Melbourne airport issues major backdown, paving way for airport train link
Melbourne airport has made a major backdown that could see works finally begin on the last rail link.
The long-promised train to Melbourne airport was stalled over the state government’s insistence it would only finance a cheaper, above-ground train station instead of the costlier underground option demanded by the airport.
But in a statement today, the airport said it would support an above-ground station, paving way for works to begin. The airport’s CEO, Lorie Argus, said the airport recognised the need to get on with the rail link in the interests of travellers, the city, Victoria and the airport’s expansion:
Victorians have waited long enough for an airport rail line. We will work with the Victorian government to deliver their preferred above-ground station at the airport so the rail line can become reality.
While Melbourne Airport has consistently advocated for an underground station, we are prepared to compromise on our position to ensure we have more transport options in place for the millions of new passengers that will visit Victoria and the airport precinct’s expanding workforce.
The airport said it would welcome the “immediate recommencement” of discussions with the government over the airport station.
Key events
Gaza death toll ‘impacting each and every person with a conscience’, Payman says
Wrapping up the interview, Fatima Payman was asked what she is hearing from her community about the human toll of what has been occurring in Gaza over the past ten months. She said:
It’s no longer just the Muslim community or the pro-Palestinian community that’s hurting. It’s been impacting each and every person with a conscience and a heart out there.
The amount of overwhelming sentiments that I have received in terms of the heartache, the pain, the loss of hope, not knowing, you know – seeing the devastation, the destruction.
I know it’s quite early to be talking about this, but seeing limbs of young children being blown off and, you know, amputations taking place without any anaesthetics, these are live-streamed. The genocide that’s taking place in Gaza and impacting Palestinians is being live-streamed and it’s impacting so many Australians who are a people of a fair go, who are a people that want to see freedom, want to see Palestinians have the right to self-determination and statehood.
So it’s been a very heartbreaking last 10 months and hopefully I will continue to use my voice in spaces and platforms that I get granted to raise concerns because these are universal principles of justice, equality and freedom that we all should share and advocate for.
Payman says media backgrounding on her sets ‘precedent that is not constructive to modern Australia’
Fatima Payman was also asked to weigh in on the backgrounding that’s been happening over the last few days from her now ex-colleagues in the media.
She said it was “bizarre that this may set a precedent that is not really constructive to our modern-day Australia that we’re living in”.
But in saying that, I’m not going to dwell on what people have been doing. It’s quite flattering that people still want to talk about me and give, you know, information that I’d given to them in confidence, but I’m really focused on what’s to come, you know, what is going to serve the best interests of Western Australians in my capacity as their independent senator.
Payman said there are friendships she has formed over the past two years as a Labor senator that she hopes to maintain. As for whether the government can rely on her vote on crucial issues going forward, Payman said “it will depend on the bills that are brought forward”.
Fatima Payman was asked to give a message to voters who supported her because she was with the Labor party:
I know that throughout this whole process, a lot of Western Australians have been reaching out to me wanting to share their experience, but also their thoughts and sentiments on the ground that the Australian Labor party that they elected were not serving their best interests.
They voted for a change in government, they wanted to see values of justice, equality and freedom upheld, and they’re just not seeing that. So for me, it’s important to prove myself, which I will, and in that I will be consulting with people on the ground to hear [what] their concerns are and how I can best represent them.
Ex-Labor senator plans to visit ‘every single town’ in WA to speak to constituents ‘without any boundaries or restrictions of party rules’
Independent senator Fatima Payman has been speaking with ABC News Breakfast following her decision to quit the Labor party last week.
Payman said it had been a “hectic past few weeks” but she has now travelled home to Perth, receiving a big reception at the airport and spending time with family.
Asked about her future in parliament as a now-independent senator, Payman said she plans to “try going to every single town” and visiting as many West Australians as she can to “find out what’s important to them … without any boundaries or restrictions of party rules and confinements”.
Payman also said she hadn’t thought about forming any coalitions “at this stage.”
Daniel Hurst
Australians feel ‘crushing burden’ from humanitarian crises
Many Australians are feeling a “crushing burden” as they see images from multiple humanitarian crises around the world, a prominent charity says.
The chief executive of World Vision Australia, Daniel Wordsworth, made the comment as he warned that about nine million children were on the brink of famine in Sudan.
