Australia Inland Rail audit: findings and project reset

What the audit found

The ANAO examined governance, grant administration and procurement during Inland Rail's pre-construction phase. The planned Melbourne to Brisbane route covered about 1,700 kilometres, and the Commonwealth had provided $300 million for pre-construction work ¹.

The audit found that governance and grant administration were broadly appropriate, but a ministerially requested funding agreement was not completed on time. It said procurement needed greater focus on competition, transparency and value for money ¹.

ANAO tested 54 procurements from April 2014 to October 2016. Seventeen percent were sole sourced, mainly early in the programme. It found unexplained contract-value variations, work beginning before contracts were executed and incomplete records about probity advice ¹.

The audit found that ARTC's existing technology, procurement and document-management systems did not meet the programme's needs. Later procurements showed better competition and documentation after ARTC introduced new systems and procedures ¹.

The official response

ARTC agreed in principle with the risk-management recommendation and said work was under way on records management. It agreed in principle, with a qualification, to the procurement recommendation ¹.

ARTC said uncertainty over funding, timing and delivery responsibility affected early procurement. It pointed to later competitive sourcing, updated procedures, system changes and planned independent contract review ¹.

The infrastructure and finance departments supported the recommendations. The infrastructure department said it expected the ARTC board to report regularly to shareholder ministers on implementation ¹.

Parliament

The Auditor-General's report was prepared for Parliament and published on 27 September 2017 ¹. A later Senate inquiry examined project management, the business case, route selection, cost and community consultation ².

The Senate committee called for a new business case and further scrutiny. The government response did not support every recommendation, including the proposed form of the business-case review ².

Follow-up audits and recommendations

The 2017 audit made three recommendations on risk management, records and procurement controls ¹. A separate independent review completed in 2023 made 19 recommendations on scope, cost, governance and delivery. The government accepted all 19 in full or in principle ³.

The government created Inland Rail Pty Ltd as an ARTC subsidiary with its own board and issued a new statement of expectations in 2023 ³. ANAO began another performance audit in 2026 on delivery-risk management, with tabling planned for February 2027 ⁵.

Courts, tribunals and investigations

No court judgment deciding the 2017 ANAO findings was identified in the official sources reviewed. The audit and later reviews concern administration, procurement, cost and delivery ^1,3.

The cited sources do not establish that an ARTC officer, official or supplier committed a crime. Contract and route disputes outside the audit's scope are not treated as findings on this page.

Where it stands now

In May 2026 the government said independent cost work put full Melbourne to Brisbane delivery above $45 billion and no earlier than 2036. It chose to complete Beveridge to Parkes by the end of 2027 and preserve the corridor north of Parkes ⁴.

The new ANAO audit was still collecting evidence in October 2026. Its stated questions cover the adequacy of risk frameworks and the management of delivery risks ⁵. The 2017 findings now sit within a longer project reset rather than a completed recommendation record.

Timeline