Public claims of Cross River Rail ‘blowout’ could cost taxpayers more: Labor

Labor has hit back at Premier David Crisafulli’s claims of yet another budget blowout and accused him of putting half a billion dollars at risk by declaring the government’s hand in future negotiations.

Crisafulli on Tuesday said the Miles Labor government secretly signed off on a $494 million Cross River Rail “blowout” just before it entered the pre-election caretaker period.

“Nearly half a billion dollars, and the most damning thing is, it was signed off in September, and no one from the former government thought Queenslanders deserved to know about a $494 million blowout relating to Cross River Rail,” he said.

Then-treasurer Cameron Dick at a Cross River Rail worksite last year.Credit: Matt Dennien

“...The union influence from the CFMEU, the culture of cover-ups, the blowouts that will put in jeopardy taxpayers’ money if it hadn’t changed, it’s all deeply disturbing.”

But Deputy Opposition Leader Cameron Dick said the money was a funding envelope set aside in case of project cost overruns in a “high-cost, high-inflation environment”.

“But, of course, governments don’t discuss those funding figures because it jeopardises the negotiations with a major contractor,” the former treasurer said.

“It’s the case with every negotiation – you don’t show your hand publicly because what may happen is you end up costing taxpayers more, and that may very well be the case with what David Crisafulli has done today.”

Crisafulli used the issue to reassure Queenslanders “these projects will occur, and we will change the culture of the way that job sites work”.

“Productivity will return, projects will be delivered, and the biggest risk to that would have been a continuation of a bad government that had pervaded over astronomical blowouts,” he said.

Dick said cost variations were not uncommon on projects, and he cited the experience of one of Crisafulli’s fellow LNP leaders – Lord Mayor Adrian Schrinner.

“It costs more to deliver more projects, and that’s exactly what happened with Brisbane Metro. It’s the same thing that happened with the Kangaroo Point bridge,” he said.

The cost of Brisbane Metro has increased from $944 million to $1.7 billion, while the Kangaroo Point pedestrian bridge increased from $190 million to $299 million.

“Now, Adrian Schrinner, when I last checked, wasn’t a member of the Labor government,” Dick said.

“He wasn’t a member of the Labor Party. He’s subject to the same pressures, and that’s why those projects increased.”

Deputy Premier Jarrod Bleijie has vowed to continue raising claims of Labor mismanagement, as well as the undue influence of the CFMEU, for years to come.

The union’s Dylan Howard said it was willing to sit down with the LNP to pinpoint where and why costs were escalating on projects.

The union, which is now under independent administration, has been involved in a long-running dispute with CPB Contractors over Cross River Rail.

“It is typical of the LNP to blame construction workers and the CFMEU for infrastructure cost blowouts,” he said.

Howard claimed Cross River Rail was “plagued” by problems, whereas projects where the union was more involved had been “delivered on time and on budget”.

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