Terms and Documents     Discussion Paper     Written Question With Notice     Annexure B  

Annexure A  -  An embarrassment of critical reports and fault finding newspaper articles chronicle that billions of taxpayer funded dollars have been squandered annually on poorly planned and inadequately appraised 'rail infrastructure projects' resulting in -
a)    projected cost blowouts;
b)    completion delays; and
c)    usage/patronage paucity.

 

 

Central Business District and South East Light Rail (CSELR)

1.     Legislative Council Public Accountability Committee's inquiry into the ‘Impact of the CBD and South East Light Rail Project’ - January 2019

2.     Sydney's light rail finally opens: what you need to know about trams - SMH  - Matt O'Sullivan - Dec 13, 2019

3.     Passengers are shunning Sydney’s new light rail  -  news.com.au - 19 Dec  2019

4.     NSW Auditor-General’s Report  -  CBD and South East Light Rail Project  -  Performance Audit - Nov 2016

5.     NSW Auditor-General report CBD South East Sydney Light Rail: follow-up performance audit  - 11 June 2020

6.     Sydney's light rail chaos: who is to blame for delays and cost blowout? - The Guardian - Anne Davies  Sat 21 Apr 2018

7.     Cost of Sydney light rail blows out, reporting questioned - 11 June, 2020 - Government News - Judy Skatssoon

8.     Report card for light rail is in - and doesn't make for good reading - 9 NEWS - 10 Dec 2020

9.     Sydney CBD and South-east Light Rail Project  -  Issues - 24 April 2020  http://fixnswtransport.com

10.  Transport for NSW CBD AND SOUTH EAST LIGHT RAIL PROJECT ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT STATEMENT – VOLUME 2  Technical Papers 1 and 2 - NOVEMBER 2013

11.   Why do travellers prefer trains and light rail to buses? Crikey  FEB 26, 2015

12.   Sydney City Centre Access Strategy  - December 2013

13.    Delays threaten Sydney cycleways as changes to Castlereagh Street considered - SMH - Jacob Saulwick - 12 Nov 2014

14.   Bike lanes out as George Street light rail project takes off - SMH - 28 May 2015

15.   How did Gladys make such heavy work of light rail? SMH - Jacob Saulwick - 29 June 2018

16.   Further delays to Sydney CBD light rail construction leave retailers struggling - SMH - Matt O'Sullivan - June 4, 2017

1 NSW government failed to update public on true cost of light rail - Tom Rabb & Matt O'Sullivan - 11 June 2020

18 Sydney’s new light rail system criticised for cost blowouts and overstated benefits - news.com.au -  Dec 1, 2016

Other light rail projects, interested entities and associated reporting obligations

  1.    'Gridlocked and unworkable': Dire warning for Sydney's trains from former top execs - SMH - Matt O'Sullivan   December 19, 2017

  2.    NSW Auditor General report on 2.7km Newcastle Light Rail - 12 Dec 2018

  3.    Case for light rail lines in NSW takes a battering once again (Newcastle light rail) - SMH - Matt O'Sullivan -12 Dec 2018

  4.    How $4 billion blowout puts Sydney's rail transport plans on the line  -  SMH - Matt O'Sullivan - 8 Feb 20

  5.    Murray Basin rail project fails to deliver  -  The Islander News  -  Carly Waters  -  March 18, 2020

  6.    The toll roads that turn into money pits - The Age - Matt O'Sullivan.  1 September 2010

  7.    Warning that Sydney’s biggest rail project risks costing $27b and opening late SMH -  Matt O'Sullivan   Feb 8, 2021

  8.    Why do travellers prefer trains and light rail to buses? Crikey  FEB 26, 2015

  9.    Infrastructure Australia: Failing infrastructure wrecking productivity - Leith van Onselen   June 13, 2019

10 What’s wrong with infrastructure decision making? Conclusions from six UK case studies

 11.   Infrastructure and Projects Authority U.K. - Mandate - Jan 2021 - Reporting to Cabinet Office and HM Treasury

 12.   Rail versus bus local public transport services in Italy: A social cost comparison methodology - Sept 2020

 13.   Bus versus rail: Costs, capacities and impacts, Texas USA  - Leighton Walter Kille - 20 Nov 2009

 14.   EcoTransit Sydney -  Advocating for better public and active transport in NSW

 15.   INDUSTRY COMMISSION - Urban Transport - Volume 1: Report  No. 37  15 Feb 1994

 16.   Australian Government Cost-Benefit Analysis website:

 *      Cost-Benefit Analysis Guidance Note - March 2020

 *      COAG Best Practice Regulation guide

 *      Best Practice Regulation Guidance Note: Value of Statistical Life

 *      Australian Government Introduction to Cost-Benefit Analysis and Alternative Evaluation Methodologies and Handbook of Cost-Benefit Analysis - 2006

