The women died after the Toyota Corolla they were travelling in collided with a Porsche Macan at the intersection of Boardwalk Boulevard and Innessfail Drive about 9.40 pm on Wednesday, September 16.

Emergency services rushed to the scene, but both women died from their injuries.

Victoria Police’s Major Collision Investigation Unit is investigating the circumstances surrounding the crash.

The 53-year-old Point Cook man driving the Porsche was taken to hospital with non-life-threatening injuries and is assisting investigators. Police have not announced any charges and the cause of the collision remains under investigation.

Behind the police statistics is a family now confronting the loss of two generations in a single night.

Neha’s husband, Varun Chandra Gunna, has established a GoFundMe appeal describing the devastating moment in which he lost both his wife and his mother.

“On September 16, 2026, my world was completely shattered in a single instant,” he wrote.

Varun said Neha was the “light and energy” of their home — a kind-hearted and vibrant woman who loved dance and was devoted to their two young children.

She leaves behind a three-and-a-half-year-old son, Haarav, and one-year-old daughter, Vivanvi.

Only recently, the family had celebrated Vivanvi’s first birthday surrounded by friends and community members.

Varun recalled Neha dancing, laughing and celebrating with their daughter — memories that now carry an unimaginable weight for the family.

Rama Devi had travelled from India with her 75-year-old husband, Tulsi Prasad, on a tourist visa specifically to visit their son, daughter-in-law and grandchildren.

Varun described his mother as the “gentle anchor” of the family who had travelled across the world simply to spend time with and care for her grandchildren.

Her death means Tulsi Prasad has lost his lifelong companion while the two young children have simultaneously lost both their mother and grandmother.

The family is now trying to repatriate both women to India so traditional Hindu funeral rites and cremations can be performed surrounded by relatives and loved ones.

The GoFundMe campaign is seeking financial assistance for repatriation costs, international travel, consular documentation, funeral arrangements and support for the two children as Varun adjusts to raising them as a single father.

“I cannot carry this heavy financial and logistical burden alone,” he wrote.

The fundraiser has prompted an extraordinary community response.

As of Thursday night, more than $122,000 had been raised towards a $150,000 target, with about 1,900 donations recorded on the campaign. The total was continuing to rise rapidly.

Varun said his immediate priority was giving both women an appropriate farewell while creating some stability for Haarav and Vivanvi.

“Neha brought so much warmth and dance into our lives, and my mother travelled across the world out of pure love for us,” he wrote.

He asked the wider community to keep his children and elderly father in their prayers, saying every donation, share and message of support was helping the family through the tragedy.

Police, meanwhile, are continuing to reconstruct what happened in the seconds before the fatal impact.

Security footage obtained by 7NEWS reportedly captured the Porsche travelling along Boardwalk Boulevard shortly before the collision.

The intersection is in a 60km/h zone, and investigators are examining the Porsche’s speed as part of their inquiries.

Nearby residents described hearing a large impact before rushing from their homes to help.

One witness told police he immediately called emergency services after seeing the wreckage, but the injuries suffered by the two women in the Toyota proved fatal.

The Porsche driver remained in hospital on Thursday with minor injuries and was not under police guard, according to 7NEWS. Victoria Police has said he is assisting with the investigation.

Detectives are asking anyone who witnessed the collision, saw either vehicle beforehand or has dashcam or CCTV footage from the area to come forward.

Information can be provided to Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.

For Varun and his family, however, the consequences of the crash extend far beyond the investigation.

In the space of one night, two small children lost their mother and grandmother, a husband lost his wife and mother, and a 75-year-old man who had travelled to Australia to spend time with his grandchildren lost the woman with whom he had shared his life.

The community effort now underway is focused on helping the family take Neha and Rama Devi home to India — while supporting the two young children whose lives have been changed forever.

Support our Journalism

No-nonsense journalism. No paywalls. Whether you’re in Australia, the UK, Canada, the USA, or India, you can support The Australia Today by taking a paid subscription via Patreon or donating via PayPal — and help keep honest, fearless journalism alive.

The post Point Cook crash victims identified as young mother Neha Bommali and visiting mother-in-law Rama Devi first appeared on The Australia Today.

New Australian Bureau of Statistics figures released on Thursday show the country’s estimated resident population reached 27,921,150 people at March 31, 2026, an increase of 392,700 people, or 1.4 per cent, over the previous 12 months.

The latest growth rate is lower than the 1.6 per cent recorded a year earlier, when Australia added more than 423,000 people.

ABS Head of Population Statistics Bjorn Jarvis said population growth continued to come from both natural increase and overseas migration.

“Our population was 27.9 million people at 31 March 2026, that’s 392,700 more than the same time in 2025,” Jarvis said.

Natural increase — births minus deaths — contributed 100,600 people, while net overseas migration added 292,100.

That means overseas migration accounted for about 74 per cent of Australia’s total population increase over the year.

The ABS said annual net overseas migration was down 5.6 per cent on the revised figure for the preceding year, while natural increase declined 4.6 per cent.

Births increased by 0.3 per cent over the year, while deaths rose more sharply, by 3.1 per cent.

The figures show population growth remains strong by historical standards but has continued to moderate following the extraordinary migration surge that accompanied Australia’s reopening after the COVID-19 border closures.

Annual population growth was 1.6 per cent in March 2025, compared with 1.4 per cent in the latest figures. The number of additional residents also fell by roughly 30,700 from the previous year.

However, migration remains by far the largest contributor.

“Net overseas migration was the major contributor to population change in all states and territories,” the ABS said.

Western Australia was the fastest-growing jurisdiction, with its population increasing by 2.1 per cent to about 3.10 million.

Victoria and Queensland were next, with both growing by 1.6 per cent.

Victoria’s population reached approximately 7.15 million, after adding 109,500 people during the year — the largest numerical increase of any state.

Queensland added about 90,100 people, taking its population to 5.74 million.

New South Wales remained Australia’s most populous state, reaching 8.67 million, after adding 97,000 residents, equivalent to growth of 1.1 per cent.

South Australia grew by 1 per cent to 1.92 million, while the Australian Capital Territory grew 1.3 per cent to almost 490,000.

The Northern Territory recorded 1.5 per cent growth, reaching approximately 269,000 residents.

Tasmania remained the slowest-growing jurisdiction, with its population increasing just 0.6 per cent to 580,700.

Migration patterns varied substantially between the states.

Victoria recorded 81,732 net overseas migrants during the year, second only to New South Wales, which gained 84,573 people through overseas migration.

Queensland gained 55,217 from overseas migration, while Western Australia received 41,531.

