Premier Jacinta Allan remains committed to project amid more money for airport rail

Premier Jacinta Allan has brushed off disastrous poll results and insisted her government remains committed to the contentious Suburban Rail Loop project.

Allan on Saturday partly blamed the disastrous poll results – published by this masthead on Friday, which showed Victorian Labor’s primary vote had collapsed to 22 per cent – on cost of living pressures on families.

“I do acknowledge that this is one of the challenges that we are seeing being played out in governments around the country and around the world,” she said when asked about the exclusive polling by Resolve Political Monitor for The Age.

Speaking in Werribee in Melbourne’s outer west, where Labor will contest a byelection on February 8, Allan said the Reserve Bank of Australia’s decision to make multiple interest rate rises was “crushing” and had put immense pressure on household budgets.

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On Saturday, this masthead revealed the federal government had offered Victoria an additional $2 billion to build a rail link to Melbourne Airport, putting pressure on the premier to dump the Suburban Rail Loop, which will take decades to complete in its entirety.

Allan told reporters on Saturday the federal government was still committed to the loop project.

“We’ve got a partner in Canberra on the Suburban Rail Loop [and] on the North East Link project, and we will continue to fight for Victoria’s fair share because that’s my job,” she said.

Asked if Victoria had been offered extra money for the airport rail project, Allan said: “We’re having a range of discussions.”