There’s no doubt that Victoria’s infrastructure was in desperate need of attention. Both road and rail had been struggling to keep up with the demands of its millions of residents for years, relying on outdated upgrades from over thirty years ago. Congestion and safety concerns made it clear that major upgrades were needed. In response, the state government unveiled The Big Build in 2015, a comprehensive series of projects aimed at modernising Victoria’s roads and rail systems. Unfortunately for taxpayers, this initiative has far exceeded its original budget, with costs ballooning from millions to billions with no end in sight.
Westgate Tunnel.
The West Gate Tunnel is essentially a reimagining of the earlier East-West Link project. Homes had been forcibly acquired, and tunnelling contracts were signed for a route that would have connected Melbourne’s western suburbs, to the east. Despite the project’s progress, a change in government following the election led to the project’s abrupt cancellation. The cancellation cost Victorian taxpayers approximately $300 million, a staggering amount for a tunnel that was never built. Imagine the difference those funds could have made if they had been redirected to critical services like Medicare. This costly misstep set an unfortunate precedent for Victoria’s infrastructure spending, foreshadowing the financial struggles that would follow.
Rather than linking Footscray to the eastern suburbs as initially planned, a new tunnel was proposed, connecting Altona to Docklands. The goal was to divert trucks off the congested West Gate Bridge, reducing bottlenecks and improving road safety. The original East-West Link tunnel was expected to cost $1.5 billion, while the West Gate Tunnel was projected at $5.5 billion. However, the cost has now escalated to an astounding $10 billion, driven by delays, design changes, and challenges with toxic soil. This is an astounding $8.5 billion over the original proposal, and for a much shorter stretch of road.
Originally scheduled for completion in 2022, the project remains unfinished as of late 2024. Spanning just 4 kilometres The state of Victoria is running out of money. July saw a grimm warning for the state from lenders that they will look to avoid lending the embattled state further money. One of the main culprits behind this financial downturn is the state’s ambitious infrastructure project, The Big Build, which has stretched our resources to breaking point.
and now in its ninth year of construction, progress has been underwhelming, averaging an underwhelming 500 metres per year. To make matters worse, ongoing construction challenges have sparked rumours that an additional $1.1 billion will be needed to bring the tunnel to completion. If true, this would mean that Victorians are paying a staggering $3 billion per kilometre of road.
Even conservatively estimating that the works have added 20 minutes to the average daily commute, someone who crosses the bridge for work every day would have spent an additional 780 hours (32.5 full days) stuck in traffic. It’s hard to imagine how commuters could ever recover that lost time. This lost time will be even harder to swallow once the tunnel opens as a toll road.
Metro Tunnel.
Nine kilometres of new underground rail with five new stations will ultimately connect the Pakenham line with the Sunbury line. Announced in 2017, the project is on track for completion by 2025. So far, this rail infrastructure upgrade has cost taxpayers a staggering $14 billion.
Melbourne’s city loop was plagued by design flaws, creating bottlenecks at Flinders Street Station and causing frequent delays for decades. The Metro Tunnel was introduced as the first step in resolving these issues. The project is also considered necessary for a future train line direct to Melbourne Airport (more on that later). As part of the project, 63 houses and 31 businesses were forcibly acquired, roads were closed, and the city loop endured five years of disruptive construction. Meanwhile, the Flinders Street end of Swanston Street became a construction zone, stripping the area of all its former activity.
The original plan to build the upgrade above the existing city loop was ultimately deemed impractical, forcing a costly redesign. Unsurprisingly, this change added an extra $1 billion to the original budget. Why would they care, when it’s not their money, right?
The project averaged 90 metres of track laid per week and the line was completed by 2021, four years ahead of schedule. The stations, however, had not even begun construction. This raised questions about whether job creation was prioritised over the public’s best interest. Rather than focusing on completing the project with minimal delays, it seemed more beneficial for the construction industry to maximise employment opportunities. At its peak, 3,500 workers were employed on the project, delaying commuters by an additional four years. What could have been a four-year project ultimately doubled to eight.
