u/stupid_mistake__101

Inflation has soared to a four-month high of 4 per cent - increasing the chance of a November rate hike.
The consumer price index in August climbed sharply from July’s 3.5 per cent level as the Federal Government withdrew its fuel tax relief just before tensions escalated again in the Middle East.

Automotive fuel prices surged by 13.5 per cent over the year but during August alone, prices increased by 14.8 per cent leading to overall transport costs rising by 5.6 per cent on an annual basis.

Goods inflation rose by 4.2 per cent over the year, as a result of elevated crude oil prices, while services inflation went up by 3.7 per cent.

Overall annual headline inflation has now been above the Reserve Bank’s 2-3 per cent target for the 13th straight month, increasing the chance of a November 3 rate hike.

Underlying inflation without volatile price items was also elevated, rising by an annual pace of 3.6 per cent in August with the RBA’s preferred measure of price pressures also above target for the 13th consecutive month.

The Australian Bureau of Statistics delivered the bad news a day after the RBA on Tuesday increased interest rates for the fourth time this year to a 15-year high of 4.6 per cent and another increase on top of that on November 3 would take it to an 18-year high of 4.85 per cent.

“Essentially today’s data validates the RBA’s decision yesterday to raise rates as it shows inflation is still far from under control, leaving the RBA with no choice but to act,” KPMG chief economist Brendan Rynne said.

Despite the prospect of higher interest rates as a result of higher inflation, the Australian dollar paradoxically by 0.4 of a US cent to 69.60 US cents after the inflation data was released.
More to come

A ministerial driver will keep his job after the Industrial Relations Commission found a lack of evidence that he leaked details of Jo Haylen’s “winery lunch” trip to the media.

Exclusive: A ministerial driver who was ordered to chauffeur the transport minister Jo Haylen to a birthday lunch at a Hunter Valley winery in a taxpayer-funded car before facing the sack after details of the trip leaked has won the fight to keep his job.
Mohammed Nazmul Huda, 60, and the Public Service Association (PSA) took the Premier’s Department to the Industrial Relations Commission after his role as a ministerial chauffeur was to be terminated amid allegations he had disclosed confidential information to The Sunday Telegraph and The Daily Telegraph.

The allegations arose from an internal investigation conducted into Mr Huda after details of the ill-fated winery trip which ultimately cost Ms Haylen her job as a Cabinet minister became public.

The trip took place on January 25 when Mr Huda drove from Sydney to Caves Beach NSW where he collected Ms Haylen, her ministerial colleague Rose Jackson, and four other passengers before chauffeuring the group to the Hunter Valley.
The Commission heard Mr Huda waited for the group at Hunter Valley before driving them back to Caves Beach on the same day.
While the trip was within the rules, the public uproar and revelations of other travel led to Ms Haylen resigning on February 4.
Almost two years after the scandal, Mr Huda received a letter from the department containing 12 allegations of misconduct, including disclosing “official information relating to Minister Haylen’s activities and transport arrangements”, communicating with journalists, failing to comply with rules around media contact and releasing information relating to departmental vehicle records.

An external investigator subsequently ruled eight of the 12 allegations had been “substantiated”, prompting the department to begin the process of sacking Mr Huda.
The “substantiated” allegations included that Mr Huda had disclosed information about the trip to others, that he had spoken to The Sunday Telegraph and other journalists without alerting media spokespeople, and that he failed to ensure the driver’s log was not seen by unauthorised individuals.
The department argued the allegations amounted to serious misconduct given the trust and confidence required of a ministerial driver.
In ruling in favour of Mr Huda, Senior Commissioner Nichola Constant rejected the allegations, including the department’s claims that Mr Huda was the media source for the winery trip, noting that it had been discussed by others prior the initial story being published.
Mr Huda was contacted by The Sunday Telegraph prior to the publication of its story, but refused to confirm any details of the trip.

“A finding that a ministerial driver deliberately disclosed confidential information to the media would ordinarily be capable of justifying dismissal,” she said.
“However, that is not the finding made in this case. I am satisfied only that the available material indicates that information known to Mr Huda formed part of the chain of events that ultimately led to the media reporting. The evidence goes no further.
PSA senior industrial officer Greg Shaw said Mr Huda had always been “in the right”.
“We are very pleased with this outcome,” he said.

Premier Ben Carroll has been accused of having his “I don’t hold a hose, mate” moment on potholes after telling reporters he is “the Premier, not the Roads Minister”.
It comes after 71-year-old motorcyclist Peter “Tiki” Mason died on Sunday after riding over a pothole on the Western Freeway.
The death came days after a damning report from the Victorian Auditor-General, which found half of the state’s road network was in a poor or very poor condition.

Asked if his government was responsible for Mr Mason’s death, Mr Carroll said he accepted “responsibility for making sure our roads are safe,” adding that work was already under way on Labor’s $352m commitment to fill 500,000 potholes by the start of next year.
“While we have all this warm weather, this is when you get on and do the job of fixing potholes and making sure we do everything else,” he said.

But when asked how many potholes had been filled so far, Mr Carroll was unable to say how much of the work had been completed.
“I’m the Premier, not the Roads Minister,” he said.
“I’ve directed the funding to get in there and do the maintenance. I’ve spoken to the Roads Minister.
“He tells me crews are out right now on the Western Highway, doing what they need to do. In terms of the exact number, we can try and give you those details.”
But Mr Carroll’s comments quickly caught the ire of the opposition, with Shadow Attorney-General James Newbury telling the Herald Sun it was akin to former Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s infamous “I don’t hold a hose, mate” gaffe during the 2019 Black Summer bushfires.

