Ben Carroll says he respects taxpayer money. His party needs a spell in opposition to rediscover what this means

August 27, 2026 — 5:00am

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A remarkable thing happened outside the Victorian Parliament this week.

In the middle of the morning rush hour, with trams clattering down Spring Street and commuters dodging the rain as they emerged ear-budded and harried from the nearby train station, Premier Ben Carroll stood atop the steps of parliament and declared his respect for public money.

It was remarkable, not so much for Carroll’s prosaic words, but that a Victorian premier would ever feel the need to say such a thing out loud. In that moment, he reminded us both of a time when financial rectitude was a given in good government and how deep the rot has set in over the life of this one.

“I respect every single dollar of taxpayer money,” said Carroll, his tone laced with solemnity.

Carroll made the comment in preface to a decision he had made to alter the proposed design of some of the stations along the first stage Suburban Rail Loop which, according to the government’s estimates, will shave $1 billion off the cost of the project. He has also commissioned a deeper technical review aimed at finding a further $1 billion in savings.

It came two days before the Auditor General tabled in parliament a report challenging the funding and cost assumptions underpinning the project and revealing a secret tax on public transport users cooked up five years ago to prop up the SRL business case.

In effect, Carroll was announcing a landing point on his greatest policy conundrum........

© The Age