Carroll scraps secret $8 billion levy on public transport fares

Updated August 27, 2026 — 10:29am,first published August 27, 2026 — 9:36amA levy secretly slapped on commuters last year, which was due to raise $8 billion and help fund the Suburban Rail Loop and other Big Build projects, will be scrapped by Premier Ben Carroll.The levy’s existence was revealed in a scathing report released on Wednesday by the Victorian Auditor-General, which also detailed how the SRL East tunnel between Cheltenham and Box Hill was already at risk of missing its 2035 completion date and exceeding its $34.5 billion budget.Ben Carroll has announced he will abolish a levy on public transport fares that was secretly implemented to help pay for the Suburban Rail Loop.Joe ArmaoThe levy, which was introduced on January 1 last year, involves a 1 per cent annual increase on all public transport fares on top of existing adjustments in line with inflation. The Age reported that it was ticked off by the government’s budget and finance committee, led by former premier Jacinta Allan, in December 2023.Speaking to reporters on Thursday morning, Carroll said he would abolish the so-called “rail improvement charge”.“I’m a premier taking the state in a new direction,” he said.“Victorians do deserve better public transport. They also deserve to know what their money is buying.“This charge was created and implemented without transparency and accountability.”Carroll acknowledged the levy eroded public trust in his government, and that Victorians deserved an apology over its secrecy.“There was no transparency on the creation and implementation of this charge,” he said. “And now, as premier taking the state in a new direction, I give Victorians that apology.”Carroll was the public transport minister in 2021, when the levy was first conceived internally, according to the Auditor-General’s report. But he said on Thursday that he was not involved in that decision.“I was not part of the creation,” he said.Carroll refused to say when he became aware of the levy – “I’m not going to relitigate the past,” he repeatedly said – but did not deny assertions from journalists that he had known since November 2024, when he joined the government’s budget and finance committee.“Cabinet decisions, budget and finance decisions, are strictly confidential. I was not the public transport minister at that time, and I am now the premier.”Carroll’s decision creates a major funding headache for the Suburban Rail Loop, given the Auditor-General’s report said the levy was the single biggest component of the value capture plan that is supposed to cover a third of the construction cost for the tunnel under Melbourne’s eastern suburbs.The report said 60 per cent of the revenue raised by 2062, totalling $4.8 billion, was to be directed to the SRL.Carroll dodged questions on how the government would make up the multibillion-dollar shortfall, but said he had conducted a financial audit and on Tuesday announced $2 billion in savings for the project.From our partners