“Ben Carroll has just had his Scott Morrison moment,” he said.
“Australians were rightly outraged when Scott said he doesn’t hold a hose, mate, during the devastating bushfires … Now, after the tragic death of a Victorian, reportedly because of our dangerous roads, Ben Carroll has arrogantly said that he isn’t the Roads Minister and is therefore not responsible for potholes.
“How arrogant … Ben Carroll and Labor deserve to be turfed out.”
Mr Carroll also admitted on Tuesday he hadn’t spoken to Mr Mason’s family, saying instead that he “will always have the door open”.
“Look, I will speak to his family. I’ve spoken to the local member of parliament. I know the police, TAC are working with the family, but I’m always open to speak to the family,” he said.
“I will do what I’m doing, and I will always have an open door to anyone, particularly to those who are grieving at the moment.
“My thoughts are with Mr Mason and his family, loved ones, everyone that’s part of his motorcycle club, everyone that knew him. He seems like he was a ripping bloke … did a lot for young girls participating in riding motorcycles and lots of things.”

Premier Ben Carroll’s promised reforms to give the state’s peak anti-corruption body greater reach and powers are at risk of collapse following a proposed last-minute change that would prevent IBAC from investigating some allegations relating to Victoria’s Big Build sites.
Both the Coalition and the Greens have threatened to withdraw their support for Labor’s proposed legislation, which is set to be introduced into parliament on Tuesday, after the government confirmed its law change would declare any allegations IBAC had already dealt with under its old powers off limits.
The carve-out includes allegations former premier Jacinta Allan referred to IBAC more than two years ago after a joint investigation by The Age, The Australian Financial Review and 60 Minutes revealed organised crime had infiltrated government-funded major building projects.

The proposed legislation, which gives IBAC follow-the-money powers and a broader definition of corruption to launch investigations, prevents it from applying the broader powers and jurisdiction to matters it has already investigated, decided not to investigate or referred to another integrity agency.

The government believes the new Kourakis royal commission is the primary body for investigating allegations of corruption and misconduct associated with the Big Build, and that the commission will work closely with a special prosecutor, IBAC and Victoria Police to ensure all claims of serious wrongdoing are examined.
On Monday night, shadow attorney-general James Newbury described the move as a “shameful con” and an eleventh-hour manoeuvre before parliament is prorogued ahead of November’s state election.
“Ben Carroll and Labor are shamefully trying to keep covered up the worst corruption scandal in our state’s history,” Newbury said.
“Labor has confirmed their proposed new powers won’t let IBAC revisit old corruption allegations it has dismissed, referred elsewhere or finished investigating.
“Victorians deserve to know the extent of corruption on the Big Build. IBAC must not be blocked from that work. What a shameful con from an end of days government.”

Special Minister of State Ingrid Stitt rejected the criticism.
“The Liberals are lying,” she said. “The royal commission will be able to investigate any allegations of crime, corruption and serious misconduct on Big Build projects.
“We’re fast-tracking the new laws, so IBAC has the follow-the-money powers it needs to uncover corruption this year, not in 2027.”
An opposition party room meeting scheduled for Tuesday morning is expected to withdraw support for the bill unless it is substantially amended.

Greens leader Ellen Sandell said the legislation needed to provide greater scope for IBAC to conduct public examinations of witnesses, including parliamentarians.
“The Greens dragged Labor kicking and screaming to finally strengthen IBAC, but as per usual with Labor, they’ve done it in a way that has big carve-outs to protect themselves and leave Victorians in the dark,” Sandell said.
Allan wrote to IBAC in July 2024, a day after the first revelations of the Building Bad investigation were published by this masthead, urging the anti-corruption body to investigate the claims.
“I am concerned to ensure that any allegations of serious corruption that are within the remit of IBAC are identified, investigated and appropriate action taken by IBAC,” she wrote.
In February this year, it was revealed that IBAC had assessed the premier’s referral and found it to be outside its jurisdiction at the time.

At the time, IBAC was still assessing a separate referral from Newbury about the contents of a report from anti-corruption advocate Geoffrey Watson, SC, which outlined serious misconduct in the CFMEU, the union which under the Andrews and Allan governments established an industrial monopoly over Big Build projects.
In July, Newbury made a further referral over allegations that state government officials told builders to cut a deal with the CFMEU following a dispute on a key level crossing removal site.

The status of Newbury’s referrals is not known. IBAC does not typically confirm or deny what matters it is investigating. It responded to media requests about Allan’s referral only after the former premier publicly released her letter.
The proposed changes to IBAC’s laws would allow the agency to use its new powers and jurisdiction on matters it is currently investigating, as well as any future investigations.

The government legislation would expand IBAC’s working definition of corrupt conduct beyond its current requirement that it must constitute a criminal offence punishable by five years’ jail. This jurisdictional limitation, which has been criticised by successive IBAC commissions, is more narrow than that used by any other peak anti-corruption body in Australia.

The definition of corruption would be broadened to include any offence or serious disciplinary matter. This covers a much wider range of activity – such as misconduct and major breaches of ministerial and local government codes of conduct – and would enable IBAC to investigate what its former commissioner Robert Redlich described as “grey corruption”.
Redlich, the Centre for Public Integrity, Transparency International Australia, former ombudsman Deborah Glass and other integrity advocates have repeatedly called for IBAC’s working definition of corruption to be brought into line with the NSW Independent Commission Against Corruption and the National Anti-Corruption Commission.
IBAC’s proposed follow-the-money powers, would allow it to pursue investigations beyond major government contractors, into subcontractors and labour hire firms who ultimately receive taxpayer funds.

Since replacing Allan, Carroll has staked his nascent premiership on restoring government integrity, promising to bring forward greater powers for IBAC and establish a royal commission into Big Build corruption on the first day of his leadership.
Alongside the proposed IBAC legislation, the government will this week introduce into parliament proposed legislation to establish a special prosecutor’s office to work in tandem with the royal commission.

