Victorians continue to pay the price for Labor’s major project mismanagement, as electromagnetic interference (EMI) from the Metro Tunnel threatens Victorian health services and could cost Victorians hundreds of millions of dollars to fix.
Leaked government documents have revealed that, eight years after the Allan Labor Government was first informed of threats to health services and looming cost blowouts because of Metro Tunnel EMI, vital equipment at the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre is still failing to meet acceptable performance standards.
$164 million has already been spent on relocating equipment from Peter Mac, the Royal Melbourne Hospital and Royal Women’s Hospital, whilst the government was also forced to abandon a proposed $5 billion health precinct near the new Arden Station.
The documents show the State Government cannot guarantee that the Peter Mac equipment will be able to meet the performance standards. It also indicates that future transport upgrades like the Melbourne Metro 2, delivery of promised 10-car High-Capacity Metro Trains, and even tram upgrades, may only worsen the threat to the broader Parkville Medical Precinct.
As a result, hundreds of millions of dollars may need to be spent on permanent relocation.
The Allan Labor Government admits, however, that “there is no provision for additional relocations or significant infrastructure mitigations” in the project’s budget.
Shadow Minister for Health, Georgie Crozier, said: “The Allan Labor Government must come clean and tell Victorians whether Parkville will even be a viable location for sensitive health equipment over the longer term.
“With an already stretched health system, Victorians will be rightly asking what impact this will have on patient services and what it will cost.”
Shadow Minister for Transport Infrastructure, David Southwick, said: “Eight years after they first found out about this problem, the Allan Labor Government admits there’s no money left to fix it, and they have no idea what to do.
“The future of the Parkville Medical Precinct has been thrown into doubt. Will they have to scrap High-Capacity Metro Trains, completely redraw Melbourne Metro 2, never upgrade the tramlines, or gut the Parkville Medical Precinct of its imaging services?
“Labor cannot manage money, cannot manage major projects, and Victorians are paying the price.”