But interstate migration told a very different story.

New South Wales lost a net 20,818 people to other states and territories, the largest interstate population loss in the country.

Queensland gained 14,718 people through interstate migration, while Western Australia gained 10,314.

Victoria was effectively flat on interstate migration, recording a net gain of just 82 people.

The numbers suggest Victoria’s continued population expansion is overwhelmingly being driven by overseas arrivals and natural increase rather than people relocating from other parts of Australia.

Victoria recorded 75,045 births and 47,368 deaths during the year, delivering a natural increase of 27,677 people.

When combined with overseas migration of more than 81,000, those gains outweighed the negligible interstate movement and pushed the state above 7.15 million residents.

Nationally, the March quarter alone added 130,887 people, representing quarterly growth of 0.5 per cent.

Net overseas migration contributed approximately 101,000 people during the quarter, up sharply from the previous three months, while natural increase added 29,900.

The release comes as migration remains one of the most contested issues in Australian politics.

Labor, the Coalition and One Nation have all argued that current net overseas migration is higher than they would like, although they differ substantially over how far and how quickly it should fall.

The Albanese government has said Australia is heading towards net overseas migration of around 225,000, while One Nation has proposed temporarily pushing the figure below zero before imposing a ceiling of 130,000 a year.

The political debate has been driven heavily by concern over whether housing construction, hospitals, schools, transport and other infrastructure can keep pace with population growth.

At the same time, businesses, universities and state governments have warned that excessively sharp migration cuts could create labour shortages and damage sectors heavily dependent on international workers and students.

The new ABS figures provide evidence for both sides of that debate.

Migration is clearly falling from the extraordinary levels recorded after Australia’s borders reopened, and the overall population growth rate has slowed.

But with 292,100 net overseas migrants still accounting for nearly three out of every four additional residents, migration remains the central force shaping Australia’s population.

The latest figures also underline how differently population pressure is being felt around the country.

Western Australia is growing fastest, Victoria is adding the most people in absolute terms, Queensland continues to attract Australians from interstate, and New South Wales is losing tens of thousands of residents to other parts of the country while still expanding through overseas migration.

Australia now sits less than 80,000 people short of the 28 million mark.

At the current rate of growth, that milestone is likely to be reached soon — adding further urgency to the national argument over how large Australia should become, how quickly it should grow and whether housing and infrastructure can keep up.

Support our Journalism

No-nonsense journalism. No paywalls. Whether you’re in Australia, the UK, Canada, the USA, or India, you can support The Australia Today by taking a paid subscription via Patreon or donating via PayPal — and help keep honest, fearless journalism alive.

The post Australia adds nearly 393,000 people as population closes in on 28 million as migration drives growth first appeared on The Australia Today.

Emergency services were called to the intersection of Boardwalk Boulevard and Innisfail Drive at about 9.40 pm on Wednesday following reports of a serious two-vehicle crash.

The driver of the Toyota, a 33-year-old Point Cook woman, died at the scene.

A 67-year-old Point Cook woman who was travelling as a passenger in the Toyota also died at the scene.

The driver of the Porsche, a 53-year-old Point Cook man, was taken to hospital with injuries described as non-life-threatening. Police said he was assisting investigators with their enquiries.

Major Collision Investigation Unit detectives attended the scene and are working to establish exactly how the crash occurred.

No determination has yet been made publicly about the cause of the collision, and police have not announced any charges.

Local reporting indicates investigators are examining the movements of both vehicles immediately before impact. A witness told Wyndham TV the Toyota appeared to be turning onto Boardwalk Boulevard from Innisfail Drive when the collision occurred, although the precise sequence remains subject to the police investigation.

Police are particularly interested in hearing from motorists who were in the Point Cook area around the time of the crash and may have captured either vehicle on dashcam.

They are also seeking CCTV footage from nearby properties and businesses as investigators reconstruct the circumstances leading up to the collision.

The deaths have shocked Point Cook, one of Melbourne’s fastest-growing western suburbs, where Boardwalk Boulevard is a major local thoroughfare connecting residential neighbourhoods with shopping centres, schools and surrounding arterial roads.

Wyndham City Council’s public road register identifies Boardwalk Boulevard as a collector road through the section adjoining Innisfail Drive, while Innisfail Drive is classified as a local access road.

The investigation will likely examine factors including the position and speed of the vehicles, traffic signals and signs, visibility, road conditions and any available electronic or video evidence.

Victoria Police’s Major Collision Investigation Unit operates statewide and is responsible for examining some of Victoria’s most serious road incidents, with detectives gathering forensic, witness and vehicle evidence to determine how crashes occurred and whether any criminal offending was involved.

Police have stressed that inquiries remain at an early stage.

The double fatality comes amid continuing concern about road trauma across Victoria.

Victoria Police’s most recent published provisional figures recorded 177 lives lost on Victorian roads as of September 13, compared with 209 at the same point last year. Those figures pre-date the Point Cook collision and several other recent incidents.

The Point Cook deaths follow a series of serious crashes across Victoria in recent weeks, including the deaths of two children in a rollover at Parwan, west of Melbourne, on September 8.

A seven-year-old girl died at the scene of that crash, and an 11-year-old boy later died in hospital. Major Collision Investigation Unit detectives have also been seeking dashcam footage as part of that investigation.

Another fatal crash was being investigated in Tremont on Wednesday evening after a vehicle left Churchill Drive and travelled down an embankment. An adult passenger died at the scene while the driver was taken to hospital with minor injuries.

Victoria Police continues to urge motorists to come forward when they have footage of serious crashes or vehicles travelling nearby, even where the driver does not believe the footage directly captured the collision.

Investigators say seemingly minor information can help establish vehicle movements and timelines in the minutes before an incident.

Anyone who witnessed the Point Cook crash, saw either vehicle beforehand, or has CCTV or dashcam footage is urged to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000 or submit a confidential report online.

For the families of the two Point Cook women, the investigation is only beginning.

Detectives must now piece together what happened in the seconds before the Toyota and Porsche collided at the suburban intersection, while two families face the sudden loss of loved ones after an ordinary Wednesday night ended in tragedy.

Support our Journalism

No-nonsense journalism. No paywalls. Whether you’re in Australia, the UK, Canada, the USA, or India, you can support The Australia Today by taking a paid subscription via Patreon or donating via PayPal — and help keep honest, fearless journalism alive.

The post Two women killed in Point Cook crash as detectives investigate Toyota-Porsche collision first appeared on The Australia Today.

