debacle – Transport for Melbourne

The Premier’s One Belt One Road “Deal” Dead and Buried

Serious concerns were raised about this “deal” in an earlier blog last year. Some of these related to matters of national sovereignty and it is not surprising the federal government has vetoed it. But It also raises fundamental issues of governance which has concerned TfM for some time. It is our view that sound governance and proper process is critical if we are to achieve better outcomes: not just in “transport” but all aspects of government policy with profound impact on our daily lives.

What is particularly concerning is this “deal” according to The Age Friday 23 April was a closely guarded affair done by the Premier in his own office with his then secretary Chris Eccles. According to The Age, senior officials who had trade expertise with links to China were never called and the matter was never approved by Andrew’s cabinet. Further “had he consulted with his federal Labor colleagues they might have told him …. it was its policy not to sign up to the program”.

We believe similar behaviour has been repeated more generally in the state government’s transport infrastructure program. This has also been the subject of earlier blogs, and a forum was run on it (governance) in 2017, but the situation does not appear to have improved since. All governments need checks and balances to keep them honest. It seems the need for transparency and public scrutiny of government at all levels has become increasingly critical.

The Sunshine Rail ‘Super Hub’ Debacle

As reported by Timna Jacks in The Age 11^th April, after much hype by the State government to redevelop Sunshine Station as a “super hub” that would in the words of the Premier “include retail, housing, all sorts of different options .. that can create one of those brand new spaces — a real boom for this area from economic activity” –that would fuel an economic boom in the working-class suburb, state and federal governments have now removed references to Sunshine station being a “super hub” and councillors have been advised that Sunshine and Albion stations would be “relegated to secondary priority”.

Council is most unhappy ofcourse as are developers who have called for more transparency on plans along the rail corridor, where nine major developments are being proposed, including nearly 2500 residential units, two hotels and $230 million in construction activity.

So perhaps all the fantasy and hype was simply another dream without foundation based on business as usual projections, creating the illusion that government was getting on with the job. it is time to take a reality check and look at some of the lessons that should be learnt from all of this.

There is little doubt the impact of Covid has been profound and will have lasting impact although the extent remains unclear and it has yet to run its course. In the short term we might expect some recovery but what are the prospects for the longer term? Despite government declarations that covid has been a one in a hundred year event, we must expect more events like this in an increasingly uncertain world, and that these will be driven increasingly by environmental change and the social and economic impacts that follow.

It is critical that government planning reflect this otherwise we will see more and more examples like this in which local communities are deceived by grand plans that at best will be short lived, a waste of money and do little to enable communities to adapt to the changing world around us.

Fortunately the Sunshine Hub is a relatively small project and is dwarfed by mega infrastructure projects in the government’s Big Build program, all of which assume business as usual to continue within current planning horizons. Few have a soundly based business case. A business case for airport rail has been under way since 2018 and was supposed to be released last year, but is not yet complete. The largest, the Suburban Rail Loop has yet to be accurately costed and no business case has been carried out for it, but this has not stopped this government committing to it and already committing hundreds of $millions to it. The financial risk associated with all these monumental projects is huge. It is time the business case for all projects in the Big Build program are properly evaluated at the outset before any commitment is made for them to proceed. Once approved, all projects must be subject to proper planning and development processes before undertaking any works. It seems proper process has been abandoned on these projects.