At a National Press Club event on March 1, Australian Transport Minister Catherine King blamed the previous Morrison government for the current state of the Inland Rail project, which is one of the country’s largest infrastructure investments. She said the project had been treated like “a strange vanity project” while failing to meet budget and schedule expectations. The minister also stated that the government was in the final step of preparing a response to the findings of Inland Rail’s independent review and would release it soon.
The Inland Rail project is a network of railways in mainland Australia that is set to connect two capital cities, Melbourne and Brisbane, and runs through regional Victoria, New South Wales and Queensland. It includes 1,100 kilometres of existing rail lines, which will be upgraded and enhanced, and another 600 kilometres of new track. Once commencing operation, the $14.5 billion (US$9.81 billion project) will complete Australia’s national rail network and allow commodities to be transported more effectively. A report by the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) found that the project would help Australian businesses save $200 million in freight costs each year.
Apart from addressing the problems of the Inland Rail project, the minister also told those present at the event that other transport links in Australia had been “neglected for too long” and that the country’s vital freight network was at risk of being cut off. She noted that some Australian rail networks could only operate up to 80 percent of the time, while others were subject to increased risks due to natural disasters.
The minister warned that Australia could fall short of 112,000 construction workers by September, up from the current 94,000 workers. She said the government might need to slash some investments to reduce costs and prioritise limited resources, and introduce a smaller, “targeted” list of project priorities using stricter planning and assessment criteria in the review of Infrastructure Australia to be released later this year.