The latest Australian Financial Review/RedBridge Group/Accent Research poll puts the Coalition on 29 per cent, One Nation on 25 per cent, Labor on 24 per cent and the Greens on 15 per cent.

The survey of 2,371 Victorians was conducted between September 1 and 14 and carries a reported margin of error of 2.2 percentage points.

Labor’s primary vote rose one point from the previous RedBridge poll, while One Nation gained three points and the Coalition slipped one. The changes for Labor and the Coalition are within the poll’s margin of error, meaning the more important finding is the persistence of a fragmented three-way contest rather than a dramatic movement from one survey to the next.

On the poll’s respondent-allocated two-party-preferred measure, the Coalition leads Labor 56–44. Labor leads One Nation 53–47 in a hypothetical head-to-head contest.

Those figures should not be read as a seat forecast.

Victoria’s election will be decided across 88 individual Legislative Assembly districts under preferential voting, and the rise of One Nation complicates traditional statewide two-party measures. A party or coalition requires support in at least 45 seats to command a lower-house majority. The election is fixed for Saturday, November 28.

The poll nevertheless represents a stark change from the political landscape at the 2022 election.

Labor secured 37.03 per cent of lower-house first preferences in 2022 and won 56 of the 87 seats decided on election night, while the Liberals won 18, the Nationals nine and the Greens four. One Nation received just 0.22 per cent statewide at that election and won no lower-house seats.

One Nation has since announced plans to contest all 88 lower-house seats in November, dramatically expanding its Victorian campaign.

That makes the current 25 per cent RedBridge result particularly notable.

The party’s rise has continued despite scrutiny of Victorian leader Warren Pickering, who recently acknowledged using illicit drugs and losing his licence for drink driving when he was younger. Pickering has said he has changed significantly since that period of his life.

RedBridge and Accent Research have described Victoria as increasingly resembling a three-party contest, with Labor, the Coalition and One Nation all attracting substantial blocs of voters.

A separate Resolve Strategic poll released this week points in the same broad direction, though with different numbers.

That survey has the Coalition on 28 per cent, Labor on 25 per cent, One Nation on 23 per cent and the Greens on 12 per cent. It also places Opposition Leader Jess Wilson on 28 per cent as preferred premier, compared with Carroll on 20 per cent and Pickering on 8 per cent, with 44 per cent undecided.

The existence of two separate polls showing Labor in the mid-20s and the Coalition narrowly ahead adds to the pressure on Carroll, who was sworn in as Victoria’s 50th premier on July 28 after replacing Jacinta Allan following a bruising internal Labor leadership crisis.

Carroll immediately attempted to establish distance between his government and the previous leadership.

His first major decision was to call a royal commission into alleged corruption and criminality in Victoria’s construction sector, including the state’s major infrastructure program.

The government has since moved to strengthen IBAC’s powers and establish a special prosecutor capable of acting on evidence uncovered by the royal commission.

Carroll has also tried to refocus the government on what he calls “the basics”, particularly roads, crime, cost of living and outer-suburban infrastructure.

In recent weeks, Labor has announced an additional $352 million for pothole repairs, with a target of fixing 500,000 potholes, and another $550 million towards the Western Freeway upgrade between Melton and Caroline Springs.

But the government continues to face a difficult fiscal backdrop.

Victoria’s 2026-27 budget forecasts general government net debt increasing from $175.6 billion in 2026-27 to $199.3 billion by June 2030, although Treasury forecasts net debt as a share of the state economy will begin declining over the forward estimates.

The government argues its fiscal plan is working, pointing to a forecast operating surplus of $1 billion in 2026-27 and $2 billion by 2029-30.

But polling suggests debt and government spending remain politically damaging issues.

Roy Morgan research last month found the main concerns voters associated with a possible Labor government included corruption and integrity, financial management and state debt, crime and what respondents viewed as the continuation of problems from the Andrews and Allan governments. Concerns about a Coalition government included public-service cuts, internal instability, a lack of policy detail and the possibility of greater One Nation influence.

The Coalition is attempting to capitalise on voter dissatisfaction after 12 years in opposition.

Wilson says the Liberals and Nationals can govern without One Nation support and has ruled out an alliance with the party. In an August interview, she said the Coalition believed it could win without relying on a One Nation preference arrangement.

Labor, however, has made the possibility of a Liberal-One Nation arrangement a central part of its campaign messaging.

When Carroll became premier, he warned voters about what he called the risk of a “Liberal-One Nation Government”, arguing such an arrangement would threaten public services.

The Coalition rejects that framing.

The more immediate electoral question is how preferences behave where Labor, the Coalition and One Nation are all competitive.

One Nation’s decision to field candidates across Victoria creates the possibility of three-cornered contests in outer-suburban and regional electorates where the traditional Labor-versus-Coalition contest is disrupted.

That makes statewide primary votes harder to translate directly into seats.

ABC analysis last month noted that Victoria’s 88-seat chamber means the Coalition would need to substantially increase its lower-house representation to govern in its own right, while One Nation’s presence adds another layer of uncertainty in marginal districts.

RedBridge director Kos Samaras has argued that three-way contests may advantage the Coalition in some electorates if Labor falls into third place on primary votes, because Labor would then depend heavily on Greens and other preference flows to remain competitive.

That is an analyst’s interpretation rather than an election result, and there are still more than two months of campaigning remaining.

The latest RedBridge poll also shows that fewer than half of respondents described their voting intention as firm, underscoring how much movement is still possible before November.

The rise of One Nation is also politically complicated for both major parties.

For Labor, Hanson’s party is attracting support in outer-suburban and working-class communities that have historically helped underpin Labor majorities.

For the Coalition, One Nation competes directly for conservative voters while also potentially providing preference flows in contests against Labor.

Wilson has tried to keep her campaign focused on the Coalition rather than One Nation, while Hanson and Pickering have argued Victorians are rejecting both traditional major parties.

The poll comes amid an accelerating policy contest.

Carroll has shifted Labor’s position on several issues since becoming premier, including announcing a construction royal commission, expanding road spending and this week backing broader police powers to search for knives under a Victorian version of “Jack’s Law”.

The Coalition has campaigned heavily on crime, debt, road maintenance and government accountability.

One Nation has focused on migration, energy, cost of living and opposition to established political institutions while seeking to convert its unusually high polling into a permanent Victorian parliamentary presence.

The electorate also appears deeply unsettled about major infrastructure projects.

The separate Resolve survey found 49 per cent of respondents favoured pausing or cancelling the Suburban Rail Loop, compared with 27 per cent who wanted it to proceed as planned.

The project, state debt, crime and road conditions are all expected to feature heavily during the campaign.

