Australia news live: PM announces another $2bn for Melbourne airport rail and $1.2bn for road repairs and upgrades
PM announces another $2bn for Melbourne airport rail
The prime minister has promised it would partner with the Victorian government to fund and build the rail link to Melbourne airport.
Anthony Albanese outlined the package as follows:
Our Labor government is committing $7bn to build Melbourne airport rail, the next important step in suburban rail loop. This includes our existing $5bn to build the rail line to Tullamarine, funding that will build the track, as well as the bridge and signalling improvements to deliver future upgrades to service Melbourne’s north and west.
On top of this, we’ll invest a further $2bn to help transform Sunshine Station, and the Victorian government will bring forward their funding to kickstart work building the extra platforms and a dedicated spur line that will make Sunshine Station the hub for regional rail services, connecting to the airport.
And in addition to the $7bn we’re committing to this project, we’ll also begin work to enable the electrification of the Melton line.
The PM said “we are locking in this investment now, it’s in our budget”.
Key events
Albanese says it took ‘courage’ to go ahead with Voice to Parliament referendum
Anthony Albanese has now been asked about the Voice to Parliament referendum, and whether he regrets going ahead with this given the result.
The PM said there had been a “rewriting of history”, and that both sides said they would have a referendum after the Uluru Statement from the Heart in the lead up to the 2019 election.
And every time after that, for three years that I stood up and gave an acknowledgement of country, I recommitted to constitutional recognition. Our nation’s birth certificate is unfinished, whilst it pretends the nation began in 1788 … We have 65,000 years of history. That should be acknowledged and sometime it will, history will look back, sometime it will. But we accepted the result.
Albanese said a successful result required bipartisanship, which didn’t occur.
Therefore it wasn’t successful, but it was done out of conviction, certainly not out of convenience … We did it for the right reasons. We went out there and explained it as a difficult thing to do. It took courage, though, and it took courage [from] my entire team.
Albanese believes Labor can achieve majority government at election
Back to Anthony Albanese, who is still taking questions at the Future Victoria event in Melbourne.
The PM said he has been in politics a while, “mainly opposition”, and knows the hard work needed to provide policy alternatives. He took aim at the Coalition for only having three policies currently:
The Coalition, as of now, have three policies – $600bn nuclear energy plan, sometime in the 2040s, free lunches for some paid for by everyone, and cuts to pay for it all, including 36,000 public servants. And … they’re counting that is going to fund at least three things now. That’s where it’s at, that’s the divide that is there during the campaign.
Albanese said independent seats across the country are those that have historically been held by the Coalition, when asked about the prospects of a minority government. He said:
So that, in terms of a path forward, if you want a majority government, I’m the only person leading a single party seeking majority government and I believe we’ll get there.
Caitlin Cassidy
Universities Australia head questioned over high salaries of nation’s VCs
Jumping over to the National Press Club, where the head of Universities Australia, Luke Sheehy, has been questioned over the high remuneration of the nation’s vice-chancellors, many of whom are paid more than $1m a year – double the pay of the prime minister.
It’s also more than their counterparts at leading universities such as Harvard, Cambridge, Oxford and Stanford, at the same time the majority of higher education institutions are in deficit. Asked how the sector could justify such exorbitant salaries, Sheehy said he was “absolutely delighted” he didn’t set them.
That is a matter for our university governing councils and chancellors who set university vice-chancellors’ salaries but I will say this. Australian universities are incredibly large compared to other global systems, right?
Some of the medium-sized universities that I used to represent in my old job … have more employees … than government departments and they have private income they get from international students that is not commonwealth funding directly.
Sheehy added the matter of university governance was being interrogated right now in the Senate, and by an expert council appointed by Labor.
Universities in Australia are very, very well governed and we did a very good job, despite deliberate policy neglect during Covid. A lot of that is to do with good governance and management.
Albanese takes questions from reporters around infrastructure funding
Anthony Albanese is now taking questions while speaking at the Herald Sun Future Victoria event.
Asked if the funding announced today was because he wants an airport rail and the premier wants the suburban rail, the PM rejected this and said “we are on the same page.”
If you combine the road and rail projects … we’re doing things right around the circuit, if you like. And together with what’s happening with the Metro when [it] opens, it’s about the capacity of the network that will make an enormous difference – together with, of course, the West Gate tunnel.
Albanese spoke about the opposition to infrastructure projects and said once something is opened, the opposition seems to go away:
I obviously don’t live in Melbourne these days. I live in Canberra, but I’m sure that there is an opposition group to the West Gate Tunnel. I’m sure that wherever there is an infrastructure project, I’ve never seen one yet they didn’t have some people saying, ‘No, this is too hard.’ But the other thing I’ve always seen is that when they open, you can’t find anyone who said they were against it.
