Jacinta Allan dismisses rail loop concerns as Labor awaits outcome of massive swing in Werribee | Victorian politics

The Victorian premier, Jacinta Allan, has sought to dismiss concerns that the Suburban Rail Loop project should be halted after Labor took a battering in the Werribee byelection.

Counting resumed in the outer western Melbourne seat on Monday and both major parties expect – if postal votes follow the pattern of those already counted – Labor’s candidate, John Lister, will retain his narrow lead over the Liberal party’s Steve Murphy.

But Labor’s once-comfortable margin in the seat has shrunk from 10.9% at the 2022 state election to a razor-thin 0.6%, with first-preference votes also dropping from 45% to 28.7%.

The result has led to soul-searching in the party, with a group of Labor MPs urging a shift away from the Suburban Rail Loop and to fund local projects in Melbourne’s west and north as a result.

The government has committed about $9.3bn for the first stage of the loop – SRL East – a 26km stretch of tunnels between Cheltenham and Box Hill, while the Albanese government has pledged $2.2bn.

The loop is eventually meant to travel from Box Hill to Melbourne airport and then on to Werribee, though there has been no timeline or budget for this final stage. The project has been credited with helping Labor in the eastern electorates set to benefit first.

But there is a view within the caucus that it is preventing the cash-strapped government from spending in other, once-safe Labor seats, which they say have been “deprived of infrastructure funding when compared to the south-east”.

“We are talking about billions of dollars in a single project, when we could spend much less in more seats, on projects that could have an immediate impact on people’s lives,” one Labor source said.

Federal Labor have also turned the heat up on the Allan government in recent weeks, suggesting the $2.2bn it has pledged – but is yet to hand over – could instead be redirected to the long-awaited Melbourne airport rail. But the prime minister, Anthony Albanese, insisted it wasn’t a “matter of either or” project.

Speaking on ABC Radio Melbourne on Monday, Allan reaffirmed her government’s commitment to the SRL.

Asked whether any of her MPs had suggested the government pause the SRL to spend money elsewhere, Allan said “no”.

“My colleagues and I are fully supportive of getting on and delivering the Suburban Rail Loop,” she said.

“Let’s remember why this is important. We’re getting a train line to Monash University … [and] it means that more young kids can pursue the course of their dreams, because they can get there on a train line.

“It’s not fair that they are cut off from that opportunity because they can’t afford to move or they can’t afford to get there with a car.”

Allan also reiterated there were opportunities to “build more homes” “right next to train stations” on the rail line.

The deputy premier, Ben Carroll, told 3AW Radio that the collapse in Labor’s primary vote was “unacceptable” and pledged to “redouble our efforts in education and in health”.

He also threw his support behind SRL.

“It’s no secret that I am a big fan of making sure that Melbourne’s western suburbs and northern suburbs are connected to the SRL via the Melbourne Airport,” he said.

“These approaches that have been voted on. These are projects that have been endorsed by the public.”

A former Labor staffer said federal Labor “would be mad” to redirect the funds, noting the SRL runs through marginal electorates such as Aston and Chisholm.

The Victorian Electoral Commission said all votes lodged on Saturday for the Werribee and Prahran byelections had now been counted and it had begun a recheck of votes in both seats. It was still waiting on the remainder of postal votes to arrive.

The Greens conceded Prahran, in Melbourne’s south-east, to the Liberals on Sunday, after failing to capitalise on Labor’s decision not to run in the seat.