Labor’s challenge is particularly striking when compared with its position four years ago.

The party won a landslide in 2018 and another comfortable majority in 2022. It has governed Victoria continuously since 2014 and for most of the period since 1999.

Carroll now has only a short period to convince voters that his leadership represents more than a change of personnel.

His government has repeatedly argued that the new premier is changing direction where necessary while protecting Labor policies on health, education, TAFE and cost-of-living support.

The Coalition is asking voters to treat the election as a judgment on 12 years of Labor government rather than Carroll’s few months as premier.

One Nation is asking them to reject both.

The September polling suggests all three messages are finding an audience.

What it does not establish is the November result.

With preferential voting, One Nation contesting every lower-house district, a large undecided vote and many individual seats likely to behave differently from the statewide numbers, the Victorian election remains considerably more complicated than a conventional Labor-versus-Coalition race.

But the message for Labor from the latest surveys is clear: after dominating Victorian politics for more than a decade, it is now fighting an election in which its primary vote is sitting behind both of its principal rivals in at least one major poll — and Ben Carroll has little more than two months to change that picture.

Support our Journalism

No-nonsense journalism. No paywalls. Whether you’re in Australia, the UK, Canada, the USA, or India, you can support The Australia Today by taking a paid subscription via Patreon or donating via PayPal — and help keep honest, fearless journalism alive.

The post Victorian Labor slips to third on primary vote as Coalition leads and One Nation surges in new poll first appeared on The Australia Today.

Premier Ben Carroll announced the next stage of the government’s crime prevention strategy in Melbourne’s west, including $10 million for new early-intervention programs and a separate $13 million grants program designed to fund organisations already working with young people in communities experiencing higher levels of violence.

The announcement comes just over a year after the deaths of 15-year-old Dau Akueng and 12-year-old Chol Achiek in Cobblebank, near Melton.

The two friends were walking home from basketball on September 6, 2025, when they were allegedly attacked by a group wearing masks and armed with bladed weapons. Both died at the scene. Eight people were eventually charged with both boys’ murders.

“This community in Melton suffered a terrible tragedy a year ago, and we will never forget it,” Carroll said.

“We are delivering serious consequences for violent crime – but we’re also getting in early to prevent it.”

The government says the new $10 million package will fund 17 programs across communities identified as being particularly affected by youth crime.

Those programs will include knife-crime prevention initiatives, homework clubs, youth mentoring and sporting activities designed to give young people positive alternatives to gang involvement and offending.

Among them will be the Airtime Cobblebank Basketball Program, which will use sport and mentoring to engage young people in Melbourne’s outer west.

The connection with Cobblebank is particularly significant.

Dau Akueng was remembered by friends and coaches as a talented basketball player who dreamed of playing professionally. He had been involved in development basketball programs before his death.

The government argues programs that keep young people connected to sport, school, trusted adults and employment can reduce the risk of them being recruited into violent groups or becoming involved in offending.

Victoria’s Violence Reduction Unit was established in December 2025 and is modelled partly on violence-prevention programs operating in Glasgow and London.

The unit uses a public-health approach to crime, bringing together police intelligence, education, community organisations, youth justice and social services to identify young people at risk before they become deeply involved in violence.

Attorney-General Sonya Kilkenny said the approach was intended to complement tougher criminal justice measures rather than replace them.

“The VRU uses data and evidence to target what works to prevent violence before it happens,” she said.

The government is also launching Ground Up, a $13 million targeted grants program intended to provide funding directly to community organisations.

The grants will be guided by crime data and intelligence, with the government saying organisations closest to affected communities are often best placed to identify the interventions most likely to work.

Violence Reduction Unit chief executive Andrea Davidson said there was no single answer to youth violence.

“There is no one-size-fits-all when it comes to violence prevention,” Davidson said.

“By supporting local programs to deliver solutions that work for them, we can make communities safer for everyone.”

Minister for Crime Prevention Paul Edbrooke said intervening before young people became entrenched in the criminal justice system remained crucial.

“Early intervention can change a young person’s path and make our communities safer,” he said.

The announcement builds on funding already committed through the 2026-27 Victorian Budget.

The budget allocated about $33 million to the Violence Reduction Unit and $81 million more broadly to youth crime response and prevention.

That includes $23 million for education support for young people at risk of entering, or already involved with, the justice system; $9.1 million to keep vulnerable students engaged in education; $8.6 million for programs designed to reduce reoffending; and $8.1 million for local prevention programs and support services.

The government has also provided $9.5 million to Blue Light Victoria to expand youth mentoring.

Blue Light has worked alongside Victoria Police for decades and delivers one-on-one mentoring aimed at young people experiencing school disengagement, isolation or a lack of positive role models.

The program already operates in locations including Bendigo, Latrobe, Brimbank and Melton and will now be expanded further, with school nominations open for Term 4.

Victoria Police budget documents show almost $9 million in additional funding is being administered for Blue Light crime prevention and early-intervention initiatives over the next three years.

The government’s strategy reflects a broader shift towards combining tougher bail and sentencing laws with prevention.

Labor’s 2026-27 budget included $397 million connected with tougher bail laws and additional corrections capacity, alongside its youth intervention spending.

The Violence Reduction Unit is also running anti-gang grooming programs, culturally tailored support for African-Australian young people, lived-experience mentoring, employment initiatives and community violence interventions.

A new anti-gang grooming campaign being delivered with Think Village began rolling out this month in selected schools and youth justice facilities, focusing on how organised crime groups recruit and exploit young people.

The government has repeatedly pointed to the Glasgow model as evidence that violence-prevention units can work.

The Victorian government says Scotland’s approach contributed to a roughly 60 per cent reduction in violent crime over time, particularly among younger people.

But whether similar results can be reproduced in Victoria will take years to determine.

The latest Crime Statistics Agency figures provide a mixed picture.

For the year ending March 2026, the total number of recorded offences fell marginally by 0.2 per cent and the offence rate fell 1.9 per cent.

Youth alleged-offender incidents fell 6 per cent, to 22,654.

However, overall alleged-offender incidents increased 8.6 per cent, while breaches of bail conditions rose sharply from 9,855 to 16,894 over the year.

Those figures help explain why both major parties are attempting to combine tougher enforcement with prevention ahead of the election.

The Carroll government has also recently promised to recruit 1,500 additional frontline police officers and establish a second police training academy in Wyndham.

The Liberal-National opposition has gone further, promising 3,000 additional officers, a “one-strike” bail rule for serious offences, broader Adult Crime, Adult Time laws and the reopening of more than 40 police stations.