Labor is canvassing a $40 weekly cap on road tolls in an attempt to outbid the Coalition’s state election pledge to cash-strapped motorists and tradies.
But party strategists have been left red-faced at how news of the would-be policy leaked, in what appears to be the first major communications glitch of this year’s election campaign.

The Age was alerted to the unannounced sweetener when newsroom staff received an unsolicited text from a New Zealand-based market research firm with strong ALP links, Community Engagement.
The survey asks the recipient which party they intend to vote for at the November 28 election. Depending on the response, the survey then plays one of a selection of short videos designed to convince the recipient to switch to Labor.

The video spruiks a series of policies already announced or implemented by Carroll, including the establishment of a royal commission into the construction industry, making Victorian school teachers the best paid in Australia, reopening police stations, recruiting 1500 additional police, keeping public transport half price and fixing potholes.
However, the video goes on to promise that a re-elected Carroll government will cap tolls at $40 a week – a policy not publicly committed to or announced by Labor.
The video also flags “keeping” public transport fares at half price, a policy due to expire in the new year.

Three government sources contacted by The Age did not appear to know about the video, which raises the prospect that it was testing potential policy announcements for the party’s election campaign that may not have yet been agreed upon.

Victorian Labor declined to comment when asked about the video and poll.
As a suite of policies, the promises bear a striking resemblance to what the Coalition has also pledged, with a royal commission, fixing potholes, more police, re-opened police stations and a $50 a week cap on tollsall prominently announced by Opposition Leader Jess Wilson.

While mimicry is said to be the sincerest form of flattery, the Liberal and National parties are nonplussed at the copycat campaign taking shape.
“This is a desperate government copying Jess Wilson’s policies because they are devoid of an agenda and too embarrassed to sell their own legacy,” an opposition spokesperson said.

The Coalition’s proposed cap on tolls, which would enable heavy users of CityLink, EastLink and the West Gate Tunnel to claim back up to $3000 a year, was announced three weeks ago. The policy is costed at $90 million a year and represents a boon for Transurban, the ASX-listed operator of two of the tolled roads.
Setting the cap at $40 a week would increase the cost to government, which under the policy, uses public funds to reimburse motorists who spend above the weekly cap.
The pollster behind the video, Community Engagement, has been contacted for comment.
The firm has previously performed work for Labor in Australia. Its owners, Eric Goddard and Ella Hardy, have also been involved in the New Zealand Labour Party.

The other half of the video tests attack messages against the Coalition and One Nation.
Two versions of the video, seen by The Age, allege the Coalition won’t be able to govern with One Nation and accuse Warren Pickering, the Victorian leader of Pauline Hanson’s party, of wanting to criminalise abortion.
One of these versions, which The Age chose not to publish, also accuses identifiable One Nation candidates of engaging in domestic violence and criticises the party for hiring a convicted rapist to run its campaign. This is a reference to the previous employment of Sean Black at Hanson’s national headquarters.

A youth offender behind a home invasion that left a Melbourne couple terrified will be locked up for 18 months after becoming the first teen to be sentenced to time behind bars under “adult time for violent crime” laws.

A youth offender behind a terrifying home invasion is the first teen to be sentenced like an adult in an adult court under the state government’s sweeping new laws.
The Herald Sun can reveal that the teen, who cannot be named for legal reasons because he was 17 when he committed his crimes, was sentenced in the County Court on Thursday to 18 months behind bars.
He is the second teen to be sentenced in the County Court under the “adult time for violent crime” laws, which came into effect in late February.

In the first test of the laws last week, a 16-year-old girl was handed an 18-month youth supervision order, similar to a community corrections order, for holding a knife to the throat of a taxi driver in an aggravated carjacking.
She walked free from court without spending a day behind bars.
But on Thursday, Judge Trevor Wraight told the 18-year-old he would be spending 18 months locked up in a youth justice centre.
“Entering a private home where people are present with the intention to steal is very serious conduct that must be deterred,” he said.
“Other young people with similar intentions must be made aware that such conduct will be met with serious consequences.”
Judge Wraight said the teen, who had consumed “most of a bottle” of vodka, and his mates broke into a couple’s Ashwood home about 1.30am on March 23 and stole the keys to a white Audi.

The husband and wife woke to the sound of their dog barking and spotted two of the offenders in the corridor outside the bedroom.
“What do I do? I kept asking myself,” the husband told the Herald Sun at the time.
“I have no weapons in my room. We have no lock on the bedroom door.
“We just hoped they wouldn’t try to come into the bedroom because they were five and we were two.”

CCTV footage captured the 18-year-old walking inside the victims’ home before fleeing after the dog started barking.
The crims packed into the Audi and took off, with police reporting at the time that the car hit speeds of up to 190km/h along the Monash Fwy before taking the Heatherton Rd exit where it struck police stop sticks.
The car continued along the Princes Hwy before it was dumped and the teens fled on foot along suburban streets and through backyards.
The group briefly tried to hide under a trampoline, but were soon arrested by police.
The 18-year-old pleaded guilty to home invasion, which sent his case up to the County Court, and theft.

Under the laws, children who plead guilty or are found guilty of serious offences – such as home invasion – face “adult sentencing in an adult court”.
“We want the courts to treat these violent children like adults, so jail is more likely and sentences are longer,” former premier Jacinta Allan said when announcing the laws in November.
Judge Wraight said the types of sentences available to him under the Children, Youth and Families Act – which guides sentencing in the Children’s Court – were “inappropriate” in this case.
As a result, he elected to sentence the teen under the Sentencing Act, which guides the sentencing of adults.
Last week, the judge presiding over the case of the 16-year-old girl sentenced her under the Children, Youth and Families Act, rather than the Sentencing Act.

