Victoria to scrap secret fare levy used to help fund Suburban Rail Loop
N Premier Ben Carroll says his government will abolish a hidden 1% levy on public transport fares that helped bankroll the state’s Suburban Rail Loop.
Victorian Premier Ben Carroll says his government will abolish a hidden 1% levy on public transport fares that helped bankroll the state’s Suburban Rail Loop. The charge, baked into annual fare rises since January 2025, was exposed this week by the Victorian Auditor-General’s Office.
Carroll said on Thursday the levy would go, but not before a cabinet process. The move will leave a gap in Victoria’s budget. He would not say when he first knew about the charge.
How the charge worked
The fare increase was folded into ordinary inflation-linked ticket rises, making it less visible to passengers. The government did not announce it in a budget paper or a media release, according to the auditor-general’s findings.
The levy was described as a “rail improvement charge” and applied across public transport users in metropolitan Melbourne and regional Victoria. Officials used it to help fund the Suburban Rail Loop and other Big Build projects, with the charge expected to run for decades.
That secrecy has now blown back on the government. Carroll conceded the process was not transparent or acceptable, and said Victorians deserved to know what their money was buying.
Pressure after the audit
The Victorian Auditor-General’s Office released its review of the Suburban Rail Loop on Wednesday, putting the funding method in the open for the first time. The report also raised fresh doubts about the project’s first stage, SRL East, a 26-kilometre twin-tunnel line between Cheltenham and Box Hill.
The audit questioned whether the multibillion-dollar line could be delivered on time or within budget. That matters far beyond Melbourne. Large rail megaprojects often face the same test, from London to Toronto: long timeframes, heavy cost pressures, and political risk when funding plans are not explained clearly.
Victoria has already trimmed the SRL East budget once and says it wants the federal government to cover one-third of the total cost. On Tuesday, Carroll announced $2 billion in savings on the project and said he wanted it delivered on time and under budget. The audit cut across that message within hours.
What happens next
The levy’s removal still needs cabinet approval, and ministers now have to decide how to fill the hole it leaves behind. The government has not said which funding stream will replace it.
For now, the political damage is already done. Carroll said he was “a premier taking the state in a new direction,” and repeated that Victorians deserved better public transport — and a clearer account of what they are paying for.
