Andrews fallout for Albanese

The fallout from Victorian Ombudsman Deborah Glass’ probe into the “creeping politicisation” of Victoria’s public service under Daniel Andrews must extend to Anthony Albanese’s pledge to add his $2 billion contribution to the former premier’s pet Suburban Rail Loop project.

Ms Glass says the “excessive secrecy” around the $125-billion, 90-kilometre orbital rail line – which was conceived and developed inside the public sector by “people with strong ALP ties” – was at odds with core aspects of the Westminster tradition.

That included the use of private PwC consultants to “prove up” the strategic business case that both the Victorian auditor-general and Parliamentary Budget Office have concluded does not stack up.

Top public servants in the Department of Transport who were kept in the dark were unable to provide their customary frank, impartial and timely advice about a mega-project that was not part of Victoria’s long-term integrated transport plan, but is set to impose a long-term burden on the state’s taxpayers.

The surprise announcement of the Suburban Rail Loop on an obvious political timetable as the “centrepiece” of the Andrews government’s 2018 state election pitch “blindsided” Infrastructure Victoria, the body established in 2015 to take the short-term politics out of infrastructure planning.