Billionaire property baron Max Beck says Suburban Rail Loop is flawed

Property baron Max Beck — one of Daniel Andrews’ staunchest allies — says the Suburban Rail Loop would be better done by a private investor, and blames sloppy bureaucrats for multi-billion dollar Big Build blowouts.

One of Daniel Andrews’ staunchest advocates, billionaire property baron Max Beck, says the current plan to build the Suburban Rail Loop is flawed and the project would be better done by a private investor.

And while Mr Beck, 83, said the government needed to commit to projects like the SRL, he blamed multi-billion dollar blowouts on sloppy ­bureaucrats drafting loose contracts.

“I’ve got to deal with the bastards, but the bureaucracy have got no skin in the game at all, so when they put out a brief, there’s so many holes in it, the contractors say, ‘s**t, how good is this? We’ll come in with a low bid because we know that we’ll be able to up this by 30 or 40 per cent with variations’,” Mr Beck said.

The Herald Sun has revealed budget blowouts on the governments three signature projects – the West Gate Tunnel, the Metro Tunnel and North-East Link – totalling more than $18bn.

He also said a raft of taxes, including the controversial land tax, could be scrapped if the GST was increased.

Beck says the current SRL build plan is flawed. Picture: Jason Edwards

“The problem with all those extra taxes for me is – and I don’t think that Albo (Prime Minister Anthony Albanese) will do it – but just whack up the GST and get rid of all those departments,” he said.

“It might only be a couple of (percentage) points, but it will simplify life. People will cop it because all these other taxes are upsetting a whole lot of commercial enterprises – and they’ve got to have a whole lot of people administering them.”

Mr Beck reached out to the Herald Sun for an interview because he said he was fed up with the negativity about Victoria, adding he believed Mr Andrews did great things for the state and had been unfairly maligned because of his strong arm role during the Covid pandemic.

“He’s a good person and he’s got balls,” Beck said.

Beck says Dan Andrews “is a good person”. Picture: Andrew Henshaw

Regarding the state’s finances, he said Victoria “definitely needs to build” major infrastructure projects, “even if it puts us into a bit of debt”, in order to service the growing population and stay ahead of Sydney as Australia’s greatest city.

Mr Beck also revealed his hopes to revamp Sorrento as “Sorrento-by-the Sea” as a sister city to Carmel-by-the-Sea in California.

He added: “The weather in Melbourne is moderate and with climate change, I reckon it’s going to be fantastic. It doesn’t rain anything like it does in Sydney or the Gold Coast.”

Max Beck in Sorrento where he lives. Picture: Jason Edwards

Worth an estimated $1.1bn, Mr Beck played a key role in building the Royal Children’s Hospital 16 years-ago, under a public-private partnership that saw investors carry the bulk of the risk.

He is also responsible for the Essendon Fields airport development.

He made headlines in 2023 after a failed bid to get Mr ­Andrews membership at Portsea Golf Club, which saw a backlash from members.

He caused a similar stir this year when he unsuccessfully tried to get the ex premier in at Moonah Links club.

Originally published as Billionaire property baron Max Beck says Suburban Rail Loop is flawed