 17.   Australian Government Regulatory Impact Statement (RIS) Preliminary Assessment Form - March 2020

 18.   Caution urged in states costing big transport projects after blowouts - SMH - Tom Rabe & Matt O'Sullivan - 22 Feb '20

 19.   Sydney CBD station looms as biggest challenge for flagship Metro rail project  - SMH - Matt O'Sullivan - 9 Feb '21

 20.   Light rail’s online, but more to come for Sydney - THE AUSTRALIAN  -   MILANDA ROUT  -  6 Feb 2020

 22.   Have U.S. Light Rail Systems Been Worth the Investment? - 10 Apr '14 - Despite modest success, most systems have neither increased mass transit commute share nor the vitality of city centers. Bloomberg

 23.   Sydney eyes BYD electric buses to silence noisy inner west - TheDriven  - 28 June 2019

 24.   Room at the top: double-decker buses return to Sydney - SMH - 24 Aug 2012

 25.   NSW to roll out 120 electric buses in 2021 ahead of full transition - TheDriven  - 2 Dec 2020

 26.   Australia’s Largest Order of E-Buses Placed to date - Australia Bus & Coach -  3 Dec 2020

 27.   End of the Line: Long-Ignored Sydney Monorail Makes Its Final Trip -  Wired - 7 Sept 2013

 28.   Sydney monorail makes its last loop after 25 years of service ­ The Sunday Telegraph - Leigh van den Broeke  - 1 July  2013

 29.   End of the Line for the Sydney Monorail  -  Metroplanners @Metroplanners   Tim Grzesiakowski

 30.   Long-term Strategic Plan for Rail - Greater Sydney metropolitan region - Overview report - June 2001  - 89 page overview report prepared by Ron Christie when Co-ordinator-General of Rail in June 2001

 31.   NSW Parliament acceptance on 9 May 2002 of Ron Christie, Co-ordinator-General of Rail's June 2001 report titled "Long-term Strategic Plan for Rail"

 32.   Auditor General condemns Tibby Cotter bridge cost blow-out  -  SMH - Jacob Saulwick - 17 Sept 2015

 33.   Cost far outweighs benefit: Sydney’s $11b airport rail link slammed -  SMH -  Tom Rabe and Matt O'Sullivan  - 

Decade in power: How risks are rising for Sydney’s mega rail projects  - SMH - Matt O'Sullivan  -  March 22, 2021

Commonwealth expenditure: legality and scrutiny -  Daniel Weight, Economics

Specific purpose payments and the Australian federal system - Research Paper no. 17 2007–08 - Scott Bennett, Politics and Public Administration Section  Richard Webb, Economics Section - 14 Jan 2008

 37.   Does the Commonwealth have constitutional power to take over the administration of public hospitals?  Research Paper no. 36 2008–09,  Sharon Scully, 30 June 2009 - "This research paper finds that, despite the absence of an explicit public hospitals power in section 51 of the Constitution, several factors may enable the Commonwealth to do so; in particular, the continuing fiscal dominance of the Federal Government."

 38.  The secret $53m Sydney land deal that has left NSW taxpayers with an even bigger clean-up bill -The purchase and clean up of the six-hectare site near Parramatta is estimated to cost taxpayers more than $100 million. It has sparked calls for the deal to be referred to the ICAC  -  SMH  -  Adele Ferguson, Matt O'Sullivan and Chris Gillett 

 

 

Metro Tunnel's $2.7 billion budget blowout revealed - The Age - Timna Jacks - 11 Dec 2020

Cross River Rail cost blowout means project doesn’t stack up - Queensland Economy Watch - 

44.  Cross River Rail: privatisations, cost over-runs, and no patrons  -  Economics, Government, Infrastructure, News, Publications -   30 Oct 2020

