The Victorian government secretly increased public transport fares to raise money to help pay for the Suburban Rail Loop and other Big Build projects, the state's auditor-general has revealed. This was reported by Qazaqyia.kz citing The Guardian.
The auditor-general's report, tabled in parliament on Wednesday, also questioned whether the first stage of the multibillion-dollar project – a 26km stretch of twin tunnels from Cheltenham to Box Hill dubbed SRL East – can be delivered on time or within budget.
The auditor-general found the plan to fund SRL East – via $11.5bn from both the Commonwealth and state governments and $11.5bn through so-called value capture methods – “is not transparent and some funding sources are uncertain.”
It said in December, the government announced five value capture measures: using existing land tax and windfall gains tax revenue in SRL East precincts, infrastructure contributions from property developers, revenue from state-initiated property development and a car parking levy.
But the auditor-general said the government did not reveal it had already introduced a levy on all public transport fares in metropolitan Melbourne and regional Victoria on 1 January 2025. The levy involves a 1% annual increase on all public transport fares on top of existing adjustments in line with inflation.
The report reads: “The government plans to allocate 60% of the revenue it collects through the levy, estimated at $4.8bn in net present value (NPV) terms to 2062, to fund SRL East.” “This levy will be the project’s largest source of value capture revenue.”
“The government and Transport Victoria did not acknowledge the levy in their public communications about the 2025 and 2026 annual fare increases. As at June 2026, they still have not announced it.”
The report also revealed the project has already “experienced significant delays” of up to six months on early works and station contracts are yet to be awarded, putting at risk its promised 2035 completion date. It said the “on the evidence available to date” the project is “more likely than not to exceed its publicly disclosed cost of up to $34.5bn”.
The estimated cost of the entire Suburban Rail Loop when announced by Daniel Andrews in 2018 was $50bn. The loop would run from Cheltenham in Melbourne's south-east to Werribee in the west, via Melbourne airport. The cost of stage one, SRL East, as promised by new premier Ben Carroll on 25 August 2026, was estimated to cost $30-34.5bn in 2021. The worth of contracts signed, according to Labor's May budget, was $11.8bn. The length of SRL East is 26km. The estimated cost of building SRL East and SRL North, the second stage, based on a 2024 Parliamentary Budget Office analysis, is $70-80bn. The estimated cost of operating SRL East and North for 50 years, according to PBO, is $100bn. SRL North, from Box Hill to Melbourne airport, is due to open in 2035. Completion of SRL West, the final stage, from Sunshine to Werribee, is scheduled for 2045.