Melbourne's long-awaited metro tunnel project is under significant pressure to meet the government's deadline to run passenger services in 2025. New contract documents have revealed more delays to key handover dates, with the government unwilling to guarantee an opening next year.
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00:00It's the long-awaited train tunnel project to reshape Melbourne.
00:06The Premier's had a test ride, and first passengers are due next year.
00:10If you believe that one, we'll pig fly.
00:13Contracts tabled in Parliament cast fresh doubt on the deadline.
00:16It shows provisional handover of the project has blown out by a year, and final acceptance
00:21is delayed until the last day of 2025.
00:23I don't have a crystal ball, I mean, nobody could have foreseen COVID in 2019, but that's
00:29what happened.
00:30And I'm confident that we'll have people riding on the Metro Tunnel in 2025.
00:35Taxpayers have kicked in an extra $745 million to cover the latest delays.
00:4030,000 kilometres worth of test rides have been completed, but there's issues with interference
00:44with medical equipment at Parkville, and the two city stations are yet to be finished.
00:48You can plan, you can prepare, you can design, but you've got to test it and trial it, and
00:54you've got to make sure that you've got it right.
00:56And sometimes that can work really well, sometimes there might be complexities, and
01:00it might take a little bit longer.
01:02If infrastructure blowouts aren't enough, in Parliament dozens of reports continue to
01:05paint a picture of financial strain across the government, including an $81 million loss
01:10at Triple Zero, a $74 million deficit for the CFA, while court services were $73 million
01:17in the red.
01:18Treasury documents also reveal that Victoria's central account earned $444 million less than
01:24forecast.
01:25That has had no impact on the overall budget position.
01:27This is a government that can't manage money.
01:29The state of Victoria's books are in a complete mess.
01:33Parliament has now risen for the year, and we're halfway through the electoral term.
01:37Jacinta Allen will be hoping for some clear air over summer, and that the Metro Tunnel
01:41can be opened next year to help get this 10-year-old government back on track.