u/2in1day

Starting with Sydney to Newcastle for HSR makes no sense when you look at the actual facts. If we’re building a national HSR network, the first leg should be Melbourne to Melbourne Airport then to Canberra and Sydney, and the evidence is pretty hard to ignore.

1. Melbourne to Sydney is one of the busiest air routes on Earth.
BITRE aviation data shows the Melbourne–Sydney corridor moves 10–11 million passengers a year, consistently ranking among the top 5 busiest domestic air routes globally.

HSR works best where it replaces aviation and the only corridor in Australia where that’s possible at scale is Melbourne–Sydney.

2. Melbourne Airport is the largest airport in Australia without rail.
It handles 36+ million passengers a year and still has no train (nearly as much as Sydney Airport, and mainly behind because Sydney's Qantas diverts international traffic via Sydney).
Routing HSR via the airport:

• delivers the long‑promised airport rail link
• avoids duplicating the $10B+ standalone airport rail project

3. Sydney–Newcastle is basically Greater Sydney.
NSW Government planning documents classify the Central Coast and Newcastle as part of the extended Sydney metropolitan catchment. That means Sydney to Newcastle HSR is effectively a metro extension, not a national corridor.

4. The cost–benefit ratio is terrible.
Public planning documents estimate the Sydney to Newcastle HSR segment at around $100 billion.
The housing uplift claimed is 165,000 dwellings.
That’s roughly $600,000 of infrastructure cost per dwelling before a single person rides the train.
It’s an extraordinarily poor return for a corridor that doesn’t solve national transport problems.

5. Melbourne to Sydney is the only corridor that forms a true national backbone.
A Melbourne to Melb Airport to Sydney line becomes the spine for future extensions:
Shepparton, Wangaratta, , Albury–Wodonga, Wagga Wagga, Canberra (potentially Wollongong)

Building a spur first locks the network into a Sydney‑centric shape that doesn’t serve the rest of the country.

6. Melbourne’s northern corridor is far easier and cheaper to build.
Independent engineering assessments show the Melbourne–Airport corridor is flat, wide, and already reserved for transport. Sydney’s northern corridor requires extensive tunnelling, steep terrain management, and complex coastal engineering.
Starting with the hardest, most geotechnically challenging segment is how megaprojects blow out and die, like what happened with the UK and California HSR.

7. Melbourne is Australia’s fastest‑growing city.
ABS data shows urban Melbourne has overtaken Sydney in population and is growing faster.
A Melbourne‑anchored HSR spine connects major regional centres, relieves pressure on the city, and actually supports national population distribution. Sydney–Newcastle doesn’t do that.

For arguments "why build to an airport" that's exactly what the Newcastle to Western Sydney airport line is doing, to then continue to Canberra and Melbourne (allegedly).

If Australia wants real high‑speed rail the first leg has to be the one that delivers maximum national benefit, maximum demand, maximum economic return, and minimum engineering risk.

That’s Melbourne > Melbourne Airport > Sydney.

Starting with Sydney to Newcastle for HSR makes no sense when you look at the actual facts. If we’re building a national HSR network, the first leg should be Melbourne to Melbourne Airport then to Canberra and Sydney, and the evidence is pretty hard to ignore.

1. Melbourne to Sydney is one of the busiest air routes on Earth.
BITRE aviation data shows the Melbourne–Sydney corridor moves 10–11 million passengers a year, consistently ranking among the top 5 busiest domestic air routes globally.

HSR works best where it replaces aviation and the only corridor in Australia where that’s possible at scale is Melbourne–Sydney.

2. Melbourne Airport is the largest airport in Australia without rail.
It handles 36+ million passengers a year and still has no train (nearly as much as Sydney Airport, and mainly behind because Sydney's Qantas diverts international traffic via Sydney).
Routing HSR via the airport:

• delivers the long‑promised airport rail link
• avoids duplicating the $10B+ standalone airport rail project

3. Sydney–Newcastle is basically Greater Sydney.
NSW Government planning documents classify the Central Coast and Newcastle as part of the extended Sydney metropolitan catchment. That means Sydney to Newcastle HSR is effectively a metro extension, not a national corridor.

4. The cost–benefit ratio is terrible.
Public planning documents estimate the Sydney to Newcastle HSR segment at around $100 billion.
The housing uplift claimed is 165,000 dwellings.
That’s roughly $600,000 of infrastructure cost per dwelling before a single person rides the train.
It’s an extraordinarily poor return for a corridor that doesn’t solve national transport problems.

5. Melbourne to Sydney is the only corridor that forms a true national backbone.
A Melbourne to Melb Airport to Sydney line becomes the spine for future extensions:
Shepparton, Wangaratta, , Albury–Wodonga, Wagga Wagga, Canberra (potentially Wollongong)

Building a spur first locks the network into a Sydney‑centric shape that doesn’t serve the rest of the country.

6. Melbourne’s northern corridor is far easier and cheaper to build.
Independent engineering assessments show the Melbourne–Airport corridor is flat, wide, and already reserved for transport. Sydney’s northern corridor requires extensive tunnelling, steep terrain management, and complex coastal engineering.
Starting with the hardest, most geotechnically challenging segment is how megaprojects blow out and die, like what happened with the UK and California HSR.

