Revealed: What was in leaked email from Bailey’s office on train costs

A leaked email sent from Transport Minister Mark Bailey’s office to the Transport and Main Roads department has exposed the desperation to conceal a $2.4b blowout on the government’s flagship train manufacturing program.

Minister for Transport and Main Roads Mark Bailey answers questions during Estimates hearing at Parliament House on Tuesday. Picture: Dan Peled / NCA NewsWire

A leaked email sent from Transport Minister Mark Bailey’s office to the Transport and Main Roads department has exposed the desperation to conceal a $2.4b blowout on the government’s flagship train manufacturing program.

TMR Acting Director-General Sally Stannard sensationally revealed during Tuesday’s budget estimates the department received an email from Mr Bailey’s office on July 3, suggesting TMR delete the true $9.5bn cost of the Queensland Trains Manufacturing Program from communication several days after the final contract was signed.

The email – obtained by Nine – sees Mr Bailey’s office cross out a reference to the “$9.5 billion” investment, and asks the department to “delete reference to $9.5 billion and the largest investment in Qld’s history. Talk about the $4.6 billion contract with Downer …”

This appears to conflict with Mr Bailey’s previous assertion the government’s publication of a press release with the incorrect $7.1b on June 30 was an “error” and a “stuff-up” – and the only reason it had been removed from a draft version was due to the contract with Downer having not been finalised.

Parts of the email were struck out.

That draft version containing a “blank” figure later went to Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk’s office, who blamed an ill staff member working from home for including the incorrect, cheaper figure before it was published on June 30.

It was the same day Mr Bailey flew to Maryborough to hold a press conference to announce the deal was done.

But the Transport Minister did not mention the total $9.5b cost of the project because, he later said, it wasn’t the “theme of the day”.

The July 3 leaked email shows his office telling TMR to “please update (communications) so that messaging is consistent with what was announced on Friday (June 30)”.

Under questioning from LNP Deputy Leader Jarrod Bleijie, Ms Stannard was asked what action was undertaken following the department receiving the email from Mr Bailey’s office on July 3 – four days after the Downer contract was signed – and what the email asked the department to do.

“The feedback was about a comms brief. It provided a couple of things for us to consider, one of the things was to review the reference to the contract value with Downer,” she said.

“(It) included updating the project value to reflect the ($4.6b) contract value”

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Mr Bailey has faced calls for him to resign since The Courier-Mail first reported the $2.4b blowout on the QTMP on July 14.

Since then, both Mr Bailey and Ms Palaszczuk have admitted they knew the true cost had skyrocketed to $9.5b when the press release was issued on June 30, but have denied it was a deliberate cover-up.

Earlier in the budget hearings session Mr Bailey said “I don’t recall” when asked on what date he told Ms Palaszczuk the project had blown out from $7.1bn to $9.5bn, and accused the LNP of pushing a “conspiracy theory”.

Following the hearing Mr Bleijie said Mr Bailey’s “weasel words” had fallen apart.

“Minister Bailey’s evolution of excuses has comprehensively collapsed under questioning, revealing the Palaszczuk Government deliberately hid the truth from Queenslanders,” he said.

“This is a government that believes it’s justified to lie to Queenslanders instead of being honest about a $2.4 billion blowout they’ll pay because of the Government’s failures.”

Mr Bleijie also took a swipe at the Premier, accusing Ms Palaszczuk of being “checked-out”.

“Apparently the Premier is so checked-out she believes deliberate deceptions are forgivable and shouldn’t be disclosed to Queenslanders,” he said.

In a statement Mr Bailey said the email from July 3 requested TMR “consider highlighting the contract value with Downer ($4.6 billion) in a document outlining key messages about the Queensland made Train Manufacturing Program”.

“The Minister has acknowledged on several occasions the figure in the media release was wrong. He has apologised for that error,” the statement read.

Originally published as Revealed: What was in leaked email from Bailey’s office on train costs