Arabic version: فيكتوريا تلغي رسماً سرياً على أجور النقل العام

According to The Guardian, Victorian premier Ben Carroll has said the government will abolish a 1% levy added to public transport fares from 1 January 2025 to help fund the Suburban Rail Loop and other Big Build projects.

The levy was disclosed in an auditor general’s report tabled in parliament on Wednesday. It imposed a 1% annual increase on all Victorian public transport fares in addition to existing inflation adjustments. Carroll said there had been “no transparency in its creation and implementation”, while deputy premier Gabrielle Williams said the approach “did not pass the pub test”.

The report said the charge was expected to raise $8bn in today’s dollars over 37 years, with 60%, or $4.8bn, directed to SRL East. The funding plan had earmarked $11.5bn, or one-third of the tunnel’s construction cost, from value-capture revenue. The government said policy changes meant the levy had raised about $6.5m to date.

Carroll was public transport minister when the levy was first approved in 2021, but said he was not involved in that decision. He declined to say how the government would replace the projected $4.8bn shortfall, while noting his earlier pledge to reduce the project’s cost by $2bn. He also said he would not “rip up” contracts.

RMIT public policy expert David Hayward said it would be “crazy” not to continue with the rail project, citing the federal government’s $6bn commitment and an estimated $1.8bn cost of cancelling more than $14.5bn in signed contracts. SRL East, a 26km tunnel section from Cheltenham to Box Hill, is due to open in 2035.