 45.  Cost-benefit does not add up: Three WA projects worth $1b fall short of priority list standards - WAtoday - Peter de Kruijff  -  11 Feb 2021 

 46.  Mega transport projects mean mega cost blowouts: new Grattan report  -  Marion Terrill - 8 Nov 2020

 47.  The huge $28 billion cost of transport infrastructure cost blowouts  -  Australian Financial Review, - Marion Terrill - 24 October 2016

 48.  Gawler SA line blowout means more months on buses - The Adelaide Advertiser -  6 Dec 2020

 49.  Spectacular cost blowouts show need to keep governments honest on transport - ABCNews - 24 Oct 2016

50.   'I am sorry': NSW Transport Minister concedes metro line will blow out by $3 billion -  SMH - Matt O'Sullivan  -  February 21, 2020

NSW Government confirms $3 billion Sydney Metro cost blowou - Infrastructure Magazine  -  21 Feb 2021

The rise of megaprojects: counting the costs  - Grattan Institute  -  Marion Terrill, Owain Emslie and Greg Moran  -  8 Nov 2020

 54.  Western Sydney Aerotropolis rezoning submissions detail heartbreak after homes rendered 'worthless'  -  ABCNews – 3 April 2021

 55.  Taxpayers lose out when governments rush transport projects   SMH   Marion Terrill and Lachlan Fox  -  July 6, 2021

 56.  There’s every reason politicians’ pork-barrelling should be made illegal - The Age -  5 July 2021

 57.  ‘It could never have been built’: Labor pinpoints holes in the pork barrel   Tom Cowie  -  SMH - July 3, 2021

 58.  ‘Harebrained idea’: Secret plan to commercialise state’s public transport, roads  -  SMH  -  Adele Ferguson and Matt O'Sullivan  -  August 19, 2021

 59.  Papers on Parliament No. 36 - June 2001 - Tony Harris "Auditors-General: Policies and Politics"

 60.  ‘Vehicles for deception’: Transport plan fails the truth test - SMH - Tony Harris former NSW auditor-general  August 20, 2021

 61.  PM’s surprise investment in a better class of economic debate pays off - SMH - Ross Gittins - Economics Editor - August 27, 2021

 62.  State government finances in turmoil as Auditor-General plays hardball - SMH - Adele Ferguson and Matt O'Sullivan - Dec 14, 2021

 63.  Four ministers tasked with troubled NSW roads and transport sector - SMH - Tom Rabe - 20 Dec 2021

 64.  Inside the Premier's wonderworld of grants and wishes granted -  SMH - Tony Harris November 25, 2020

 65.  Former NSW Auditor-General Tony Harris on trust, corruption and integrity - Saturday, 2 October 2021

 66.  A Submission to the Independent Review of the Public Interest Disclosure Act 2012 by Tony Harris  -  19 July 2019

 67.  Review of the Public Interest Disclosure Act 2012 (ACT) 30-Sept-2019

 68.  Former NSW auditor general blasts Coalition for attempting to 'reduce scrutiny of government' activities - The Guardian - 2 Nov 2020

 69.  Urban congestion funding for Coalition and marginal seats far outstrips safe Labor seats, report finds - The Guardian - 20 Mar 2022

 70.  Liberal MP: Politicians ‘addicted’ to buying votes, take spending out of their hands  -  SMH  -  Matthew Knott  27 March  2022

 71.  How predictable: another megaproject has suffered another cost blowout  Grattan Institute  - Marion Terrill - 11 Aug 2021

 72.  They keep bringing a bigger barrel - Grattan Institute - Marion Terrill  -  21 March 2022

 73.  NT Government reveals $7 million budget blowout for underground car park in State Square  - ABC News  - 9 Dec 2020

 74.  The cost of letting politicians near infrastructure runs into the billions of dollars of extra costs for taxpayers  -  Crikey  -  17 May 2021

 75.  Megabang for megabucks: Driving a harder bargain on megaprojects - 4 May 2021

 75.  Improving the process for public transport patronage forecasting  - Australasian Transport Research Forum - Gary McGregor and Tim Raimond

 76.  Of Australia’s 32 biggest infrastructure projects, just eight had a public business case  - The Conversation - Marion Terrill - 7 Sept 2021

 77.  NSW budget 2022 reveals cost blowout in metro tunnels under Sydney Harbour of around $6b -  ABC News - Tim Swanston - 21 June 2022

