Blow out or Beat Up

The West Australian is at it again."Rail bill to jump another 50 million" screams the front page headline. (West Australian, April 12, 2006).

http://www.thewest.com.au/20060412/news/general/tw-news-general-home-sto133905.html
The article then opens boldly:

The State Government is poised to unveil a third blow-out in the budget and timetable for its biggest project, the Perth to Mandurah rail line.

The article then goes on to explain that the Minister is expected to announce an additional $50 million dollars onto the budget of this $1.6 billion dollar project. Detail then follows about the various claims being made on the government (some of which are challenged, others are being negotiated). There is even the paragraph

While Ms MacTiernan's revised estimates are based on fresh legal opinions on the $250 million in extra claims lodged by the contractors, it could take years to determine the ultimate cost to taxpayers.

Don't these words make it sound like a project running out of control? Well that's exactly what The West wants you to think. They have been running a campaign against this project from the start and are never happier than when reporting a "problem".

Why this is the case, no one is quite sure. There is a rumour that it is part of a private vendetta against the minister, Alannah McTiernan, due to something she said/did against the paper some years back. This might be part of the story, but I understand The West was also vehemently against the northern line construction in the early nineties. Perhaps the paper is just reflecting and concentrating the very conservative nature of Perth society.

Either way, compared to the billion-dollar subsidy increases we have seen in Melbourne, or even the 3-fold blowout in projects reported in the UK, 3% seems an acceptable price increase to me.