Job listing with Melbourne's Suburban Railway Loop for an inclusivity manager lambasted online

The Victorian Government has been slammed for offering a massive salary in an advertisement for an ‘inclusivity management’ job on a rail project, at taxpayers’ expense.

The Manager of Inclusion and Diversity comes with an extraordinary annual salary of $175,731 to $238,997 – as advertised by the Suburban Railway Link Authority (SLRA) on Wednesday.

The successful applicant will be responsible for ‘delivering expert advice and services to the organisation to ensure SRLA is an inclusive and diverse workplace’.

They would also lead initiatives through design and development that would ‘ensure SLRA is known as a workplace that promotes through its commitment to inclusion and diversity’.

The Suburban Railway Link is a hugely expensive new railway line that circles around the suburbs from Cheltenham in the east to Werribee in the west via the airport, with a cost predicted to soar above $100billion by its completion in 2085.

A job listing for a Manager of inclusivity and diversity with the Suburban Rail Look Authority with a salary of almost a quarter of a million dollars has been lambasted online (pictured)

The scale of profligate spending on the project is highlighted by the huge salary being paid to the diversity manager, and critics have been left alternatively furious and bewildered by the advertisement.

The Australian’s Washington correspondent, Adam Creighton, took to Twitter to describe the job as ‘What’s wrong with Australia in a single job advertisement’. 

‘There is no easier way in the world to make $238K, short of winning the lottery,’ another journalist Will Kingston replied.

‘Quarter of million dollars per year!! What a grift,’ one user commented under Creighton’s post.

‘Tax payer’s footing the bill for making sure quota is more important than quality,’ another wrote.

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However some commenters supported the position and its generous remuneration.

‘Enormous project, think the pay is fair(ish),’ one wrote.

‘On a positive note, it would help on the old wage gap front,’ another replied.

The job listing emphasises the position will provide personal and professional development opportunities within a ‘equal opportunity employer’.

‘The Manager, Inclusion and Diversity will have a passion for Inclusion and Diversity,’ the listing reads.

‘You will be responsible for leading the development of inclusion and diversity frameworks and programs, that ensures SRLA is an inclusive workplace where everyone feels safe to be their true self at work.’ 

Melbourne’s proposed Suburban Rail Loop (pictured) has had it’s initial estimated budget of $50billion balloon to about $125billion by completion in 2085

The 90km project Suburban Railway Link was initially projected to cost $50billion when it was first announced by the state’s government in 2018 but has blown out to at least double that already.

Construction has already started on two of the proposed stages, from Melbourne Airport to Sunshine and from Cheltenham to Box Hill.

The state’s minister Daniel Andrews told the media in August of last year the government had provided the $50billion as an estimate but ‘did not provide a definitive cost’.

‘We are starting this project, it’s fully funded from a state point of view,’ he said.

‘One sure way to make sure that the Suburban Rail Loop will cost more is to scrap it, delay it, shelve it.’

Critics of the project have also questioned the levels of demand for the completed loop, travelling as it does from one outer suburban area to another without going into the city.