Show us you mean business, industry group tells Daniel Andrews

The Victorian business community is becoming increasingly unsettled about the direction of the Andrews government.

Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews.

The Victorian business comm­unity is becoming increasingly unsettled about the direction of the Andrews government and is demanding evidence in the May 5 budget of major projects and fiscal responsibility.

Australian Industry Group Victorian executive director Tim Piper said there was concern about the government’s decision to scrap the contract for the $7 billion East West Link road and tunnel project.

He said “dozens’’ of businesses had articulated concerns to him but most were ­reluctant to talk publicly for fear of retribution.

“I’ve met quite literally dozens of large companies over the past week,’’ he said. “There’s a level of angst that’s quite high. I think as much (as anything) about the way it’s been done.”

Mr Piper called on the government to provide evidence in the budget that is on track and is committed to job-creation ­projects.

It is generally unusual for the peak business groups to criticise a new government because of fears the organisations will be frozen out of decision-making processes and opportunities for members, but the alarm about potential sovereign risk issues has outweighed concerns about any retribution.

Premier Daniel Andrews’s ­decision to junk the East West Link has galvanised the private sector in a way that hasn’t been seen in Victoria for more than 20 years.

Mr Andrews this week raised the spectre of going into more debt to fund major projects, a prospect that has been forced on the government because Can­berra will not help fund urban rail infrastructure.

Strategists on both sides of the political divide believe the East West decision has harmed the government but that it has time to recover.

The cost of junking the project could be as high as $800 million, depending on how compensation payments to the consortium that was to build it are calculated.

The eventual cost is certain to be higher than the $339m that was announced by the Andrews government.