Albanese ends speech with message of optimism for future
Wrapping up his speech, the prime minister said “global uncertainty” had presented Australia with “significant challenges” – but the nation had shown resilience and had reason for hope. Anthony Albanese said:
The reward for all this hard work is now within reach, because when you look at the world today, when you think about what will define and shape the economy in the decades ahead, there is nowhere you would rather be in in Australia.
There is no other nation that can match our combination of strengths, our natural resources, our space, our universities and Tafes, our superannuation system and its investment power, our stable democracy, our diaspora communities that give us a family connection with every nation on Earth. Our greatest strength is and always will be our people.
The courage, kindness, aspiration and determination of the Australian people is a great story of our modern history. It is the continuing inspiration of our present and it is the very best reason for all of us to be optimistic about the future of Victoria, and Australia.
PM also pledges $1.2bn suburban road blitz with Victorian government
Anthony Albanese has also pledged a $1.2bn suburban road blitz in partnership with the Victorian government.
He said this money is “ready right now”, with roads in need of repair and “dangerous intersections” that need tackling.
The first three projects in this blitz will be sealing and upgrading Old Sydney Road, where it connects with Cameron’s Lane … We’ll also partner with the Victorian government to upgrade the intersection of McLeod Road and Station Street in Carroll and Evans Road between Duff Street and Central Parkway in Cranbourne West.
These are three important projects but they’re only the first three more to come will be announced over the coming period in suburbs and regions that need this investment the most.
PM announces another $2bn for Melbourne airport rail
The prime minister has promised it would partner with the Victorian government to fund and build the rail link to Melbourne airport.
Anthony Albanese outlined the package as follows:
Our Labor government is committing $7bn to build Melbourne airport rail, the next important step in suburban rail loop. This includes our existing $5bn to build the rail line to Tullamarine, funding that will build the track, as well as the bridge and signalling improvements to deliver future upgrades to service Melbourne’s north and west.
On top of this, we’ll invest a further $2bn to help transform Sunshine Station, and the Victorian government will bring forward their funding to kickstart work building the extra platforms and a dedicated spur line that will make Sunshine Station the hub for regional rail services, connecting to the airport.
And in addition to the $7bn we’re committing to this project, we’ll also begin work to enable the electrification of the Melton line.
The PM said “we are locking in this investment now, it’s in our budget”.
Albanese speaking on Melbourne Metro
Anthony Albanese has been speaking about the “long-term infrastructure investment cycle and the short-term electoral cycle that exists between elections”, and said the Melbourne Metro would be open today if former PM Tony Abbott had not cut funding that was budgeted by Labor.
It is a huge credit to the Victorian government that it held firm and took full responsibility for finishing the job through a decade when it was starved of federal funding. And I know that in a matter of months now, when the Metro tunnel is open, Melburnians will absolutely love it like Sydneysiders love the Metro there.
Here was our explainer on the Melbourne Metro, from last September:
Albanese touts government action on inflation, Medicare and education
Continuing to address the crowd, Anthony Albanese has been speaking about the government’s action to address inflation, its Medicare pledge, measures for childcare and Tafe, and education:
Under the historic agreement that we signed with the Victorian government just last month, every single public school in the education state will be funded to the national student resourcing standard.
David Gonski did that landmark review 14 years ago, [outlining] the level of funding that every school and every student should receive to get the best possible education, whether it’s private or public, no matter where it is – in the city, out of burbs or regions.
As a nation, we’ve never achieved it, even though that was such a clear piece of science of what was best for our students and for our younger generations. Well, we’re getting it done, and I thank the premier of Victoria for her leadership.
Albanese addressing Future Victoria event in Melbourne
The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, has begun speaking at the Herald Sun Future Victoria event in Melbourne.
He has begun by speaking about Labor’s Future Made in Australia agenda, saying Victoria was key to this.
One of the great advantages that we have in Australia of being located where we are in the fastest growing region of the world in human history, is our human-to-human relationships … Our multiculturalism is very much a part of that. Victoria, of course, is very central to that agenda, which is about seizing the opportunities which are there.
Albanese said Victoria represents more than 20% of Australia’s economy, labelling it a “global leader” in renewables:
[In] renewable energy technology, Victoria is a global leader, not just a national one.
On increasing power bills, Albanese laid the blame at “years of a civil war on climate change and energy within the Liberal and National parties”, saying this put Australia “a decade behind the world on renewables.”
Jordyn Beazley
Minns points to boost in police workforce as evidence NSW government is effectively responding to crime
The NSW premier has pointed to the government’s work to boost numbers in the police force and a rise in the state’s prison population as evidence that the Labor government is effectively responding to crime.
