Rank and file Victorian Labor members have piled pressure on the state government to “get serious” on building a train line to Melbourne’s Tullamarine airport.
A motion to get the city’s stalled airport rail link project back on track was unanimously passed by party members and unionists at the Victorian Labor state conference on Sunday.
In his 10th budget on 7 May the treasurer, Tim Pallas, revealed the Melbourne airport rail would be completed at least four years later than its original 2029 target.
The motion called for the state government to “get serious about the development of the airport rail link”, for all parties to “roll up their sleeves” to get the project done, and condemned the airport’s “greed” for “protecting their parking revenue”.
“We don’t care if it is or isn’t underground or above ground,” the Transport Workers’ Union state secretary, Mem Suleyman, told the crowd to cheers.
“You need to get on with it and get it done now.”
The Victorian and federal governments have previously committed to contributing $5bn each to the project, which is expected to cost $8bn-$13bn.
But the state government and airport have long been at odds over whether the Tullamarine station should be underground or elevated.
A mediator was appointed by the commonwealth in April to resolve the long-running stalemate between the two parties.
The Rail, Tram and Bus Union’s Vik Sharma was critical of the project being kicked “down the road” and said it was a global embarrassment that Melbourne remained without a train line to the airport.
“Let’s build a train line that should have been built 60 years ago,” he said.
The Moonee Valley council mayor, Pierce Tyson, accused the airport of tanking the project to safeguard its parking revenue.
“It’s a clear conflict of interest,” he said. “The airport doesn’t want this project to happen.”
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission’s latest monitoring report on the nation’s four major airports showed Tullamarine generated $160.9m from parking revenue in 2022/23, down 3.9% since 2018/19.
Melbourne airport has been contacted for comment.
Earlier, Victoria’s WorkSafe minister, Danny Pearson, received a frosty reception from the party faithful at the conference, with many shouting “shame” over controversial changes to the state’s workers compensation scheme.
On Saturday speeches from prime minister Anthony Albanese and Victorian premier Jacinta Allan at the two-day event were overshadowed by pro-Palestine protesters.
Up to 50 protesters stormed the Moonee Valley Racecourse, overwhelming police and security and locking down the conference room.
Allan described the intruders’ behaviour as “disgusting”.
The newly elected Victorian Labor state secretary, Steve Staikos, said security guards were injured and called the protesters “political opportunists”.
“(They) did not come here to make a political point but to try to embarrass the Labor Party, and it did not work,” he told the crowd.
No protesters were outside the venue on Sunday.
Six motions supporting the Palestinian cause, including one calling for an “end to military cooperation with Israel”, passed after a fiery debate on Saturday.