Hannah Hammoud
There seems to be no end in sight for the blame game being played between the state government and Melbourne Airport, following a decision in last week’s state budget to delay the Melbourne Airport Rail Link by at least four years.
Treasurer Tim Pallas handed down the 2024-25 state budget on May 7, revealing the airport rail link has been hit with further delays of at least four years from its initial estimated completion date of 2029.
Mr Pallas said while the Metro Tunnel, the West Gate Tunnel and the North East Link projects are still being delivered, the state government has a “huge amount of funding tied up with the Melbourne Airport Rail project”.
“We need to be realistic about the project and its timeline,” Mr Pallas said.
“We’ve made the sensible decision to acknowledge the project is now at least four years delayed.”
The state government and Melbourne Airport have failed to reach an agreement on the location of the proposed Melbourne Airport train station, with the airport holding firm in its preference for it to be constructed underground while state government’s plans released in 2022 said its preference was to have an above ground station.
A Melbourne Airport spokesperson said the timing of the project has always been a matter for the government.
“Melbourne Airport was part of a consortium that offered up to $7 billion towards an underground airport station and express tracks from Sunshine,” the spokesperson said.
“The state government rejected this.”
In April last year, then Transport Minister Jacinta Allan flagged that the Melbourne Airport Rail project would not be completed by 2029, citing “challenging” negotiations with Melbourne Airport as a contributing factor to the delay.
“It has been challenging to negotiate with the airport about how the project will be delivered on the land that they lease from the federal government to run the airport,” Ms Allan told ABC Radio at the time.
“It’s been slower than I would have liked.”
A spokesperson from Hume council said council was disappointed by the delays and hoped to see the project be catered to soon.
“We knew that Victorian infrastructure projects would suffer as the state government seeks to reign in debt through its latest budget,” the spokesperson said.
“We are disappointed that the airport rail link has been delayed as a result of this as it’s a project that Melbourne’s north has long deserved, and we would expect it to be a top priority for future infrastructure funding.”
