SRL executives spent more than $330,000 to attend tunnelling conferences, woo builders

Suburban Rail Loop executives have spent more than $330,000 travelling the world to attend tunnel-boring conferences, meet foreign governments and woo companies to build the $34.5 billion first stage of the project.

The authority behind the project has defended the expenses as vital to securing the global expertise needed to deliver SRL East, a planned underground rail line between Cheltenham and Box Hill.

Premier Jacinta Allan defended the Suburban Rail Loop Authority’s chief executive, Frankie Carroll, on Friday after The Age revealed he regularly commutes from Brisbane and receives remuneration of at least $900,000.

Carroll’s frequent time spent in Brisbane, where his family is based, is highlighted in a series of flight transactions obtained by The Age under freedom of information laws.

On Friday, it was revealed he billed the taxpayer for flights totalling more than $3600 whenever he was “recalled to duty” and had to return to Victoria unexpectedly. He also claimed expenses to fly from Brisbane to Melbourne for a conference.

A separate freedom of information request first lodged by the state opposition and released by the government this week details more than $330,000 has been spent by executives at the rail loop authority on international travel.

The first expense covered in the report is a one-week, $54,000 trip in March 2022, in which Carroll and former SRLA chair James MacKenzie travelled to several European countries to meet firms and “encourage increased market competitiveness” through the early stages of bidding for work on the tunnel’s multiple construction packages.

The documents say this process ultimately benefited the project and achieved value for money.

Out of the total price tag, more than $13,000 was spent on accommodation and another $11,000 classified as “other”.

Eight months later, Carroll and another board member spent more than $69,000 and more than two weeks travelling across Asia and Europe to sound out interest in the biggest contract of the SRL East project, a “line-wide” package that involves fitting out the tunnels, building trains and operating the rail line.

A consortium called TransitLinX has been named as preferred bidder for this contract, expected to be worth at least $8 billion, but a final cost will not be determined until the agreement is finalised this year.

Carroll, MacKenzie and chief operating officer Megan Bourke-O’Neil returned to Europe for 10 days early in 2023 for a $95,000 trip to meet with firms that were “unable to accommodate meetings in late 2022’s compressed schedule”.

One of the cheaper international trips taken by SRLA staff was for three people to attend an Australasian Tunnelling Conference in New Zealand in 2023, which cost the taxpayer more than $5000, including accommodation.

In November 2024, two senior staff at the authority spent more than $70,000 across multiple countries for “meetings with foreign government representatives and visits to projects with
bidders”.

The authority says overseas engagement has been critical in attracting world-class companies to deliver the project efficiently, which in turn helps manage costs.

The Allan government’s most ambitious infrastructure project, the Suburban Rail Loop has been billed as a generational city-shaping venture vital to maintaining Melbourne’s liveability as it is estimated to become a city of about 9 million people in the 2050s.

The first stage of the loop, SRL East, is an underground railway between Cheltenham and Box Hill and is expected to cost $34.5 billion. The north and west links, if built, would connect to Melbourne’s existing rail lines in a so-called hub-and-spoke system.

“As we get on delivering one of Victoria’s largest and most complex infrastructure projects, engaging directly with leading global construction companies, suppliers and operators is essential to secure the specialist expertise required to build this city-shaping project,” a spokesperson said.

“The Suburban Rail Loop will slash travel times and cut congestion for busy families – while delivering 70,000 more homes within walking distance to jobs, healthcare, green open spaces and Australia’s largest universities.”

Speaking on Friday, Allan defended Carroll’s flights from Brisbane and his $900,000 remuneration package, which includes leave and other entitlements, because of the scale of the project.

This is despite a previous recommendation from the Victorian Independent Remuneration Tribunal that he receive a range topping at $700,000.

“This is a hugely complex project that needs someone with the experience and expertise to head it up,” Allan said. “His principal residence is in Melbourne and as he privately chooses to travel to see family in Queensland, that is very much a matter for him.”

Opposition major projects spokesman Matthew Guy accused the state government of being out of touch.

“This is the middle of a cost of living crisis where a lot of Victorians can’t afford to pay their electricity or gas bills,” he said.

Guy said a $900,000 salary might be justifiable if the $34.5 billion SRL East were fully budgeted, had an acceptable business case and Victorians knew where the money to pay for it was coming from.

“All of those things, it’s got none of,” he said.

The Allan government has committed to fund a third of the project itself, wants a third from the Albanese government and plans to raise the rest through taxes on the increase in property values created by the rail line, known as value capture.

But the Commonwealth has only committed $2.2 billion so far, with Infrastructure Australia recommending no further federal funding until the project and its benefits were re-costed and more information provided about value capture.

This leaves more than $20 billion unaccounted for, with the Allan government planning to release details about value capture in coming months.

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