On Thursday, the court heard the 18-year-old was deemed suitable for detention in a youth justice centre and so would be not taken to an adult prison.
Defence barrister Vincent Vuu had pushed for his client to be released, arguing that it was a “less serious” home invasion given there was no weapons and no confrontation.
But Judge Wraight disagreed.
“While the offenders (the victim) observed did not physically confront him, in my view the circumstances remain very serious and clearly the event had a significant psychological impact on the victim,” he said.
He added: “Your crime resulted in more than just the loss of a vehicle. It has caused the loss of his sense of safety and security he previously experienced in his own home.”
The court heard the teen was already on a youth supervision order at the time of the offending after committing an attempted robbery and car theft.
He is also facing charges in the Children’s Court for home invasion and attempted carjacking that predate the “adult time for violent crime” laws.
The teen appeared via video link from Cherry Creek Youth Justice Centre.
He has already served 164 days of his sentence.

Labor has opened the door to raising the age of criminal responsibility to 14 after the move was scrapped by Jacinta Allan who argued it was not appropriate given Victoria’s youth crime scourge.

Victorian Labor has opened the door to raising the age of criminal responsibility to 14 if Premier Ben Carroll wins November’s state election.
The move, outlined in the ALP’s latest policy document Platform 2026-30, would revive a commitment first made by Daniel Andrews.
But that was scrapped by Jacinta Allan who said the policy was not appropriate amid Victoria’s worsening youth crime scourge.

Instead the age of criminal responsibility was raised from 10 to 12 in 2024.
Now the prospect of a further increase is contained in Labor’s new fourth-term policy agenda which sets out the party’s priorities if it wins a historic consecutive fourth term in office.

The document, which is endorsed by Premier Ben Carroll, commits Labor to potentially lifting the minimum age of criminal responsibility to 14 “at an appropriate time”, in a move that would mean children aged 12 and 13 could no longer be held criminally responsible.
“Labor will continue to acknowledge the UN Convention on the Rights of the (Child) and, as a matter of policy, propose at an appropriate time to raise the minimum age of criminal responsibility to 14,” it says.
“It provides the foundation for a fourth term Labor government – one focused not simply on managing the present, but on creating opportunities for generations to come.”
The commitment comes as the government seeks to project a tough stance on youth offending, including through its adult time for violent crime laws and tougher maximum penalties, including life imprisonment, for children convicted of a range of serious offences.

The platform also says Labor would encourage police to increasingly use cautioning programs for young offenders over other prosecution pathways.
In a forward to the policy platform — which was published online last week but removed after questions from the Herald Sun — Mr Carroll said it represented the “values and aspirations of thousands of Victorians.”
“I know a lot of Labor people feel the same as me,” he said.
“They are grateful to live in the best part of the best country in the world.
“And they want to repay the good to the next generation of Victorians.
“This Policy Platform is the expression of that collective ambition.
“It represents the values and aspirations of thousands of Victorians – from Labor members and supporters to affiliated unions and community organisations to elected representatives.
“Fundamentally, this platform is all about making life better for working families in every city, suburb and town in the state. In other words, it’s all about keeping the faith with the great Australian fair go.”

The policy comes amid intense political pressure on the government over crime, with voters consistently nominating it as a top-tier issue ahead of the election.
Latest crime data statistics showed teenagers were behind 60 per cent of all robberies, 55 per cent of carjackings, 49 per cent of home invasions and 48 per cent of aggravated burglaries in the year to March.
Victoria Police also made a record number of arrests over the latest reporting period, taking 26,808 offenders into custody a combined 76,610 times.
More than 1300 of those arrests were related to Melbourne’s warring youth gangs, which continue to be recruited by organised crime networks.

But a 1.9 per cent decrease in the overall crime rate was attributed to the Allan government’s crackdown on crime.
Shadow Attorney-General James Newbury accused Labor of sending a contradictory message on crime.
“Victorians know Labor is weak on crime, and this new policy commitment proves it,” he said.
“This document is a sneak peek of what a re-elected Labor government would deliver: more crime and weaker laws.
“Victoria is in the grip of a youth crime crisis and Labor’s only solution is to excuse offending and put youth criminals ahead of victims and the community.
“Victoria needs a fresh start and the only way to deliver that is by changing the government this November.”

Mr Carroll denied he was planning to raise the age on Wednesday, adding that the Labor party platform is full of policies that never come to fruition.
“Please come to a Labor Party conference whenever you like,” he said.
“I’ve been at many over the past 30 years, and I’ve seen many of these policies get developed and not implemented as well.”

A new fleet of hybrid trains that can run on suburban and country tracks would finally deliver a long-promised boost to rail services for people living in Melbourne’s booming west under a $1.7 billion public transport pitch to be announced by the Coalition.
Opposition Leader Jess Wilson will on Tuesday promise that bi-mode trains similar to those already in use in NSW and South Australia would bring commuters living along the Melton and Wyndham Vale lines onto a metropolitan system years before Labor’s promised electrification of those lines.

The revised western rail plan, which comes eight years after the Andrews government pledged to electrify outer-suburban lines in Melbourne’s fastest-growing population corridor, promises to deliver 25 new trains within the next term of parliament.
Bi-mode trains, which have been used for a decade in Europe, access overhead power lines while on suburban tracks and switch to a secondary diesel or battery-powered source of energy when on country tracks.

Labor’s electrification program, which was promised at both the 2018 and 2022 state elections, has been delayed until after a new station is built at Sunshine, and suburban, country and freight services are separated at the major rail junction. The $4 billion station works are not due to be completed until 2030. The Carroll government will open an upgraded Melton Station on Tuesday.
Wilson said that while a Coalition government would remain committed to electrifying the two lines, hybrid trains would deliver better services more quickly to suburbs where peak-hour commuters are being left stranded on platforms because of jam-packed trains.
“Labor has twice promised and twice failed to deliver the modern train services communities across Melton and Wyndham Vale deserve,” she said. “Our plan will deliver metro-quality train services to Melbourne’s west sooner – meaning more trains, more seats and greater capacity.”
The opposition’s public transport pitch, aimed at frustrated voters in Melbourne’s west, reflects a dramatically altered political contest leading up to the November state election, with both the Coalition and One Nation targeting some of Labor’s “dead red” seats.
The Australian Bureau of Statistics estimates that since the 2016 census, the Melton local government area has swelled from 135,000 to 231,000 people while the City of Wyndham’s population has grown from 217,000 to 348,000.

