Annastacia Palaszczuk refuses to say when she knew of $3.1bn blow out

The Queensland Premier has refused to divulge on when she discovered a major rail project had blown out by 120 per cent to $5.7 billion.

Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk speaks during Question Time at Parliament House in Brisbane.

Annastacia Palaszczuk has refused to say when she knew costs for a major Queensland rail project had blown out by 120 per cent to $5.7bn after her Transport Minister Mark Bailey hid overruns.

Huge cost escalations on the Gold Coast Faster Rail project were not publicly disclosed by Mr Bailey and were discovered by journalists only when the federal government released its controversial infrastructure review earlier this month.

Mr Bailey repeatedly refused to detail updated figures, saying negotiations were still under way with the federal government which is splitting costs 50-50 with the state. He was forced to confirm the cost for the rail project had soared by $3.1bn this week, but only after the federal infrastructure department published updated figures on its website.

Ms Palaszczuk on Wednesday backed Mr Bailey over his decision not to disclose to taxpayers that the price tag for the project had jumped by $3.1bn. She refused to answer questions from the LNP about when she became aware costs had spiked to $5.7bn, saying the opposition “don’t understand how government operates”.

“It is embarrassing that they have no basic understanding that departments go through processes,” she said.

“Ministers then write to their federal counterparts and then their federal counterparts write back confirming whether or not the money is approved.”

Asked why she hadn’t told Queenslanders about the increase when she found out, Ms Palaszczuk said it was subject to state-federal negotiations, which was a “normal process of government”.

“They remain confidential until the negotiations have concluded,” she said.

Mr Bailey on Tuesday accused the commonwealth of “breaking faith” because it published updated figures on the department’s website. “They’ve broken faith – that’s a matter for them – I will do my job in terms of the formal processes between different levels of government and I’ll remain committed to what’s a good faith process and if others break that, then that’s a matter for them.”

His refusal to reveal overruns on the Gold Coast Faster Rail comes months after his office asked public servants to “‘consider” deleting references to a $2.4bn cost blowout on the state’s train manufacturing program.

Deputy Premier Steven Miles arrived in Canberra on Wednesday to lobby federal Infrastructure Minister Catherine King to restore funding to nine major road and rail projects that were gutted as part of the infrastructure review.

Mr Miles said it was a “productive meeting” where he urged Ms King not to shift from an 80:20 funding model to 50:50.

Nationally, 50 projects were axed as part of the Albanese government’s response to an infrastructure review of the country’s $120bn 10-year pipeline.

Additional reporting: Ellen Ransley from NCA.