog about uncertainty surrounding its cost estimate and benefits.

Premier Jacinta Allan’s government, which has committed $11.5bn to the $34.5bn SRL East, is banking on its federal counterparts contributing the same amount and plans to fund the remaining $11.5bn via value capture.

However, Infrastructure Australia has raised concerns about a lack of detail as to how the state government will realise $11.5bn of value capture, while the federal government has so far provided only $2.2bn of the $11.5bn sought and is yet to commit further funding, leaving a minimum $9.3bn shortfall.

Despite the funding gaps in the project, the document reveals the SRL Authority has hired a video­grapher, graphic designers, a senior speechwriter and presen­tations adviser, a marketing and brand manager, a senior social media adviser, a digital and website manager, a landowner and business support manager, a customer service manager and an internal communications manager.

For the project’s engagement-related roles, there is an engagement director, five deputy engagement directors, a deputy stakeholder engagement director, an engagement manager, an engagement adviser, a senior engagement adviser and an engagement officer.

Other positions cover media and communications, marketing and events, corporate affairs and government relations.

The document shows the SRL authority is led by a seven-person executive leadership team.

According to the SRL’s most recent annual report, the project had a total of 650 staff as of June 2024, including 89 executives.

Infrastructure Australia said earlier this year in its SRL East business case evaluation report it had “low confidence” in the government’s 2020 cost estimate of $34.5bn and concluded it therefore was likely the economic case for the project was overstated.

Infrastructure Australia said while value capture could play a role in funding infrastructure, there was insufficient detail to have confidence the mechanism could fund the $11.5bn the government was relying upon.

An SRLA spokesperson defended its staffing.

“Suburban Rail Loop will slash travel times and cut congestion – while delivering 70,000 more homes closer to jobs, healthcare, and Australia’s largest universities,” they said. “Construction has been under way since 2022; tunnelling will begin next year and the structure planning process for SRL East neighbourhoods continues … Communication with communities is a critical part of delivering any major project.”