I have also separately read Turnbull and Morrison are looking into raising significant long term finance, out 2-3 decades, to take advantage of low global interest rates and Austealia's AAA credit rating.
Some of those funds would no doubt be seed capital for a very fast train project.
As for your concerns about Union milking it, perhaps that is why Turnbull has been so determined to get the construction commission up and running again?
As a very fast train project is so linear, covering possibly 2,000 km from Melbourne to Brisbane, there will be multiple governments, multiple private consortiums and multiple businesses involved I reckon it will not be possible for unions to gain any stranglehold.