 78.  Inflation has surged to a 21-year high. What is it and why does it matter?  -  SBS  -  27 July 2022

 79.  Anthony Albanese should take his own advice on infrastructure  -  Marion Terrill  - Australian Financial Review  - 27 July 2022

 80.  Infrastructure Australia board members step down ahead of review  - SMH -  July 22, 2022

 81. First things first  -  The State Infrastructure Strategy 2012 – 2032

 82.  CBD and South East Light Rail: key sources

 83.  Transport for NSW  -  Cost-Benefit Analysis Guide

 84.  High Speed Rail Authority legislation introduced to Parliament

 85.  High-speed Sydney to Melbourne rail plan ‘will never work’: infrastructure tsar  -  SMH - Michael Koziol  Dec 8, 2022

 86.  Revealed: Secret high-speed rail plan backs Newcastle, Sydney, Wollongong link - SMH  Michael Koziol   Dec 24, 2022

 87.  A European high-speed rail network: not a reality but an ineffective patchwork

 88.  Fact Sheet | High Speed Rail Development Worldwide

 89.  High Speed Rail is an Unprofitable Train Wreck 

 90.  The High-Speed Rail Money Sink Why the United States Should Not Spend Trillions on Obsolete Technology - Randal O’Toole - Cato Institute 20 April 2021

 91.  A budget of failed cost control and infrastructure blowouts, Victoria - 20 May 2021

 92.  Senate report blasts ARTC, federal government management of 'nation building' Inland Rail project  -  ABC Southern Qld   - 13 Aug 2021

 93.  Rural and Regional Affairs and Transport References Committee  -  Inland Rail: derailed from the start -  August 2021

 94.  Victoria cannot afford more Labor –  AFR  -  Nov 23, 2022

 95.  New report exposes high salaries of Victoria suburban rail loop execs  -  RACHEL BAXENDALE  VICTORIAN POLITICAL REPORTER   @rachelbaxendale  -  DEC 27, 2022

 96.  Victorians are ‘not going to be able to afford’ Daniel Andrews 'for much longer' - Sky News - 29 Dec 22

 97. ‘Grey corruption’ cuts our living standards, so it’s a shame they shelved the integrity commission  -  Danielle Wood   CEO, Grattan Institute    February 15, 2022

 98.  Controversial rail corporation granted another two-year tax break  -  SMH  -  Matt O'Sullivan  -  6 May 2022

 99.  Cost blowouts for Queensland projects caused partly by ‘poor contract management’ –The Guardian -  17 May 2022

100. ‘Astonishing’ cost blowouts put rail upgrades off track  - The Courier Mail

101. ‘Poor planning’: $127m wasted after bureaucratic bungles - The Courier Mail

102.  Qld Govt not learning from mistakes: audit  -  The Canberra Times  -  Marty Silk  -  October 31 2022

103.  Billion-dollar infrastructure budget blowout highlights impact of labour, supplies shortages - WA  - ABC News - Rebecca Turner and Jacqueline Lynch 

104.  Public Infrastructure -  Qld Auditor General  - Inquiry report  -  14 July 2014

105.

'Humiliating' infrastructure cost blow-outs near $5b a year  - 
SMH  -  Jenny Wiggins  -

106. Infrastructure Minister Tom Koutsantonis 'not surprised' by North-South Corridor project cost blowout (SA)  -  ABC News  - 24 June 2022

107. Adelaide North-South Corridor road project cost blows out to $15.4 billion with 524 properties to go  -  ABC News Patrick Martin and Rory McClaren  14 Dec 2022

108. North-South Corridor Project  -  Attorney-General's Department

109. South Australian opposition calls on government to release a review into North-South Corridor project  -  ABC News - Claire Campbell and Josephine Lim  -  21 Aug 2022

110. Transport boss flags North-South Corridor cost blowout – but won’t name price -  InDaily  Thomas Kelsall  - 21 Nov 22

111. With gold-plated South Road, we don't know what we're missing – InDaily  David Washington@davidwashingto2  22 Dec 2022

112. South Australian opposition calls on government to release a review into North-South Corridor project  -  ABC News - Claire Campbell and Josephine Lim  -  21 Aug 2022

113. Welcome to the River Torrens to Darlington Project -  DIT - 16 Dec 2022