That is a combined increase of 227,000 people over 10 years.

Victorian Department of Transport data shows that between 2019 and 2024, passenger numbers at eight stations on the Melton and Wyndham Vale lines – which currently carry diesel-powered V/Line trains – surged by 26 per cent.
In 2025, The Age revealed the government had obtained a secret report warning of “crush” conditions at railway stations across Melbourne’s fast-growing northern and western suburbs – circumstances where trains are forced to leave passengers behind on a station platform – unless the rail system was overhauled.
The document supported electrifying the Melton and Wyndham Vale lines, and said commuters could be left waiting on platforms if action wasn’t taken within the next five to 10 years.

This is already a regular rush-hour occurrence at stations such as Tarneit, which was opened in 2015. It sits on the Wyndham Vale line, which is serviced by V/Line trains running from Geelong to Melbourne.
Opposition public transport spokesman Matthew Guy said the new rolling stock would enable the Melton and Wyndham Vale lines to access suburban tracks after Sunshine and run through either the City Loop or Metro Tunnel, and allow more services to be run along the lines.
Suburban trains, because of their standing room, can also take more passengers than a V/Line train of comparable length.
Guy said the “crush” capacity of a six-car VLocity train was 444 passengers, but a six-car suburban train could squeeze in 1300 people.
“Suburban passengers should be on suburban trains,” Guy said. “We don’t think that Melton and Wyndham line commuters can wait a decade for suburban trains.

“It is much faster, much cheaper and a realistic answer to the problem of getting suburban trains to the western suburbs.”
Guy said hybrid trains would also reduce the air pollution at the busy Southern Cross station, which becomes thick with diesel fumes when too many country trains are idling at the platforms.

The opposition has also promised to establish an independent Public Transport Victoria board to improve governance of rail and bus services.
In 2025, Victorian transport tsar Jeroen Weimar, who left his role as secretary last week, told the West of Melbourne Summitthat the Melton line would be electrified after the $4.1 billion untangling of the track around Sunshine station and rebuild of nearby stations was completed in 2030.

Weimar said the government was exploring the use of battery-powered trains to deliver capacity improvements on the Wyndham Vale line, which would follow the Sunshine and Melton upgrades.

The Victorian and Commonwealth governments have together committed $152 million to develop its plan to electrify Melton and Wyndham Vale lines. Two sources with knowledge of the plan said the full cost had been estimated at a staggering $8 billion.
Rail Futures Institute president John Hearsch said bi-mode trains would be more expensive than VLocity models, the latest model rolled out by V/Line.
“It is technically possible and happening in other places, but … ultimately, the operating costs will be higher than a straight electric train,” he said.

“The advantages of it over the existing trains are pretty small.”
Hearsch said the bigger issue was that there wasn’t enough track space between Sunshine and the CBD to fit all the services needed to give Melton and Wyndham Vale frequencies comparable to other suburban lines.
Transport experts believe the proposed Melbourne Metro 2, another underground rail line to complement the Metro Tunnel line, could solve this problem by creating a cross-city route that would serve as a second rail corridor connecting the western suburbs to the city.
Hearsch said the institute believed in the short term that batteries should replace the auxiliary engines on VLocity trains, which would reduce pollution at Southern Cross Station.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has declared he “owes it to history” to defeat One Nation, obsessing over the minor party in a major speech to the Queensland Labor Party.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has declared he “owes it to history” to defeat One Nation, obsessing over the minor party in a major speech to the Queensland Labor Party.
Addressing Labor Party delegates on Sunday, Mr Albanese warned that “hard right populists” were on the march, describing their politics as “dangerous” and “divisive”.
“We simply must defeat them. We owe it to history. We owe it to the nation. And we will defeat them,” Mr Albanese said.

He accused One Nation of saying and doing “anything” to win votes, bending facts, peddling misinformation and turning Australians against each other.
Mr Albanese also attacked the party's policy record, accusing it of having no serious answers to policy problems and pointing to internal confusion over immigration.
He said One Nation believed Australians were “lazy” and “overpaid”, while also accusing the party of believing “domestic violence is sometimes a woman's fault”.
The Prime Minister said One Nation was also “not on the side of working people”, claiming it had a plan to cut penalty rates.
“The only mainstream political force in Australia that seeks to govern in the interests of the Australian people in our own right is the Australian Labor Party,” he said.

However, One Nation MP Barnaby Joyce rejected Mr Albanese's characterisation of the party on Sunday, accusing the PM of relying on “tropes” and “bromides”.
"We have these tropes, bromides and basically fallacious statements that are dribbled out. (They say) 'we're racist', we're not. 'We're homophobes', we are not," Mr Joyce said.
Asked about Mr Albanese's claim that One Nation believed domestic violence could sometimes be a woman's fault, Mr Joyce said the accusation was “crazy”.
He defended Ms Hanson, saying her experience as a single mother from the western suburbs of Ipswich had made her aware of the factors surrounding domestic violence.
“She does not want to bar of any person, any man who, for some disgraceful reason, decides that they want to hit a woman,” Mr Joyce said.
“That’s not about Pauline. That’s about 99 per cent of Australians. It’s anathema to us. It is disgraceful.”

