![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/c5a11e8a9e39991267fb65f1705c65a4.jpeg\")
<\/p>\n
Infrastructure Victoria’s chief executive says the body has helped improve social, economic and environmental outcomes for the state. (ABC Gippsland: Peter Somerville\u00a0)<\/p>\n
“This is about extracting the best value and where there’s opportunities to end duplication and find efficiencies, we’re going to take those opportunities,” Mr Erdogan said today.<\/p>\n
Former premier Daniel Andrews established Infrastructure Victoria in 2015 with bipartisan support to take the politics out of the massive spending area.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Its work will be absorbed by the Department of Transport and Planning.<\/p>\n
The agency, which also endured a funding cut last year, provided advice on short and long-term priorities the government should focus on.\u00a0<\/p>\n
![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/ca67f10e0f4b500c6bad33921ce5e05a.jpeg\")
<\/p>\n
Finance Minister Enver Erdogan says the government wants to end duplication and find efficiencies. (ABC News: Danielle Bonica)<\/p>\n
Some recommendations were repeatedly ignored.<\/p>\n
Infrastructure Victoria chief executive Jonathan Spear said the agency’s impactful advice improved social, economic and environmental outcomes for the state.<\/p>\n
Victoria was one of the first to establish such a body, he said, and had since been followed by every major jurisdiction in Australia.<\/p>\n
“Our work informs the policy positions of all parties in the Victorian Parliament,” he said in a statement to the ABC.<\/p>\n
“Our independence is unambiguous. Independence is what makes our advice worth having.\u00a0<\/p>\n
“It allows us to give government and parliament frank, evidence-based assessments \u2014 on getting more from the infrastructure we already have, and on what the state will need in the decades ahead.”<\/p>\n
Dr Spear said 84 per cent of the recommendations in the 2021 30-year strategy had been accepted or implemented.<\/p>\n
The 2025 recommendations, meanwhile, laid out how the government “can reduce costs of providing infrastructure over the next three decades and generate over $166 billion worth of benefits for Victorians”, he said.<\/p>\n
Mr Erdogan insisted the department was capable of providing thorough and independent advice and rejected any suggestion the government was scrapping Infrastructure Victoria because it didn’t like its recommendations.<\/p>\n
Infrastructure Victoria also advised the government on strategies to reduce costs on its projects.<\/p>\n
![\"Suburban](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/5a3e4366d58bc7d2e41115e0f2eae8d5.jpeg\")
<\/p>\n
Winding up Infrastructure Victoria will require legislation through state parliament. (ABC News: Darryl Torpy)<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, Mr Carroll is grappling with how to fulfill billions of dollars’ worth of contracts for the Suburban Rail Loop.<\/p>\n
He has sought to distance himself from the former administration and find further savings since taking the leadership last month.<\/p>\n
But this was immediately challenged by his decision to abolish the secret rail investment charge, a 1 per cent tax slapped on all public transport fares since January 2025, only revealed by the Victorian Auditor-General’s Office (VAGO) this week.<\/p>\n
Scrapping this levy will leave a larger gap in state finances.<\/p>\n
Spending on tea and coffee for public servants to be slashed<\/p>\n
Winding up Infrastructure Victoria will require legislation through the parliament. Mr Erdogan confirmed it would take months to close the agency.<\/p>\n
The government is targeting another $70 million saving by cutting back its reliance on consultants, Mr Erdogan announced.<\/p>\n