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The $900,000-a-year executive responsible for Melbourne’s most expensive infrastructure project commutes from Brisbane and is paid additional expenses to attend unscheduled meetings.
Freedom of information documents released to The Age reveal the extraordinary arrangements to enable Suburban Rail Loop Authority chief executive Frankie Carroll to maintain a residence in Brisbane, fly in and out of his Big Build job, and bill taxpayers for flight costs when he is “recalled to duty”.
Suburban Rail Loop Authority chief executive Frankie Carroll.
This is an employment term used when staff are asked to work or return to the office outside their regular work hours.
Carroll, who is on a remuneration package of between $900,000 and $909,999, has led the Allan government’s signature infrastructure project since 2021.
While Carroll meets the cost of his regular commute himself, the documents show that taxpayers were charged when Carroll flew to Melbourne, where the rail loop authority is headquartered, to attend a conference.
In another example of travel costs billed to taxpayers, a flight from Brisbane to Melbourne is attributed to a “meeting in Canberra” but no further detail is provided.
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The released documents show that since Carroll was headhunted to run the SRLA, he has taken more than 30 domestic flights funded by taxpayers.
The flights suggest he divides his time evenly between Victoria and Queensland and sometimes flies directly to Sydney or Canberra from Brisbane for meetings and conferences.
The value of the flights attributed to Carroll being “recalled to duty” is $3645 since 2021. Carroll’s decision to remain embedded in Brisbane has raised eyebrows internally given the importance of the rail loop as Victoria’s biggest infrastructure project.
The Age has spoken to four government sources, speaking anonymously to avoid repercussions, who said it was widely known within the SRLA that Carroll spent a significant share of his time in Queensland.
“He has mentioned to stakeholders in meetings that he is FIFO [fly-in, fly-out],” one said.
Opposition major projects spokesman Matthew Guy said the situation was farcical.
“The Suburban Rail Loop is just another example of the Big Build becoming Victorian taxpayers’ big bill,” he said.
The rail loop authority and Allan government have been contacted for comment.
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Touted by the Allan government as Australia’s largest housing project, the Suburban Rail Loop has been billed as a generational city-shaping venture vital to maintaining Melbourne’s liveability as it is estimated to become a city of about 9 million people in the 2050s.
The first stage of the loop, SRL East, is an underground railway between Cheltenham and Box Hill and is expected to cost $34.5 billion. The north and west links, if built, would connect to Melbourne’s existing rail lines in a so-called hub and spoke system.
Precincts above each station have been flagged as mini-CBDs in the suburbs, transformed into denser hubs for jobs, homes and educational facilities.
Plans for the first six of these precincts are being assessed by a planning panel, and some areas have been slated for towers as high as 25 storeys.
Infrastructure Australia has questioned the $34.5 billion estimated price tag and recommended new analysis, including an updated cost-to-benefit ratio.
More than $20 billion of this figure remains unfunded, with Victoria committing to fund a third on its own, another third through charges on development and the final third from the Commonwealth.
The Albanese government has pledged $2.2 billion so far. Infrastructure Australia has recommended against further commitments without more information on the project’s cost and the charges the state plans to use to pay for the loop.
The SRLA’s latest report shows the chief executive’s salary rose from a range between $870,000 and $879,999 in the 2023-24 financial year to between $900,000 and $909,999 in 2024-25, roughly in line with inflation.
Travel records show the rail loop authority has spent tens of thousands of dollars flying Carroll to Asia and Europe to woo companies to bid for work on the project.
Trips to Dublin, Rome, Seoul, Paris and London, among others, were taken to ensure a “competitive market process”, the documents say, for the early stages of bidding for the SRL East project, which has been broken into multiple packages.
These visits had the effect of “ultimately achieving value for money and best project outcomes”.
All four international journeys began with flights from Brisbane.
Carroll’s most extensive trip was in 2022, when he spoke to potential bidders for one of the largest SRL East contracts on offer, a “line-wide” package that is estimated to be worth at least $8 billion to $9 billion. He travelled to Singapore, South Korea, Ireland, Spain, Austria, France and Britain.
He returned to Europe a year later to meet other companies that were “unable to accommodate meetings in late 2022’s compressed schedule”.
TransitLinX – a group of companies comprising John Holland, RATP Dev, Alstom, KBR and WSP – is the preferred bidder for this contract, which involves building the trains used on the underground line, operating and maintaining the network, and fitting out the tunnels.
More recently, Carroll travelled to London and Dublin to talk to global insurance agencies to discuss coverage for the project.
A Suburban Rail Loop Authority spokesperson said: “The Suburban Rail Loop will slash travel times and cut congestion for busy families – while delivering 70,000 more homes within walking distance to jobs, healthcare, green open spaces and Australia’s largest universities.
“Mr Carroll’s primary residence is in Melbourne, and he travels on the weekends to see his family at his own expense.
“As we get on delivering one of Victoria’s largest and most complex infrastructure project, engaging directly with leading global construction companies, suppliers and operators is essential to secure the specialist expertise required to build this city-shaping project.”
Carroll, originally from Ireland, moved to Brisbane in 2004 and has held a range of high-level government roles, including chief executive of the Queensland Reconstruction Authority and director-general for the state’s Department of Infrastructure, Local Government and Planning.
He became Queensland’s under treasurer in 2019 but moved out of the job in 2020 following the resignation of the state’s former deputy premier Jackie Trad and allegations she had interfered in his appointment.
A Crime and Corruption Commission report into the hiring released this year made no adverse findings against Carroll but was critical of Trad’s “aggressive” advocacy that he be appointed. She has rejected the accusations in the report and no prosecutions were ever made over the saga.
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