Mr Joyce also rejected Mr Albanese's claim that One Nation opposed penalty rates, instead launching a broader attack on the Prime Minister's credibility.
He accused Mr Albanese of repeatedly saying one thing and doing another, saying Australians “just can't believe these people”.
“This is coming from a man who said he didn't fall off the stage and he did. He didn't insult the Prime Minister of (Japan) and he did,” Mr Joyce said.
“He wasn't going to change the capital gains tax rates and he did. You just can't believe these people. They created the metaphor for themselves. They are liars, right?”
Mr Joyce dismissed the Prime Minister's speech as not worth listening to, telling voters to “find something good on Netflix” instead.
Mr Albanese's latest attack marks a continuation of an increasingly prominent Labor strategy of directly targeting One Nation as the party's support has risen.
The Prime Minsiter previously used the bulk of his 30-minute speech to the federal Labor Party conference in July to talk about One Nation.

Meanwhile, One Nation has closed the gap to Labor to just three points in the latest News24.com.au Pulse / YouGov poll.
Labor now sits on 29 per cent of the primary vote, up one point, while Pauline Hanson's One Nation climbed two points to 26 per cent.
The Coalition fell one point to 21 per cent, leaving it five points behind One Nation, while the Greens were unchanged on 12 per cent.

A controversial $134,000 statue of former premier Daniel Andrews has been scrapped, with Victoria’s new leader Ben Carroll saying the statue policy did not meet taxpayer expectations.
Previously, any politician who served more than 3000 days as Victorian premier would be immortalised in bronze near Parliament House in Melbourne.

Carroll announced on Saturday that the statue policy would be repealed, and that work on the statue of Andrews, who was premier from 2014 to 2023, would stop.
But Carroll said the contract would not be cancelled, and that an independent panel would recommend an alternative subject for a statue, as part of a broader change which includes scaling back spending on state funerals.

The statue policy was introduced in 1999 by Jeff Kennett when he was premier.
Kennett told 3AW this month the statue policy “was not a rule, it was not legislation, it was a guideline”.

Four former premiers – Albert Dunstan, Henry Bolte, Rupert Hamer and John Cain Jr – each served 3000 days in a row in office and have been memorialised with a statue near 1 Treasury Place.
Carroll said taxpayers want public money to be used in a “careful and deliberate” manner, and that automatically granting long-serving premiers a statue did not meet that standard.

“We are grateful to former premiers for their service,” he said in a statement. “But gratitude does not require a taxpayer-funded statue.”
Carroll also said that the independent, bipartisan panel deciding on what statue should be built instead of the Andrews bronze would also make recommendations about the appropriate frequency, scale and costs of state funerals.
“State funerals are special and moving tributes. Part of what makes them special is their rarity,” said Carroll, who took over as premier last month.

Victoria’s divisive work-from-laws are under a cloud with doubts the Carroll government will be able to push its legislation through parliament before November’s state election after it unexpectedly pulled the bill from the upper house.

Victoria’s divisive work from laws are under a cloud with doubts the Carroll government will be able to push legislation through parliament before November’s state election.
The proposed laws — which will give Victorian employees the right to work from home at least two days a week — were expected to be debated in the upper house on Friday, but were pulled by the government late on Thursday night.
It means there are just two sitting weeks left before the election for the laws to be passed.

However a move by Shooters, Fishers and Farmers MP Jeff Bourman to refer the legislation to a committee for its impacts on the economy and employers to be probed, could torpedo the government’s plans to pass the laws.
Crossbench sources said Mr Bourman’s motion had the numbers to be passed, meaning a selected committee would be set up to examine the legislation.
The committee’s proposed date by which to return its report is understood to be set for after the last sitting week of parliament, leaving the government no time to pass the legislation.
It would potentially make the proposed laws a key election issue, heaping pressure on the Opposition to indicate whether or not they would introduce the laws if elected to government.
Until now the Opposition has said only it would not oppose the laws, and has moved some amendments to water them down and ease the burden on employers.
Premier Ben Carroll has come under intense fire from Victorian business groups who have urged him to abandon the laws.

He has remained committed to passing the legislation, but has said he would be open to “sensible amendments”.
Those amendments have not yet been put to the parliament, but business sources said they would address concerns around costs to employers for setting up work from home spaces for employees, and limiting the right to work from home to Victorian residents only.

Shadow Attorney-General James Newbury said the legislation was symbolic of a “government falling apart.”
“They can’t run the parliament, they have been caught hiding a secret tax, and Ben Carroll has shaped up to be the worst media performer Labor has ever put into the job,” he said.
“The entire Victorian economy, and every business, is being disrupted and damaged by Labor’s dithering.
“Even the Premier has admitted an unamended bill isn’t fit for purpose. Business needs certainty, under Labor it’s chaos.”
A government spokesperson said it remained committed to passing the laws, which were due to come into force next year.
“Work from home works for families — it supports parents getting back into work, it supports productivity, and it’s here to stay,” she said.
“But, we’ve also been clear we’re listening to business about where commonsense adjustments may be needed.
“We’re focused on getting the balance right for business and working people.
“We have met with business groups and we will continue to work through sensible changes to the legislation.”

Jeroen Weimar will leave his role as secretary of the Department of Transport and Planning, the latest high-profile exit under new Victorian Premier Ben Carroll.
Carroll announced in a statement on Thursday that Weimar would leave the role he was appointed to in January 2025, to be replaced by Fiona Adamson.

Weimar was once the state’s COVID Commander and was in charge of the authority tasked with delivering the Commonwealth Games before the government decided to cancel the event.
In the statement, Carroll said he wanted to acknowledge Weimar’s contribution to the department and across the public service, including during the pandemic.

Weimar’s departure comes after Carroll replaced the secretary of the Department of Premier and Cabinet, Jeremi Moule, with Chris Barrett within days of becoming leader.
Adamson is currently the deputy secretary of transport service in the department and will start the role on Friday.
“She brings substantial knowledge of the transport sector and her leadership will be important as DTP continues to manage Victoria’s transport network, deliver generational infrastructure projects and drive critical planning, housing and development reforms,” Carroll said.
“I want to acknowledge Jeroen Weimar’s contribution to DTP and across the Victorian public service, including throughout the pandemic, and wish him well for the future.”