In an interview with Guardian Australia, Wordsworth said the situation in Sudan had “been worsening over the last 12 months, and, frankly, is going to get much worse over the next few months”. He said:
I think sometimes people see this stuff on the news or read about it in the newspaper and they feel like they have to carry this burden on their own shoulder, and so they have nothing in between crisis and themselves.
And they look at something like what’s happening in Gaza and Israel, what’s happening in Ukraine, what’s happening now in Sudan, and think how can they possibly make a difference? What can they possibly do to make that situation better? And so it feels like a crushing burden.
But Wordsworth said Australians could make a tangible difference through humanitarian organisations.
His comments coincide with the launch of World Vision’s Sudan child hunger crisis appeal. The organisation says it has about 200 staff on the ground who are helping about 1.3 million people in Sudan, including delivery of clean water, food, cash assistance and medical support.
Queensland to expand abortion services across state
Andrew Messenger
The Queensland state government will spend tens of millions to expand abortion access across the state, including a brand-new counselling service.
The health minister, Shannon Fentiman, announced a $41.8m spend on the sector on the weekend.
The Labor government legalised abortion in 2018, but residents of regional parts of the state have long struggled to get access to the health service, a problem described as a “postcode lottery”.
The state is spending $20m recruiting 22 health staff, including nurses and midwives.
Nurses will be permitted to perform an abortion using the drug later this year when legislation passed in March comes into effect in the second half of the year.
Each hospital and health service will receive between $1m and $1.6m to pay for the new specialist positions. Fentiman said the funding would mean fewer people would need to travel for healthcare:
Abortion is a very personal choice, and every Queenslander deserves the level of support and care we are offering with this investment.
Queensland not-for-profit organisation Children by Choice will receive $8m to provide advice, counselling and referrals to every corner of the state. Its CEO, Jill McKay, said the service is pleased at the state government’s “significant investment to support more equitable access to abortion”.
Alice Springs ‘will welcome another curfew’, Jacinta Nampijinpa Price says
Northern Territory senator and shadow Indigenous Australians minister, Jacinta Nampijinpa Price, spoke with ABC Radio earlier this morning about the potential youth curfew in Alice Springs and described it as a “temporary measure”.
While I’m sure the town will welcome another curfew, there are underlying issues taking place … Indigenous children [in] my community and throughout the Northern Territory experience the highest rates of domestic and family violence, child sexual abuse, and it’s no wonder that we have circumstances these children come out of dysfunction where we’re seeing again, another rise in violent crime in the community.
Amid the previous youth curfew earlier this year, CEO of Snaicc – National Voice for Our Children, Catherine Liddle, said it was “no accident” there was a growing rate of youth crime as rates of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander child removals grow.
She said at the time, “We can stop the conveyor belt that sees our children in the child protection system ending up in the youth justice system.”
You can read more below:
Melbourne airport issues major backdown, paving way for airport train link
Melbourne airport has made a major backdown that could see works finally begin on the last rail link.
The long-promised train to Melbourne airport was stalled over the state government’s insistence it would only finance a cheaper, above-ground train station instead of the costlier underground option demanded by the airport.
But in a statement today, the airport said it would support an above-ground station, paving way for works to begin. The airport’s CEO, Lorie Argus, said the airport recognised the need to get on with the rail link in the interests of travellers, the city, Victoria and the airport’s expansion:
Victorians have waited long enough for an airport rail line. We will work with the Victorian government to deliver their preferred above-ground station at the airport so the rail line can become reality.
While Melbourne Airport has consistently advocated for an underground station, we are prepared to compromise on our position to ensure we have more transport options in place for the millions of new passengers that will visit Victoria and the airport precinct’s expanding workforce.
The airport said it would welcome the “immediate recommencement” of discussions with the government over the airport station.
Police say missing Gold Coast children have been found
Queensland police says that three children who had been alerted as missing have been located safe this morning. We will bring you the latest shortly.
Looking back at the previous youth curfew in Alice Springs
The Northern Territory government imposed a two-week youth curfew for the Alice Springs CBD on 27 March, following reports of escalating violence in the red centre. This was later extended by six days to cover the NT school holidays.
