SOMETHING is rotten in the state of Victoria.

The Victorian Government has spent almost two years lobbying the Federal Government for support and planning the development of Victoria's Donnybrook-Beveridge Interstate Freight Terminal.

At 1.16pm on Monday The Weekly Times outlined to the Government's media team that Labor Party donor John Simpson bought 202ha at Beveridge before the Government launched its campaign to build the Donnybrook-Beveridge Interstate Freight Terminal.

We explained the Government's updated November 2009 VC55 amendment clearly put Mr Simpson's land and surrounding land in the middle of the proposed intermodal precinct for the freight terminal.

We asked Planning Minister Justin Madden and Roads Minister Tim Pallas why the Government had selected the Donnybrook-Beveridge site.

By about 4.30pm we were told the Government was "not even looking at Donnybrook".

It was an extraordinary reversal, but what came next from Planning Minister Tim Pallas' spokesman Bill Kyriakopoulos was even more worrying.

He wanted to know whether this information would kill the story.

At 5.43pm, Mr Kyriakopoulos then sent through a statement from "me as spokesman" for Mr Pallas, which added confusion to an already complex issue.

The email said a site to the west of Melbourne was seen as more appropriate in the short to medium term after discussions with "industry stakeholders."

But then the email said: "A northern site could be an appropriate location in the longer term."

OK, so the northern site wasn't completely off the agenda.

But then the email said "no specific site has been determined" as more industry consultation was required.

So that means after "detailed discussions" with industry a site to the west of Melbourne was deemed more appropriate, but in fact, no site had been selected because further industry consultation was needed.

The Weekly Times was left utterly confused.