Labor has sought to draw a sharp distinction between its approach and the opposition’s position on the Violence Reduction Unit.

The government says Jess Wilson’s Liberals opposed the VRU and would abolish it if elected.

There is some basis for that claim, although the opposition’s position is more complicated than Labor’s political attack suggests.

Liberal upper house MP Ann-Marie Hermans called for the Violence Reduction Unit to be scrapped in Parliament in November 2025, describing it as an expensive new bureaucracy and arguing the money should instead be directed towards community-led initiatives, schools and families.

Labor MPs have subsequently repeatedly accused the opposition of wanting to cut the unit. In March, government MPs moved motions condemning what they described as the Liberal Party’s call to scrap it.

However, Opposition Leader Jess Wilson has separately said the Coalition supports crime prevention and early intervention.

In a previous statement, Wilson said a Liberal-National government would invest $100 million in a Safer Communities Plan, including youth diversion programs aimed at moving at-risk young people towards education, employment and opportunity.

Wilson has also said her election platform would include “significant” investment in early intervention while arguing Labor’s broader crime strategy has failed.

The Coalition’s current crime plan includes tougher bail and sentencing, 3,000 additional police, 200 new Protective Services Officers and early-intervention and rehabilitation programs.

The political dispute is therefore less about whether early intervention has a role and more about whether Victoria needs a standalone Violence Reduction Unit to coordinate it — and whether the government’s investment is delivering results quickly enough.

Wilson and the opposition continue to frame crime primarily as a failure of policing, bail and sentencing.

Labor argues enforcement alone cannot prevent the next generation of offenders from emerging.

The issue is especially sensitive in Melbourne’s west.

The deaths of Chol Achiek and Dau Akueng shocked communities across Melton and reignited debate about youth gangs, knife crime and whether vulnerable children were being adequately protected from recruitment into violent groups.

Police said at the time the Cobblebank killings had hallmarks associated with youth gang offending, although investigators said there was no evidence either boy was a gang member.

Both boys had been returning from basketball when they were allegedly attacked.

That history gives the decision to fund basketball and mentoring programs in Cobblebank particular weight.

For the Carroll government, the argument is that community safety requires two things at once: serious consequences for people who commit violent offences and earlier intervention for those heading towards them.

The challenge will be demonstrating that the millions of dollars flowing into mentoring, schools, sport and community organisations produce measurable reductions in violence — particularly in the suburbs where families have already paid the highest price.

Support our Journalism

No-nonsense journalism. No paywalls. Whether you’re in Australia, the UK, Canada, the USA, or India, you can support The Australia Today by taking a paid subscription via Patreon or donating via PayPal — and help keep honest, fearless journalism alive.

The post Premier Carroll pours $23m into early intervention as youth crime remains election flashpoint first appeared on The Australia Today.

Harmanpreet Kaur’s side produced a dominant all-round display at Dubai International Stadium, posting 183 for five before dismissing Sri Lanka for 111 on the final ball of the innings. Shafali Verma and Smriti Mandhana laid the foundation with a record 129-run opening partnership before Sree Charani and Deepti Sharma dismantled Sri Lanka’s chase.

The victory gave India their eighth Women’s Asia Cup crown overall and their fourth in the T20 format, restoring their place at the top of Asian women’s cricket after Sri Lanka beat them in the 2024 final.

India won the toss and elected to bat, with Shafali immediately setting an aggressive tone.

The 22-year-old blasted 68 from 39 balls, striking nine fours and two sixes, while Mandhana compiled 59 from 39 deliveries.

Shafali reached her half-century from just 24 balls, setting a new record for the fastest fifty in Women’s Asia Cup history and breaking Mandhana’s previous mark of 25 balls against Sri Lanka in 2022.

The opening pair added 129 in 12.5 overs, establishing the highest partnership for any wicket in Women’s Asia Cup history.

Their stand also became the highest partnership in the final of a women’s T20 international tournament, surpassing the 120-run partnership between Hayley Matthews and Stafanie Taylor during the 2016 Women’s T20 World Cup final.

India raced to 57 without loss at the end of the powerplay and reached 98 after 10 overs as Shafali repeatedly attacked the Sri Lankan bowlers.

The breakthrough finally came when Shafali was caught off Chamudi Praboda. Mandhana followed soon afterwards after being run out following a mix-up with Harmanpreet.

India were 140 for two after 15 overs, but Sri Lanka managed to slow the scoring rate during the closing stages.

Harmanpreet made 14 and Richa Ghosh added 17 from 13 balls before a late five-ball 15 helped India reach 183 for five from their 20 overs.

Despite conceding a formidable target, Sri Lanka had managed to restrict India to 43 runs from the final five overs, giving the defending champions some hope heading into the chase.

That hope quickly began to fade.

Sri Lanka lost Imesha Dulani in the opening over before captain Chamari Athapaththu attempted to rebuild alongside Vishmi Gunaratne.

Athapaththu attacked during the powerplay and took Sri Lanka to 38 for one after six overs, but India’s spinners took control once the field restrictions were lifted.

Deepti delivered the decisive blow in the 10th over.

Athapaththu, who top-scored with 36 from 32 balls, was beaten in flight and stumped by Richa Ghosh before Gunaratne was bowled three deliveries later.

Sri Lanka slumped to 63 for three at the halfway mark with the required rate climbing beyond 12 runs an over.

From there, Sree Charani took over.

The left-arm spinner worked through Sri Lanka’s middle and lower order to finish with outstanding figures of four for 20 from her four overs.

Deepti returned three for 19 as India steadily dismantled the defending champions.

Sri Lanka eventually finished 111 all out from 20 overs, 72 runs short of the target.

The performance capped a strong tournament for Shafali, who finished with three scores of 50 or more and produced her biggest innings in the match that mattered most.

Her partnership with Mandhana also reinforced the pair’s standing as one of the most productive opening combinations in women’s T20 international cricket.

But India’s victory was followed by another extraordinary Asia Cup trophy presentation controversy involving Asian Cricket Council president and Pakistan Cricket Board chairman Mohsin Naqvi.

India did not accept the Women’s Asia Cup trophy from Naqvi following the match.

Sri Lanka’s players went on stage to receive their runners-up medals and captain Chamari Athapaththu took part in the presentation, but India’s players were absent when the winning trophy was due to be presented. The broadcast subsequently returned to its post-match coverage without the usual footage of the champions lifting the trophy.

India head coach Amol Muzumdar later confirmed that the position had been taken by the Board of Control for Cricket in India and that the team stood behind it.