A levy secretly slapped on commuters last year, which was due to raise $8 billion and help fund the Suburban Rail Loop and other Big Build projects, will be scrapped by Premier Ben Carroll.
The levy’s existence was revealed in a scathing report released on Wednesday by the Victorian Auditor-General, which also detailed how the SRL East tunnel between Cheltenham and Box Hill was already at risk of missing its 2035 completion date and exceeding its $34.5 billion budget.

The levy, which was introduced on January 1 last year, involves a 1 per cent annual increase on all public transport fares on top of existing adjustments in line with inflation. The Age reported that it was ticked off by the government’s budget and finance committee, led by former premier Jacinta Allan, in December 2023.
Speaking to reporters on Thursday morning, Carroll said he would abolish the so-called “rail improvement charge”.

“I’m a premier taking the state in a new direction,” he said.
“Victorians do deserve better public transport. They also deserve to know what their money is buying.
“This charge was created and implemented without transparency and accountability.”
Carroll acknowledged the levy eroded public trust in his government, and that Victorians deserved an apology over its secrecy.

“There was no transparency on the creation and implementation of this charge,” he said. “And now, as premier taking the state in a new direction, I give Victorians that apology.”
Carroll was the public transport minister in 2021, when the levy was first conceived internally, according to the Auditor-General’s report. But he said on Thursday that he was not involved in that decision.

“I was not part of the creation,” he said.
Carroll refused to say when he became aware of the levy – “I’m not going to relitigate the past,” he repeatedly said – but did not deny assertions from journalists that he had known since November 2024, when he joined the government’s budget and finance committee.

“Cabinet decisions, budget and finance decisions, are strictly confidential. I was not the public transport minister at that time, and I am now the premier.”

Carroll’s decision creates a major funding headache for the Suburban Rail Loop, given the Auditor-General’s report said the levy was the single biggest component of the value capture plan that is supposed to cover a third of the construction cost for the tunnel under Melbourne’s eastern suburbs.
The report said 60 per cent of the revenue raised by 2062, totalling $4.8 billion, was to be directed to the SRL.
Carroll dodged questions on how the government would make up the multibillion-dollar shortfall, but said he had conducted a financial audit and on Tuesday announced $2 billion in savings for the project.

The Melbourne headquarters of the CFMEU have been raided by police and five people taken into custody as part of an investigation into allegations of corruption and links to outlaw bikie gangs.
Detectives from Victoria Police’s corruption-busing Taskforce Hawk executed warrants at six addresses, including the CFMEU’s Elizabeth Street headquarters on Monday.

The raids are connected the taskforce’s operation targeting the former national vice-president of the Mongols outlaw bikie gang, Tyrone “Little Ty” Bell, who is being probed over allegations he offered inducements to officials still serving in the CFMEU in return for support of his business.
This masthead has reported that Taskforce Hawk is examining whether CFMEU organisers leaked Bell, a former CFMEU delegate, information or co-ordinated union activity with him to advance the interests of Bell’s industrial relations consultancy.

A Victoria Police spokesperson said further information about the raids will be provided later this afternoon.
“Detectives from Taskforce Hawk executed warrants at six addresses this morning as part of a current investigation into information provided re secret commissions,” the spokesperson said.
“Five people have been taken into custody and are being interviewed by police. Further information will be provided later this afternoon.”
The Hawk inquiry is the first “secret commissions” investigation undertaken by the state police taskforce combating wrongdoing in the building industry, and it is examining Bell’s dealings with serving, rather than former, CFMEU officials.
It comes as Victoria Police expands its focus from investigating and prosecuting suspects to gathering information to supply the promised royal commission into the building industry.

CFMEU assistant administrator Matt McGowan said: “CFMEU has been made aware of a police operation this morning as part of Taskforce Hawk. As this is a live police matter, CFMEU can not comment further at this time.”
More to come

The Labor Party’s decision to move against Jacinta Allan and install Ben Carroll as Victorian premier has failed to deliver a bounce in the polls, with the government’s primary support continuing to slip in the lead-up to the November state election.
A Resolve Political Monitor survey of voting intentions conducted two weeks after the leadership spill shows the Jess Wilson-led opposition in a strong electoral position. Indicative preference flows from One Nation and Labor voters are likely to deliver the Coalition a swag of seats across Melbourne’s eastern and south-eastern suburbs and in regional areas.

Labor’s primary support dropped 2 points to 25 per cent, which is the government’s worst result since its polling nadir in the lead-up to last year’s federal election. Although Carroll is significantly more popular than Allan, only 20 per cent of respondents nominated the new Labor leader as their preferred premier, a figure 4 points lower than Allan scored in her final survey as premier.
Primary support for the Coalition remains unchanged at 27 per cent – a mark 7.4 points below what the Liberal and National parties secured in their 2022 election loss. While Resolve does not publish a two-party preferred figure, a heavily skewed flow of preferences means the Coalition has opened a nominative 53-47 gap over Labor.

Pauline Hanson’s campaign launch in Melbourne for Victorian party leader Warren Pickering and their upper house candidates did little to lift support for One Nation, which improved its primary vote by 1 point to 23 per cent.
The Greens remain fixed on 12 per cent of the primary vote.

All movements in primary support were within the poll’s 3 per cent margin for error.
“The change to Ben Carroll has done nothing to boost the stocks of Labor so far, and we would have expected that by now,” Resolve founder Jim Reed said. “This really will be an uphill battle for Labor.”

