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New transport minister blows whistle on cost blowouts

The cost of 32 major road and rail projects across Queensland has almost doubled to $23.28 billion, with new Transport Minister Bart Mellish promising transparency on the issue.

Dec 22, 2023, updated Dec 22, 2023
Queensland Minister for Transport and Main Roads, Bart Mellish. (AAP Image/Darren England

Queensland Minister for Transport and Main Roads, Bart Mellish. (AAP Image/Darren England

The increase of $11.2 billion since June spans 32 projects in the state.

Just days after being sworn in, Transport Minister Bart Mellish has promised the cost of major projects will be revealed to Queenslanders twice a year.

“Basically what I know will be what you will know,” he said on Friday.

“We really want to make sure that we’re laying these costs on the table so that people know the true impact of these projects so that we can deliver them.”

Mellish’s transparency comes after criticism of his predecessor Mark Bailey.

The former transport minister came under fire last month for not revealing a $3.1 billion cost blowout on a rail project.

Bailey confirmed the Logan and Gold Coast Faster Rail’s new cost estimate of $5.75 billion only after it was published on a federal government website.

In August, Bailey apologised after a $2.4 million blowout in another rail project was not featured in a press release, calling it a “stuff up”.

Deputy Opposition Leader Jarrod Bleijie led calls for Bailey to be sacked.

Bailey stepped aside before Steven Miles took over the reins as premier last week from Annastacia Palaszczuk, with Mellish one of five new ministers in the revamped cabinet.

Another blowout revealed on Friday was the Pacific Motorway upgrade between Daisy Hill and the Logan Motorway, which is set to cost an extra $3.5 billion.

Deputy Premier Cameron Dick said increasing construction costs had contributed to the rise.

“Queenslanders who go to the petrol station and to the grocery store, they know the cost of everything has gone up,” he said.

“The cost of construction is the same.”

The government would work with the commonwealth to determine how they would meet the higher costs, he said.

The federal government will contribute $1.75 billon to the faster rail project.

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