Muzumdar said India regarded the tournament as finished and were satisfied with being officially recognised as champions, before turning their focus towards the Asian Games.

The episode mirrored the controversy surrounding the 2025 men’s Asia Cup final.

After India defeated Pakistan in that final, the Indian men’s team refused to accept the trophy from Naqvi amid heightened tensions between India and Pakistan following the Pahalgam terror attack and subsequent military confrontation.

The presentation was delayed and India eventually celebrated without the physical trophy. The BCCI later accused Naqvi of leaving with the trophy and said it would raise the matter with the International Cricket Council.

The unresolved men’s trophy dispute meant Naqvi’s planned attendance at the Women’s Asia Cup final had already generated considerable attention before Sunday’s match.

That tension ultimately carried into the women’s competition, despite the final itself being between India and Sri Lanka.

For India, however, the cricket was decisive.

Mandhana and Shafali produced a record-breaking start, Charani delivered the standout bowling spell of the final, and Deepti provided the experience needed to shut down Sri Lanka’s chase.

India may have left the presentation without physically lifting the trophy, but on the scoreboard there was no ambiguity.

A 72-run victory had made them Asian champions for the eighth time.

Support our Journalism

No-nonsense journalism. No paywalls. Whether you’re in Australia, the UK, Canada, the USA, or India, you can support The Australia Today by taking a paid subscription via Patreon or donating via PayPal — and help keep honest, fearless journalism alive.

The post India thrash Sri Lanka by 72 runs to win eighth Women’s Asia Cup title, trophy presentation sparks fresh controversy first appeared on The Australia Today.

The policy would represent one of the most dramatic changes to Australia’s migration system in decades, and places further pressure on both Labor and the Coalition as immigration, housing and population growth become central political battlegrounds.

Under the plan released by Senator Hanson, One Nation says Australia’s temporary migrant population would be returned to roughly 2017 levels over a three-year “reset”, before net overseas migration was capped at 130,000 a year.

The party says the temporary visa categories targeted in its modelling would fall by about 766,000 people, although it has rounded the overall policy commitment to “more than 750,000”.

The distinction is important: the policy does not mean cutting annual immigration by 750,000 people. It proposes reducing the number of people already in Australia across selected temporary visa categories, bridging visas and people without a valid visa over three years.

One Nation says the reset would produce net-negative overseas migration during the three years, meaning more people meeting the Australian Bureau of Statistics definition of an overseas migrant would leave Australia than arrive.

After that reset, the party proposes a net overseas migration ceiling of 130,000 a year.

Australia’s official net overseas migration figure was 301,000 in the year to December 2025, down 8.9 per cent from a year earlier and more than 45 per cent below the post-pandemic peak, according to the ABS.

Senator Hanson said the policy was intended to ease pressure on housing, hospitals, infrastructure and living costs.

“I know Australians are doing it tough,” Hanson said.

“Families are competing with hundreds of people for rental accommodation. Patients are stuck in ambulances because there are not enough hospital beds.

Young Australians are being locked out of home ownership while wages and infrastructure fail to keep up.”

She accused successive Labor and Coalition governments of allowing temporary migration to become a pathway towards long-term settlement.

“A larger economy on paper means nothing if Australians are poorer per person and cannot afford a home, find a hospital bed or get ahead,” Hanson said.

International students would be among the groups most affected.

According to One Nation’s policy document, the number of people in Australia on student visas would be targeted to fall from about 589,923 to 350,000 over three years, a reduction of almost 240,000.

The party proposes limiting the main student visa stream to about 100,000 grants a year, while establishing a separate high-value postgraduate pathway focused on PhDs and selected research degrees in fields including science, engineering, frontier technology and healthcare.

The policy material indicates the combined annual student allocation could be around 115,000 when the proposed research stream is included.

Universities that provide accommodation for international students would receive priority, along with regional institutions and providers whose graduates demonstrate stronger post-study outcomes.

One Nation also proposes requiring new student visa applications to be made from outside Australia, apart from a transition arrangement for applications already lodged.

The policy would sharply curtail the ability of students to move from one temporary visa to another while remaining in Australia.

The party argues this would end what it describes as “visa hopping”.

Under the proposed rules, students would generally be required to leave after completing their studies unless they qualified for the new targeted graduate pathway.

Graduate visa holders could move into an eligible employer-sponsored skilled visa, but would not be permitted to obtain another graduate visa or switch back to a student visa from within Australia.

The scale of the proposal would be significant for the education sector.

Temporary students were the largest group of migrant arrivals in 2024-25, accounting for about 157,000 migrant arrivals, according to the ABS.

One Nation nevertheless argues Australia maintained a substantial international education industry before the recent migration surge and says universities should compete primarily on education and research rather than post-study migration opportunities.

“We should be exporting education, not selling migration,” the party’s policy document says.

The proposed changes to post-study work rights are even more dramatic.

One Nation says the existing subclass 485 graduate visa system would be replaced with a single graduate visa capped at around 20,000 grants a year.

The party’s target is to reduce the number of graduate visa holders in Australia from approximately 269,674 to 40,000 within three years — a reduction approaching 230,000.

The new visa would last 18 months and would not be renewable.

Priority would initially be given to graduates from the proposed high-value research visa, followed by applicants in areas such as science, engineering, frontier technology and healthcare.

One Nation argues broad post-study work rights have encouraged students to remain in Australia for years after graduating even where their employment bears little connection to their qualification.

Critics are likely to argue such a reduction could make Australia significantly less competitive against countries such as the United States, United Kingdom, Canada and New Zealand in attracting international students.

Skilled workers could come — but generally without family

One Nation would maintain an employer-driven temporary skilled migration program but sharply restrict visas for accompanying family members.

Its policy document puts the current temporary skilled visa population at about 263,489, including 123,042 dependants or family members.

The party wants that total reduced to around 160,000 over three years.

It says approximately 70,000 primary temporary skilled visas could continue to be granted annually depending on employer demand.

However, new secondary visas for accompanying dependants would generally end.

Existing visas would remain valid until expiry but would not be renewed under the same arrangements.

One Nation says exceptions would apply in limited circumstances, particularly for families attached to high-value research students.

The party argues temporary skilled migration should be targeted at genuine shortages, including nurses, aged-care workers and construction workers, rather than becoming what it calls a parallel family migration program.

Bridging visas targeted as part of crackdown

The proposal would also target Australia’s unusually large bridging visa population.

One Nation says the number of bridging visa holders could be reduced from around 412,533 to 300,000 over three years.

That would be achieved largely by preventing more temporary visa holders from making successive applications while remaining in Australia.