At the time, the chief minister, Eva Lawler, and federal Indigenous affairs minister, Linda Burney, described the measure as a “circuit breaker” to improve community safety. However, critics of the curfew labelled it a “kneejerk reaction” and questioned its legality.
In May, the Northern Territory introduced new laws allowing the police commissioner to declare three-day snap curfews in response to “public disorder”.
NT government considering second Alice Springs youth curfew
The Northern Territory police commissioner is considering a second youth curfew in Alice Springs after a string of recent incidents including the alleged assault of four off-duty police officers.
Police say the off-duty officers – three women and a man – were walking along the Todd River walkway about 2.15am on Sunday morning when they were allegedly approached from behind by around 20 young men who proceeded to assault them.
Police allege that one woman was pulled to the ground and had her bag stolen, another woman was punched in the face, kicked “multiple times” and had her mobile phone taken, while the man was also punched and kicked several times.
The group of 20 then left the area as the four alleged victims returned to their accomodation and called police, a statement alleged. Two of the women were later taken to Alice Springs hospital for the treatment of minor wounds.
The Northern Territory police minister, Brent Potter, told the media the alleged assault was the latest in a string of incidents over the past few days, and that the state’s police commissioner, Michael Murphy, was “looking at every option”.
[Murphy has] told me he is looking at the curfew. It is a power that he has within his means … He’ll make that deduction, that’s up to him, and I’m likely to hear back from him later.
Police are appealing for any information relating to the alleged incident on Sunday morning, with witnesses urged to contact Crime Stoppers.
Queensland police searching for three missing children
Queensland police are seeking urgent public assistance to help locate a three-year-old girl, five-year-old boy and six-year-old boy who went missing from the Gold Coast yesterday afternoon and “may be at significant risk”.
Police believe the children were with a man known to them earlier in the day when they left a Paradise Point address around 4.30pm in a blue Hyundai i30.
The children and vehicle remain outstanding. The children are described as Caucasian, slim build with blonde hair.
Defence adds lethal kamikaze drones to its arsenal
Killer drones that crash kamikaze-like into the enemy will be used by the nation’s elite soldiers under plans to boost the Australian defence force’s arsenal of lethal unmanned capabilities, AAP reports.
The Albanese government will today announce it has acquired the loitering munition Switchblade 300, for an amount which it said cannot be disclosed for strategic reasons. The drones will be delivered later this year with the government saying it would also not disclose the number of Switchblade 300s it was buying.
Unlike other traditional drones, which are used for reconnaissance, loitering munitions are aerial weapons designed to stay around the area of a target before attacking it directly by crashing into it and exploding.
They are carried in a backpack before being fired into the air where the wings flick out, hence the name switchblade.
The defence industry minister, Pat Conroy, said a defence review had made clear that new technology and “asymmetric advantage” were important priorities in modern warfare.
Any suggestion that we are not investing in drones is factually incorrect. The numbers speak for themselves. The Albanese government, in fact, is investing more than $10bn on drones, including at least $4.3bn on uncrewed aerial systems.
The government is set to make a further announcement in the coming weeks for the acquisition of more unmanned aerial systems.
Welcome
Emily Wind
Good morning, and welcome back to a new week on the Australia news live blog. I’m Emily Wind, and I’ll be taking you through our rolling coverage for most of today. Here’s what is making news overnight before we get started.
AAP is reporting that killer drones that crash kamikaze-like into the enemy will be used by the nation’s elite soldiers, under plans to boost the Australian defence force’s arsenal of lethal unmanned capabilities.
The Albanese government will today announce it has acquired the loitering munition Switchblade 300, for an amount which it said cannot be disclosed for strategic reasons. The drones will be delivered later this year with the government saying it would also not disclose the number of Switchblade 300s it was buying.
Queensland police are seeking urgent public assistance to help locate a three-year-old girl, five-year-old boy and six-year-old boy who went missing from Paradise Point on the Gold Coast yesterday afternoon and “may be at significant risk”.
Police believe the children were with a man known to them earlier in the day when they left a Paradise Point address around 4.30pm in a blue Hyundai i30. The children and vehicle remain outstanding.
We’ll have more on both these stories shortly.
As always, you can get in touch with any story tips, thoughts and feedbacks through X, @emilywindwrites, or you can send me an email: emily.wind@theguardian.com.
Let’s get started.