Albanese government commits to half of Inland Rail project after blowouts, delay and mismanagement

A freight train sits at signals outside Parkes, NSW. The federal transport minister has said the government will follow the review’s recommendation to prioritise delivering the stretch of the line from outside Melbourne to Parkes by 2027. Photograph: Mike Bowers/The Guardian

The Albanese government will prioritise delivering half of the Inland Rail freight megaproject after an independent review found serious governance failures, delays and “astonishing” cost blowouts in the project, labelled “1,700km of Liberal National incompetence”.

In the hours after the release of Dr Kerry Schott’s review, which found the project’s price tag had ballooned from $16.4bn to $31.4bn in the space of two years, the government announced it would accept all 19 of Schott’s recommendations “in full or in principle” as it seeks “to rescue Inland Rail from the shameful state it was left in by the Coalition”.