Labor’s 20,000-strong army working on road, rail projects

Almost 150 fat cat executives and thousands of public servants are on board the taxpayer-funded gravy train in Victoria.

Labor’s Big Build projects include the planned Melbourne Suburban Rail Loop, above.

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Almost 20,000 fat cat executives, public servants, contractors and advisers are employed on the Allan government’s blown-out and unfunded major road and rail projects.

The taxpayer-funded army is working on Labor’s Big Build projects including the Suburban Rail Loop, West Gate Tunnel, North-East Link and level-crossing removals.

The Victorian Infrastructure Delivery Authority has confirmed as at this month there are 143 executives and 2,049 public servants employed by the Victorian government on the projects.

Another 17,700 people employed by construction contractors and within the construction industry are building the tunnels, road and rail links but are not directly employed by VIDA or the government.

This number represents a reduction in employee numbers over the past 18 months with a 40-page VIDA document seen by The Australian revealing that in February 2024, the various Big Build projects employed 160 executives, 2,284 public servants, 361 advisers, 106 workers described as “stakeholders” redeployed from other departments, and 22,643 additional frontline workers, bringing the total workforce to around 25,000.

“We are delivering more than 200 road, rail and health projects and it’s important we get these projects right – which is why we need people with specialist skills and experience,” a VIDA spokesperson said.

VIDA has refused to reveal the taxpayer-funded salary bill for the Big Build fat cats over the past two years. “VIDA relies on recruiting project delivery leadership directly from the construction industry and executive remuneration on the Big Build reflects industry benchmarks,” the 40-page document states.

VIDA said it was committed to hiring a skilled workforce and the executive numbers was in line with the “enormity and complexity of the projects being delivered”.

The VIDA document also reveals that $650m was spent on contractors between June 2022 and February 2024, $8m on “labour hire” and another $500,000 on consultants.

Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan, then the project’s minister, inspects early works of the Suburban Rail Loop in Clayton in 2022. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Wayne Taylor

“The government has a model of dedicated, specialist delivery teams for the end-to-end development, procurement and delivery of major transport infrastructure projects,” the document states.

The VIDA document defends the use of contractors and consultants on the projects.

“Engagements are used in a disciplined manner, where there is a sound rationale to deliver overall value for money outcome,” it states.

“Engagement of contractors and consultants at VIDA is underpinned by a robust governance and approvals regime ... VIDA projects require specialist engineering, legal, commercial, cost estimating, modelling and other technical services to ensure they are effectively scoped and efficiently delivered.”

About $10m has been spent on advertising by VIDA in thew past several years. VIDA defended the expenditure saying it had a responsibility to communicate disruption to commuters and motorists resulting from the projects and the campaign had ensured nearly 90 per cent of impacted Victorians were aware about disruptions before starting their journey.

Under a section entitled “cost pressures”, the document notes that major infrastructure activity has been “sharply increasing” since 2016 and “has driven increased demand for construction inputs such as labour, materials and equipment”.

“VIDA closely monitors costst to make sure it continues to achieve the best value for money whilst getting the projects delivered as soon as possible,” the document states.