Home›Questions on Notice›QoN 745

❓ The Hon Steve Martin questions the Minister for Transport regarding a $300 million cost escalation for the Thornlie-Cockburn Link project, seeking a detailed breakdown of the causes. The Minister's response is evasive, referring back to previously provided information.

AnsweredQoN 745Legislative Council

Asked

21 October 2025

Member

Hon Steve Martin

Portfolio

Transport

QuestionView source ↗

I refer to the Minister's answer to Estimates pre-hearing questions in relation to cost escalations for various METRONET projects between last year's budget and the 2025-26 Budget, which stated "the escalation in these projects' budgets is due to unavoidable increases in labour, plant, equipment and materials driven by supply chain constraints", and the Minister's answer to question on notice 599 which asked for an explanation of the $300 million escalation of the Estimated Total Cost of the Thornlie Cockburn Link between the 2024-25 to 2025-26 budgets, broken down by causes such as labour cost and materials costs increases, to which the Minister responded that "information relating to the cost of METRONET projects can be found in the State Budget Papers", and I ask: (a) what specific information can the Minister provide at all, to explain in numerical terms the $300 million escalation of the Thornlie-Cockburn Line in a single year; and (b) what additional information in the Budget was the Minister referring to in the answer to question on notice 599, given that the Estimated Total Cost in figures in the Asset Investment Program (2024-25 and 2025-26) were already quoted by me in the formulation of my questions and do not provide an explanation in relation to the $300 million escalation?