Under questioning about regional crime during budget estimates, the premier, Chris Minns, said:
The prison population when we got into government was 12,400. Today it sits at 13,300 as a result of our changes to remand. There was 4,800 people in remand in NSW prisons. Today the number is 5,800. Now the Greens don’t like those statistics but it’s important that the public know that we are prepared to make change when we see problems in our community, and I’m not done yet.
Minns also acknowledged that the laws his government introduced to make it harder for young people who allegedly commit a repeat offence while on bail to get bail again were controversial. But, he said, as a result of the laws 90% of young people that fall into that category are on remand.
I think the government’s record when it comes to confronting violence in our communities is better than the previous government.
Youth advocates have raised that locking more children up is likely to make communities more unsafe in the long-term, with evidence showing that prison time increases a young person’s likelihood to offend.
PM to address Herald Sun’s Future Victoria event
We’re standing by for the prime minister, Anthony Albanese, who is due to speak at the Herald Sun’s Future Victoria event in Melbourne. We’ll bring you those key moments once he begins speaking.
Ben Smee
Update on Tropical Cyclone Alfred off Queensland coast
The Bureau of Meteorology says Tropical Cyclone Alfred will continue to linger off the Queensland coast until later in the week.
The cyclone – currently a category 2 system – is tracking slowly south through the Coral Sea. At 11am local time, it was 930km north-east of Mackay.
The bureau says the forecast is for the system to move in a “general southwards direction” during today and tomorrow and that there is a “high confidence” Alfred will “remain well off the Queensland coast until late in the week”.
But where the system moves next – including potentially towards the coast – remains “largely uncertain”.
There is a chance that Alfred may be steered towards the Queensland coast, more likely as a weakening system … or it could continue moving southwards and remain off the Queensland coast. From the weekend the track becomes highly uncertain and there is the risk that Alfred may move closer to the central or southern Queensland coast.
The next update is due at 5pm, Queensland time.
Andrew Messenger
Queensland’s pill-testing service makes five detections of dangerous synthetic opioids
Queensland’s pill-testing service has made several detections of a dangerous synthetic opioid which has been dubbed “worse than fentanyl”, disguised as legitimate pharmaceutical medicines.
Since December, the CheQpoint pill-testing service has seen five detections of the highly dangerous benzodiazepine bromazolam, and two detections of the deadly synthetic opioid nitazene.
Nitazenes, synthetic opioids developed in the 1950s as an alternative painkiller to morphine, were shelved due their higher risk of overdose. They are up to 500 times more potent than heroin and are responsible for a wave of overdose deaths across the country.
The Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission said in a newsletter last year that nitazenes “are a greater threat to Australia than fentanyl, as even the smallest amount can cause an overdose and a milligram of some nitazenes can be fatal”.
In a new report released today, CheQpoint revealed that 490 people have accessed the service, with about 10% of drugs tested containing an unexpected psychoactive substance. One in seven clients of the service destroyed their drugs after testing.
The state government plans to close the service in April or May, when its contract runs out, over the objection of health bodies. Cameron Frances, the chief executive of the not-for-profit drug-checking organisation Loop, said:
It’s terrifying to think what rate of overdoses we will see from nitazenes if we can’t detect them first and warn the public.
The president of the Australian Medical Association’s Queensland division, Dr Nick Yim, called on the state government to retain the “vital” drug-checking service, especially until its efficacy could be “fully evaluated”.
Every person that accesses a CheQpoint service is one less our busy emergency departments may have to treat due to drug misadventure. It saves lives and it saves our health system. If pill testing saves one Queenslander’s life, it will be money well spent.
You can read more of our coverage of the issue of nitazenes in Australia here:
Helen Sullivan
Search for missing Malaysia Airlines flight resumes after 11 years
In some international news: a new search for Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 has been launched more than a decade after the plane went missing in one of aviation’s greatest enduring mysteries.
Maritime exploration firm Ocean Infinity has resumed the hunt for the missing plane, the Malaysian transport minister, Anthony Loke, said on Tuesday.
Loke told reporters the contract details between Malaysia and the firm were still being finalised but welcomed “the proactiveness of Ocean Infinity to deploy their ships” to begin the search for the plane, which went missing in March 2014.
You can read all the details on this below:
Market is pricing a 19% chance of second rate cut in April
Jonathan Barrett
Back to the monthly CPI data: it won’t do anything to improve the chances of a rate cut on 1 April, given they are slightly, but not dramatically, disappointing.
The market is pricing in a 19% chance of another rate cut on 1 April, when the Reserve Bank hands down its next decision, according to market data released before the monthly inflation figures.
Economists had expected the RBA’s preferred gauge, the underlying inflation rate, could ease to 2.6% in the 12 months to January. Instead it has come in at 2.8%.
