Yarra Trams faces whistleblower allegations over $300,000 coffee deal and rushed contracts

Senior procurement staff at Yarra Trams filed a 34-page whistleblower report alleging that, in June, executives rushed advance payments of $500,000 to a security firm, $300,000 to a uniform supplier and another $300,000 to a coffee provider to artificially meet social-procurement obligations and avoid up to $1.5 million in annual penalties. The internal investigation launched by the company’s senior lawyer was halted when that lawyer, the whistleblower and four other procurement employees were made redundant.

The Independent Broad-based Anti-corruption Commission has also interviewed a former employee about the same claims. The controversy coincides with 36 redundancies, mainly at the Bourke Street head office, since the Transdev and John Holland joint venture assumed the $7 billion, nine-year Melbourne tram contract in December 2024. Yarra Trams maintains that all procurement decisions complied with probity rules and that the coffee contract is a trial of a managed service now operating in its offices. The operator also defended hiring a Brisbane consultant at $2,000 a day, noting internal governance approval.