The Albanese government has itself identified the growth of bridging visas as a problem.

The cohort has risen to more than 400,000 people, roughly double pre-pandemic norms, and Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke has been preparing reforms aimed at reducing long-term temporary stays.

Three months to leave for people without valid visas

One Nation estimates there are around 80,000 unlawful non-citizens in Australia and proposes bringing that number to zero.

Under its plan, people without a valid visa would initially be given three months to leave voluntarily.

Those who departed during that period could potentially apply for another Australian visa in the future.

Those who refused to leave would face immigration enforcement and, under One Nation’s proposal, potentially a lifetime ban on returning.

The policy also proposes stronger penalties for deliberate overstaying, including a three-year re-entry ban for some overstays exceeding one month and a lifetime ban for more prolonged deliberate overstaying.

Employers found deliberately using unlawful workers would face stronger penalties and enforcement.

Backpackers and Pacific workers carved out

Despite proposing net-negative migration during the reset period, One Nation says the Pacific Australia Labour Mobility program and Working Holiday Maker program would continue.

That carve-out reflects the heavy reliance of farming, food processing and regional industries on those workers.

The National Farmers Federation nevertheless warned on Monday that severe migration reductions could create labour shortages and increase food prices.

NFF president Hamish McIntyre said about one in seven farm workers was a working holiday maker and warned farmers could decide not to plant crops if they could not be confident of finding workers to harvest them.

Hanson has responded that backpackers and PALM workers are not being targeted by the proposal.

Labor says plan would ‘smash’ construction and care sectors

The Albanese government has attacked One Nation’s proposal as economically dangerous.

Health Minister Mark Butler warned the reduction would hit sectors already experiencing severe labour shortages.

“This is going to smash industries like construction,” Butler said on Monday.

“It would devastate the health sector and aged care and disability.”

Labor argues that reducing migration too abruptly would deprive Australia of workers needed to build homes and care for an ageing population.

The government says it is already bringing migration down without imposing the scale of reductions advocated by One Nation.

Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke said in June that net overseas migration had fallen to 301,000 and temporary visa migration was down sharply from the post-COVID peak.

“We are bringing migration down with a sensible, measured approach to provide the skilled workers Australia needs, while addressing exploitation and rorts,” Burke said.

“The numbers of temporary visa holders and international students also continue to fall, as we prioritise the skills that we need to care for our sick and elderly and build homes.”

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has now described 225,000 a year by 2027-28 as the government’s net overseas migration target.

“We’ve finalised our numbers. We’re headed to 225,000 in two years,” Albanese said last month.

Treasury’s current forecasts put net overseas migration at 295,000 in 2025-26, 245,000 in 2026-27 and 225,000 from 2027-28.

The government has yet to publish the full package of measures it intends to use to achieve those numbers.

Albanese has previously accused the Coalition and One Nation of throwing migration figures around “like confetti” without explaining how the numbers would be achieved, while arguing skilled migrants remain necessary in aged care, agriculture and construction.

Coalition also wants lower migration — but rejects One Nation’s numbers

The Coalition is pursuing its own substantial migration reduction but has also rejected One Nation’s newly announced figures.

Deputy Liberal leader Jane Hume said on Monday that several years of net-negative migration would produce a major economic shock.

“Simply saying we’re going to have negative migration for several years, negative NOM, well, that would be a real shock to the economy, and it would make all Australians poorer,” Hume said.

“My concern here is that these numbers have simply been plucked out of thin air, that there isn’t any modelling behind them.”

She said migration policy needed to consider not only total numbers but the mix of workers entering Australia.

“Getting that right to make sure that you don’t push the country into recession is really important,” she said.

The Coalition’s own approach is to formally link migration to housing construction.

Opposition Leader Angus Taylor has pledged that a Coalition government would cap net overseas migration at no more than the number of new homes completed each year, with migration initially set “well below” that cap to allow housing supply to catch up.

The Coalition has not yet specified a fixed annual migration number because it says the cap should move with housing completions.

Taylor argues Australia’s recent migration intake has moved too far ahead of the country’s capacity to provide housing, roads, hospitals and schools.

The Coalition has also proposed tougher visa character requirements, more aggressive action against abuse of the visa system and a stronger emphasis on what it calls Australian values.

That leaves all three major political forces calling for migration to come down — but disagreeing sharply over how far and how fast.

Housing remains central to One Nation’s argument

One Nation has made housing the central economic case for its policy.

The party argues Australia cannot build homes quickly enough to accommodate recent population growth and says reducing demand is therefore necessary.

It rejects the argument that the answer is simply to build more housing.

The Coalition makes a similar connection between housing supply and population growth but proposes linking migration to construction rather than forcing net migration into negative territory.

Labor counters that Australia needs migrants working in construction to help increase housing supply.

That circular problem — migration increasing housing demand while also supplying some of the workers needed to build homes — is one of the central difficulties in the national debate.

One Nation points to Canada

Hanson has cited Canada as evidence that migration can be reduced sharply without collapsing the economy.

Canada has moved to substantially reduce temporary migration, particularly among international students and some temporary workers, after rapid population growth intensified pressure on housing and services.

One Nation argues Canada’s experience demonstrates economic activity can continue while population growth slows.

But Australian critics say the two countries’ labour markets, visa systems and industry structures are not identical and warn a sudden net-negative migration policy could have very different consequences.

A major shift from One Nation’s previously unclear policy

The document also represents an attempt by One Nation to clarify earlier confusion over exactly what its longstanding 130,000 migration figure meant.

Last month, One Nation MP David Farley suggested the party’s effective migration rate could be above 230,000 once skilled workers were included.

Hanson publicly corrected him, insisting 130,000 referred to the party’s proposed total net overseas migration target.

ABC analysis at the time noted there had been considerable confusion within the party over the distinction between visa grants, migrant arrivals, temporary visa holders and net overseas migration.

The new policy goes considerably further by setting out individual targets across student, graduate, temporary skilled and bridging visa categories.

Its table proposes reducing the selected visa populations from approximately 1.616 million to 850,000, a reduction of about 766,000.

That includes approximately:

• 240,000 fewer student visa holders
• 230,000 fewer graduate visa holders
• 103,000 fewer temporary skilled visa holders and dependants
• 113,000 fewer bridging visa holders
• 80,000 fewer unlawful non-citizens

The party says its broader objective is to reduce Australia’s total temporary migrant population to around 2.1 million to 2.2 million, roughly the level recorded in 2017.

Migration becoming defining political battle

The announcement comes as One Nation enjoys historically high polling support and immigration becomes one of the clearest points of competition between Hanson, Albanese and Taylor.