A senior Labor figure was sanguine about the result, saying the party never expected Carroll to enjoy a political honeymoon. “The best we could have hoped for is people willing to listen to us again,” they said, speaking on the condition of anonymity to detail internal matters.
A worrying note for the Coalition is a 17 per cent drop in support for Wilson as preferred premier from last month’s survey. Some of the opposition leader’s previous support shifted to Pickering’s column, and the number of voters undecided on their preferred premier increased from 33 per cent to 43 per cent.

Wilson’s net approval rating firmed to 18, which is equal to her best result since becoming Liberal leader. It coincides with the opposition’s shift to more positive campaigning on cost of living and community safety issues.
For Victoria’s Liberal and National parties, which have together spent 23 of the past 27 years in opposition, the most encouraging figures in the survey are the indicative flow of preferences.

Unlike opinion polls, which make assumptions about preference distributions based on past elections, Resolve asks its respondents to indicate their top five primary voting preferences. The results of this survey show that in three-way contests, 77 per cent of One Nation voters are planning to direct their preferences to the Coalition ahead of Labor, and 73 per cent of Labor voters say they will direct preferences to the Coalition ahead of One Nation.
If these patterns are replicated at the state election, the Coalition will disproportionately benefit from One Nation preferences in Melbourne’s eastern and south-eastern suburbs and from Labor preferences in regional areas. It also opens the possibility of the Liberal Party, rather than One Nation, winning seats in Labor’s western suburban heartland.

“The Coalition’s modest primary vote belies a stronger position than one might think,” Reed said. “Our analysis shows they are receiving around three-quarters of both the Labor and One Nation preferences, so as long as they’re in the top two in any given seat, they stand a chance.”
To form majority government, the Coalition must win 16 lower house seats in addition to the 29 it already holds. Wilson has repeatedly ruled out including any One Nation MPs in a minority Coalition government but has left open the prospect of relying on Hanson’s party for confidence and supply.

The Resolve survey is the first conducted since Allan resigned as Labor leader and Carroll was sworn in as the state’s 50th premier.
In his first two weeks in the job, Carroll announced a royal commission into the construction industry, promised to bring forward reforms to broaden the jurisdiction and strengthen the investigative powers of IBAC, attempted to reset the government’s relationship with business by delaying work-from-home legislation, and signalled a rethink on the state’s largest infrastructure project, the Suburban Rail Loop.

Last week, Allan confirmed she would retire from politics and not recontest her regional seat of Bendigo East.
The survey results show Labor’s leadership change has either contributed to or coincided with a greater sense of optimism across the state. At the same time, many voters appear to be reserving judgment on the nascent Carroll government. The number of uncommitted respondents is at an 18-month high.

About one-third of voters agreed that the leadership change represented a significant shift in government direction and performance, while the proportion of respondents who believe the Victorian Liberal Party is ready to government was largely unchanged on 46 per cent.
More voters are open to the idea of Labor securing an unprecedented fourth term in government since the question was posed two months ago, with 31 per cent in support and 48 per cent against.

Support for Victoria’s historic treaty with its First Peoples remains split along party lines. Fifty-eight per cent of Labor voters and 68 per cent of Greens voters are in favour of keeping it, compared with 18 per cent of Coalition voters and 17 per cent of One Nation voters.
By contrast, there is broad bipartisan support for relevant politicians to be called as witnesses and examined in public about corruption of the government’s Big Build major infrastructure program once a royal commission is established.

When asked whether politicians should be questioned publicly, 72 per cent of respondents agreed and only 3 per cent of respondents were opposed.
The terms of reference for the royal commission are expected to be announced in coming days. Carroll has repeatedly promised they will be “exhaustive”. This masthead has documented over the past two years how gangland figures have exploited CFMEU-controlled, government-funded building projects such as level crossing removals, the West Gate Tunnel, the Metro Tunnel and the North East Link.
A question about the Glasgow Commonwealth Games, originally planned to be held in regional Victoria, indicated that statewide interest in the event was similar to the FIFA World Cup, with 43 per cent of respondents watching some of the television coverage.

A new poll shows Victorian voters are set to turf out the Labor Party in Victoria, despite Premier Ben Carroll's attempts to differentiate himself from Jacinta Allan. 

The Victorian government is set to be turfed out of office despite the decision to dump Jacinta Allan.
A new poll shows Premier Ben Carroll has improved Labor’s standing among Victorians, but the party still trails the Coalition 55 to 45 on two-party-preferred.
The latest DemosAU/PremierNational poll showed the Liberal and National parties had a combined primary vote of 32 per cent, well ahead of Labor’s 23 per cent.

The poll of 1007 Victorian voters, conducted from August 6 to 11, showed support for both major parties had climbed two percentage points since June.
This suggests the decision to dump Ms Allan has helped Labor, but the party is still way below the 36.6 per cent it received at the 2022 state election.

The Coalition is also below the 34.5 per cent it received in 2022, but this was before the dramatic rise of One Nation.
Pauline Hanson’s party remains almost level with the government on 22 per cent, one point behind its June result, while the Greens fell two points to 13 per cent.
Premier Carroll still trails Opposition Leader Jess Wilson as preferred premier 34 to 43 per cent, but his net approval rating of -16 per cent is a major improvement on his predecessor’s dismal -37 per cent.

DemosAu Head of Research George Hasanakos said Labor’s change of leader had helped the party, particularly among men and voters with a TAFE qualification.

“The change in leadership has improved Labor’s standing among some voters open to Labor but who were dissatisfied with Jacinta Allan,” he said.
Premier National Director Georgia De Mestre said Mr Carroll had quickly moved to differentiate himself from Ms Allan, with his first act being to call a royal commission into the state’s corruption-plagued construction sector.
However, Mr De Mestre said Ms Wilson was continuing to increase her support ahead of the next election.
“The Opposition Leader, Jess Wilson, continues to build her brand positively with her recent statewide blitz helping her define what kind of leader she would be,” he said.
“Going by these numbers, Victorians are liking what they see. The challenge will be maintaining the momentum.”