The project is still expected to open in 2025, however, additional government funding would be required to ensure the stations are operational on time. This further investment underscores chronic overspending, once again raising questions about the project’s planning and financial management.
Level Crossing Removals.
Perhaps the clearest example of the government prioritising the interests of the construction industry over public benefit is the level crossing removal project. While these are undoubtedly necessary, the removal process has dragged on for years. Once one crossing is completed, crews move on to the next removal, creating what feels like an endless cycle of job sites. With $14 billion already spent on the project, the government seems more focused on maintaining steady work for unions than on completing the project efficiently. They boast about keeping jobs going, with little concern for escalating costs or ongoing traffic disruptions for you and I. The ballooning budget raises serious questions about whether public funds are being used effectively.
Melbourne Airport Rail.
After already blowing their budgets by billions of dollars, the state government shifted its focus to Melbourne Airport. Early proposals included a dedicated tunnel connecting the airport to Southern Cross Station. However, this plan was scrapped in favour of an above-ground line, which would serve as the first link in an outer-city loop connecting Melbourne’s outer suburbs together.
Unfortunately for taxpayers, the first leg of the outer loop was projected to cost $15 billion. Fortunately for taxpayers, due to empty coffers, the project has been postponed. Although $300 million had already been spent on preliminary works, recent reports indicate that the state government is now seeking a four-year delay from the federal government. This feels reminiscent of the $300 million spent years ago on the abandoned East-West Link project.
Geelong Fast Rail.
It’s no surprise that there is no money left now for the Geelong Fast Rail project. Promised over a decade ago, it aimed to reduce train travel time between the city of Geelong and Melbourne to under an hour. Creating a viable public transport link between the two cities would have significantly alleviated congestion on the Westgate Bridge, but the project was shelved before it even began. Not because it wasn’t a good idea, but because financial mismanagement drained any available funds long ago.
A Legacy of Mismanagement.
With over $41 billion spent on infrastructure projects, Victoria has virtually nothing to show for it. Is anyone really surprised that the state is now facing a financial crisis? It’s telling that now, as the financial strain worsens, the government is suddenly encountering issues with one of the state’s largest unions. As if back door promises are now at risk of being broken.
Massive infrastructure projects, such as the Big Build, were always going to be ambitious and time-consuming. Unfortunately, this initiative has consistently prioritised the interests of the construction industry over the needs of the public, specifically catering to the voting base of union members. Now more than ever, this has become increasingly obvious.
It should be noted that unions have done exactly what they are meant to do for their members. Unions have successfully advocated for their members, securing higher wages than many elite university graduates receive, along with excellent benefits and long-term job security. They’ve secured the best deals for their members. In contrast, the state government has mismanaged its priorities to garner cheap (or rather expensive) votes. They have sold the general public down the river.
On the Big Build projects, union members receive a bonus on their pay that is proportionate to the project budget. Essentially, the larger the project budget, the larger the bonuses workers receive. This has created a negative feedback loop. If there are issues with the build, the budget increases, resulting in larger bonuses for workers. Workers benefit from delays and unexpected costs, as nobody wants to be reassigned from larger projects to smaller ones where their paychecks would drastically decrease. This situation creates an unintended incentive for project delays, making it clear that missing deadlines is financially beneficial.
There is an old economic adage that suggests that to keep employment healthy, one could hire someone to dig a hole, then hire another to fill it back in, and repeat the process. Unfortunately, this is reminiscent of what the Big Build has become. It has prioritised inflated wages and perpetual roadworks. All wrapped in a pretty bow for the public as they are told how hard we the government is working at improving the state. Ensuring continued employment at exceptionally high wages has been politically profitable for the government up until this year. As long as the projects continued, so did the votes. What worker in their right mind would vote against such a deal? Now, with the budget running low, the cracks in the relationship between the government and the unions are beginning to show.
Regardless of what you think about the current Victorian government, they have little to show for the $40 billion they’ve squandered. Since the Big Build first broke ground, Victoria’s population has grown by millions. It would be unfortunate to complete these upgrades only to discover that we have already outgrown them. That is, if they ever intend to finish them at all.
Wealth Kingdom 
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