Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk and Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull outside Waterfront Place, on Thursday. Credit:Felicity Caldwell Ms Trad said the Premier had said the government would go back and "have a look at what we can do" on Cross River Rail. When asked whether the government would go back to Infrastructure Australia with a more detailed business plan, or abandon the process, Ms Trad said it was an "absolute furphy". "Let's be clear, this is such a furphy," she said. "Proposal after proposal from jurisdictions have been presented to Infrastructure Australia and the federal government.

Artists impression of a proposed new entrance to Roma Street station for the yet-to-be funded Cross River Rail project. "A 2000-plus page, $7 million business case that has been independently reviewed was submitted to Infrastructure Australia more than a year ago. "There have been countless meetings between officials around details of the business case. "I have sat down personally with the responsible Commonwealth ministers to talk about all of the economic uplift, the productivity gains, and also the critical need to build Cross River Rail. "When the business case was presented to Infrastructure Australia they were very admiring of the work that we had done.

"As far as I'm concerned there has been deep and very good engagement with Infrastructure Australia and the officials." But Ms Trad did not answer whether she thought Infrastructure Australia was turned into a "partisan vehicle" in relation to the project. "IA has had all the information that they've required, whatever additional information they have sought it has been provided promptly, we've had numerous conversations," she said. "I want to know what the bottleneck is." An Infrastructure Australia spokeswoman said the body had a "number of outstanding concerns" with the business case, which had been communicated to the Queensland government.

"We are working with the Queensland government to address these, and we hope to be able to finalise our evaluation when they are addressed," the spokeswoman said. Fairfax Media asked Ms Trad if her comments meant she did not believe there were "a couple of issues" with the business case, as stated by Ms Palaszczuk on Thursday. "I understand that the Prime Minister presented the Premier with a number of issues like value capture, now let's be clear, value capture is a mechanism to raise funds to support the project or fund the project based on user charges," she said. "He wants Queensland to detail how we're going to tax Queenslanders to pay for Cross River Rail. "We will continue to work with the federal government and Infrastructure Australia, but you know, we are expressing our very, very deep disappointment in the way the federal government has treated Queensland."

The fate of the $5.4 billion project in next month's Queensland budget is yet to be known, after it missed out on funding in the federal budget. "We've always said that Cross River Rail, which is a nation-building infrastructure project, requires the federal government to put their hand in their pocket," Ms Trad said. "You'll see what happens when the state budget gets delivered in only a matter of weeks." Ms Trad said the federal government's reluctance to fund the project "delayed" the build timeline for Cross River Rail. Main Roads Minister Mark Bailey accused Canberra of speaking with a "forked tongue" when it came to Queensland infrastructure.

On ABC Brisbane radio, Ms Trad accused Mr Turnbull of playing politics. It came after Shadow Treasurer Scott Emerson accused Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk of playing politics with Cross River Rail. "[It's] a massive admission now that finally she admits the business case is flawed, there are problems with the business case," Mr Emerson said on Thursday. Loading "Previously she's denied this. She's just played politics with Cross River Rail."

Ms Palaszczuk and Ms Trad have repeatedly insisted Cross River Rail was ready to go and the business case was with the federal government and awaiting a decision.