7. Melbourne is Australia’s fastest‑growing city.
ABS data shows urban Melbourne has overtaken Sydney in population and is growing faster.
A Melbourne‑anchored HSR spine connects major regional centres, relieves pressure on the city, and actually supports national population distribution. Sydney–Newcastle doesn’t do that.

For arguments "why build to an airport" that's exactly what the Newcastle to Western Sydney airport line is doing, to then continue to Canberra and Melbourne (allegedly).

If Australia wants real high‑speed rail the first leg has to be the one that delivers maximum national benefit, maximum demand, maximum economic return, and minimum engineering risk.

That’s Melbourne → Melbourne Airport → Sydney.

A major review of the controversial Suburban Rail Loop by the Carroll government will consider radical options, including diverting existing contract cash.

Up to $10bn of Suburban Rail Loop deals about to be inked are expected to go on hold during a review that will also assess whether existing contractors can be diverted to other infrastructure projects.

The Herald Sun understands that radical options are likely to be assessed as part of the review, including whether tunnelling deals already signed could be repurposed.

Tunnel boring machines for SRL East were expected to set off by September, as part of two deals worth $5.3bn, but would not be switched on while the Carroll government resolves the project’s future.

The 26km first stage of the controversial loopwas estimated to cost $30-34.5bn in 2021, with the entire 90km project forecast to cost more than $200bn to build and run over 50 years.

A full assessment is expected to be brought to the new Carroll Cabinet, along with options of how the government could wind it back.

This could include whether contracts could be pushed out, altered, or even repurposed to other projects – if feasible.

Premier Ben Carroll remained tight-lipped about a potential review on Wednesday,saying he would run a proper Cabinet process before providing any details.

While he also emphasised that he would be a premier “that does not break contracts”, one source said this wouldn’t preclude the government exploring options to divert contracted companies to other road or rail projects if it was possible.

Industry insiders said the concept was theoretically possible – pointing to the cancellation of the East West Link in 2014 that saw big builders “made whole” through other infrastructure jobs – but that the SRL was a long way down the track and involved a multitude of partners.

Seven packages of works are spread across the breadth of the first stage of the loop and about $17bn worth of contracts have been inked.

A Labor source said that if the expected real cost of the first stage, which would connect Cheltenham to Box Hill, soared well above the $34.5bn estimate provided in 2021, it could be preferable to lose some skin for work already done than to spend more than $20bn extra on a line that may not be the best value for money.

Any option to divert resources to other projects would also need to look at whether tunnel boring machine launch sites are filled in and built over with housing, or whether they would be left as a future option, should the state’s financial situation change.

Only two of seven SRL contracts are waiting to be inked, and include packages to build stations in Cheltenham, Clayton, Monash, Glen Waverley, Burwood and Box Hill.

One of those deals has a preferred bidder, made up of John Holland, Arup, and Kellogg Brown and Root, that is on the cusp of putting pen to paper after nine months of negotiations.

Two tunnelling contracts, which have been in place for years, involve consortia that include construction giants CPB, Ghella, Acciona, Webuild, GS Engineering, and Bouyges.

Mr Carroll on Wednesday made it clear that he would not kill government contracts, which Labor had previously done for the East West Link and Commonwealth Games.

Those two decisions, made under Daniel Andrews, wasted about $1.8bn.

“I am going to be a premier that does not break contracts,” he said.

“I’m going to be a premier that values every single dollar.”

Mr Carroll also reiterated his support for the airport rail link, which would be a “game changer”.

Mr Carroll has indicated he would bring the SRL to Cabinet for examination, but did not respond to questions about whether there could be a pivot from SRL to Airport Rail.

Source: Herald Sun

In the 2024/25 year:

Child murders:

• 11 children were killed by women
• 9 children were killed by men

Of the 20 children killed:

- 15 were non indigenous and 5 were indigenous

- 13 were boys and 7 were girls

Intimate partner homicide:

• 14 men were killed by women
• 31 women were killed by men
• 1 woman was killed by a woman

Of the 31 women killed in intimate partner homicide by men:

• 18 were non indigenous women
• 13 were indigenous women

Refer pages 22 and 23

https://www.aic.gov.au/publications/sr/sr58

While governments rush to combat Islamophobia and antisemitism, prejudice against atheists and non-believers (atheophobia) remains largely ignored.

Many major religions teach that non-believers are morally corrupt, wicked, or destined for hell. Messages still preached in sermons, schools, and homes worldwide.

These teachings are not harmless. They fuel real discrimination: family rejection, workplace bias, social ostracism, and political barriers. Global reports document widespread harassment of the non-religious, with over 70% of the world’s population living in countries that severely discriminate against atheists and humanists.

If the state protects religious sensitivities through hate speech laws and education campaigns, it must apply the same standards to protect non-believers. True secular equality means defending freedom of conscience in all directions, the right to believe and the right to disbelieve, without allowing religiously motivated hatred to go unchallenged.

We cannot shield major religions from criticism while permitting them to spread prejudice against those who lack belief. Atheophobia erodes dignity and trust, just like other forms of bigotry.

Governments should enforce consistent rules against discrimination and incitement, without outraight banning scriptures or private faith, except in extreme cases where they preach violence to non believers.