Union boss slams West Gate Tunnel impasse

The boss of a union representing West Gate Tunnel workers has unleashed on the Andrews government, Transurban and the project’s building consortium for its ‘monumental mishandling’.

Victorian AWU secretary Ben Davis wants the state government to sort out the legal row over contaminated soil in the West Gate tunnel project. Picture: Arsineh Houspian

The boss of a union representing hundreds of West Gate Tunnel workers has unleashed on the Andrews government, toll road company Transurban, and the project’s building consortium, holding all parties responsible for its “monumental mishandling”.

AWU Victorian secretary Ben Davis’s comments come after Transurban told its shareholders on Monday there was “no reliable time frame” for the project’s completion and that while the total costs of what was supposedly a $6.7bn tunnel “remain uncertain”, they are estimated to have blown out by at least $3.3bn.

Tunnelling was supposed to have begun in mid-2019 ahead of a 2022 completion date, but is still not under way, amid an ongoing dispute between Transurban, builders CPB and John Holland, and the government over the disposal of toxic soil.

In a direct challenge to rhetoric from Premier Daniel Andrews and Transport Infrastructure Minister Jacinta Allan, Mr Davis said the onus was not only on Transurban and its builders, but also on the state government, to get the project back on track.

“This project has been monumentally mishandled and mismanaged by all three parties: the builders, Transurban and the state government — from the get-go,” he told The Australian.

“It’s not good enough to simply say ‘it’s all in court. We’re going to have to wait’.

The state government — who ultimately are the client, even if in a legal sense the client is Transurban — have got to roll their sleeves up and get these issues resolved so we can start digging.

“For months now the people working on this project have been wondering whether they’ll have a job next week in an environment of great uncertainty.”

Mr Davis said there were approximately 250 AWU members working on the West Gate Tunnel at present, but work was running out because tunnelling still had not begun. A further 150 AWU members have been deployed to other projects in the meantime.

Had tunnelling been under way, Mr Davis estimates up to 600-700 of his members would have had work. He now fears the delay could result in supply shortages, given tunnelling is likely to coincide with construction of the $15.8bn North East Link project.

Sources close to CPB and John Holland have indicated they believe the cost blowout is significantly higher than Transurban’s $3.3bn estimate, and could be as high as $5bn.

Mr Davis said he, likewise, suspected the real figure was higher, accusing Transurban of being “slippery” and pointing to a CityLink Concession Deed the Andrews government legislated in 2019 as part of its public-private partnership with the company.

Under that agreement, drivers using the Kennett-era CityLink toll road from Melbourne’s east to the airport are being hit with a toll hike to pay for the West Gate Tunnel, with tolls on that road allowed to increase by 4.25 per cent each year over a decade in a deal Victoria’s Parliamentary Budget Office estimates will reap Transurban $37.3bn over 25 years.

Mr Davis said he believed Transurban had “less skin” to lose than its builders, his workers, or taxpayers. “What they lose in this they will pick up on tolls. Transurban should be ashamed of themselves,” he said.

“I think the West Gate Tunnel has shown us the folly of market-led proposals and really called into question the PPP model that governments of all persuasions use far too often on all these projects.”

On Monday, Mr Andrews and Ms Allan both put the onus on Transurban, neglecting to acknowledge it was the government that agreed to the company’s market-led proposal.

“Transurban came to the government with this project, they chose the builder, and they need to get an outcome with their builder,” Mr Andrews said.