But Airport Rail has been planned and run by Labor all through…and Dan Andrews has been around for a long tine.

The main problem is a lack of continuity between governments of different parties, like if a project was planned under Labor then the Liberals would cancel it and vice versa. It is this lack of continuity between governments that has caused problems in regards to planning, commitment as well as coordination when it comes to development. This is not just happening in Victoria, but throughout the world.

We need to fix these problems, but no doubt the media has contributed to this problem through the picking of winners, and calls for taxes to be cut (most notably payroll and land) which is often detrimental to the provision of services (such as public transport or education, which experiences cuts to services when taxes are cut).

I feel that we need better coordination between both Labor and Liberals (as well as minor parties) when it comes to projects like the Metro Tunnel or the Suburban Rail Loop or the Airport Rail (which will take cars off the road) and not rebadge everything when a new government comes into power which is a total waste of money.

I wonder what scope could be cut from airport rail – East Keilor station and the junctions around Sunshine are the only ones that come to mind.

Given the land use around the airport terminals is mostly car parking, I’d assume cut and cover tunnelling would be a cheaper option.

At this stage it’s unclear, but due to the amount of resources that seriously went into planning and starting the early works, it’s a bit too far into the project for a full cancellation. It’s more likely there’s going to be a rescope of the project, as done on other projects to reduce costs. MM1 rescoped during the 2020 review cutting some of the signalling and other upgrades, Mildura basin rail project also rescoped their project following a review in 2021 and there was some rescoping on some regional rail revival projects cutting out some duplication out due to keeping on the budget as well.

Marcus, what a depressing read, and I fear that Andrew is correct (although I have very little money left to put on it). Melbourne is already a problem with no planning, no commitment, and uncoordinated development, and it will become a nightmare.