One Nation has recently recorded around 30 per cent primary support in some national polls, overtaking both Labor and the Coalition in individual surveys.

Labor is trying to demonstrate it has regained control of post-pandemic migration while avoiding cuts severe enough to damage universities, construction, agriculture, aged care and other labour-dependent industries.

The Coalition is trying to move substantially below Labor’s numbers without embracing One Nation’s net-negative reset.

And Hanson is now offering voters the most aggressive numerical reduction of the three.

The economic consequences would be substantial.

International education, healthcare, construction, hospitality, agriculture and numerous service industries depend heavily on temporary migrants.

At the same time, the rapid post-pandemic increase in migration has intensified political pressure around housing availability, rents, congestion and public infrastructure.

Official figures show net overseas migration has already fallen substantially, from a financial-year peak of 538,000 in 2022-23 to 306,000 in 2024-25 and 301,000 in the year to December 2025.

The argument is therefore no longer about whether migration should fall.

Labor, the Coalition and One Nation all say it should.

The dividing line is now how far Australia can reduce migration without creating a labour shortage, damaging universities or pushing the economy backwards — and whether lower population growth can deliver the housing and living-standard relief voters increasingly demand.

Support our Journalism

No-nonsense journalism. No paywalls. Whether you’re in Australia, the UK, Canada, the USA, or India, you can support The Australia Today by taking a paid subscription via Patreon or donating via PayPal — and help keep honest, fearless journalism alive.

The post Pauline Hanson announces plan to cut 750,000 temporary visa holders in first three years first appeared on The Australia Today.

The intervention exposes a growing divide inside Labor over how far the federal government should go in responding to public concern about migration, housing and infrastructure as One Nation continues to pressure both major parties from the right.

Carroll said Victoria depended heavily on migration, international education and migrant-run businesses, arguing that an indiscriminate reduction in arrivals could produce a “real chilling effect” on economic growth.

“I believe we have to be very sensitive around this debate, because you see a chilling effect,” Carroll said.

“Our economy here in Victoria, our biggest export is international education.”

He warned that discussion about sharply reducing international student numbers risked signalling to major markets such as India and China that students were no longer welcome.

The concern is particularly significant for Victoria.

Official Victorian Government figures show international education generated $17.9 billion in export revenue in 2025, making it the state’s largest services export, while supporting about 69,000 jobs.

Victoria recorded about 322,000 international enrolments during the year, accounting for 30.5 per cent of international enrolments nationally.

India was Victoria’s largest international student market in 2025, accounting for about 78,400 enrolments, or almost one in four international enrolments in the state.

China was second with approximately 67,100 enrolments.

Together, Indian and Chinese students accounted for almost half of Victoria’s international enrolments, highlighting why Carroll singled out the two countries when warning about the tone of the national immigration debate.

The Victorian Government has been actively attempting to strengthen education links with India.

Its current India strategy identifies India as the state’s largest international student source country and promotes deeper university partnerships, joint qualifications, research links and student mobility between Victoria and India.

Carroll’s intervention comes as the Albanese government works on another overhaul of the migration system aimed at driving net overseas migration lower.

Australia’s net overseas migration reached 301,000 in the year to December 2025, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, down 8.9 per cent from a year earlier and more than 45 per cent below the post-pandemic peak.

Australia’s population reached 27.8 million during the same period.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has said the government intends to bring net overseas migration down further to around 225,000 by 2027-28.

The figure was initially described in Treasury forecasts, but Albanese has since referred to 225,000 as the government’s destination, saying Australia was “headed to 225,000 in two years’ time”.

The detailed policy required to reach that number is still being finalised.

Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke postponed a National Press Club speech last month in which he had been expected to outline the next stage of migration reform.

Measures reportedly considered by the government include tightening some family visa arrangements, limiting the capacity of working holiday makers to extend their stays and changing the treatment of unsuccessful asylum seekers.

Burke has already shifted skilled visa processing priorities towards migrants who are currently in Australia, partly to reduce the number of additional people entering the country.

The government has insisted that migration is already falling and that its approach is targeted rather than indiscriminate.

Burke said in June that student-related net migration had fallen 10 per cent over the year and returned to pre-pandemic levels.

“We are bringing migration down with a sensible, measured approach to provide the skilled workers Australia needs, while addressing exploitation and rorts,” he said.

But migration has become an increasingly difficult political issue for Labor.

The Coalition has pushed for deeper reductions and Opposition Leader Angus Taylor has proposed linking migration levels more closely to new housing supply.

The Coalition has argued net overseas migration should ultimately fall below 170,000, substantially lower than Labor’s planned level.

One Nation has gone further again, campaigning for dramatically lower migration and making population growth, housing pressure and immigration central to its pitch to voters.

The issue has taken on added urgency following a series of polls showing support moving away from Labor and the Coalition towards Pauline Hanson’s party.

Carroll is not the only Labor premier warning Canberra against responding to those political pressures by pursuing increasingly lower migration numbers.

South Australian Premier Peter Malinauskas used a speech in Sydney this week to condemn what he described as a “political race to the bottom”.

“More troubling is the prospect of mainstream politics entering a political race to the bottom for who can cut migration numbers the most,” Malinauskas said.

“This is madness.”

He argued that skilled migration remained crucial for construction, advanced manufacturing, defence projects and other industries facing worker shortages.

The Albanese government has confirmed it has been discussing migration policy with the Coalition as it develops its next package.

Western Australian Premier Roger Cook and major business groups have also warned against arbitrary migration cuts, particularly where industries are unable to recruit enough Australian workers.

Carroll’s position, however, has also exposed a debate within his own Victorian cabinet.

Economic Development Minister Anthony Carbines said increasing population through migration could not by itself be treated as an economic strategy.

“It can’t just be basically just growing our population as a way to just think that that’s somehow going to drive economic prosperity,” Carbines said.

He argued infrastructure and services needed to keep pace with population growth and cautioned against pursuing economic expansion “at all costs”.

Carbines stopped short of saying migration was currently too high, noting immigration levels were ultimately a Commonwealth responsibility.

Victorian Opposition Leader Jess Wilson similarly argued the state’s immediate responsibility was ensuring infrastructure and services could accommodate population growth, rather than setting national migration numbers.

The tension reflects the central economic argument now driving Australia’s migration debate.

Supporters of lower migration say rapid population growth has increased pressure on housing, hospitals, roads, schools and public transport at a time when construction and infrastructure investment have failed to keep pace.

Temporary migration, particularly international students, also became a major contributor to the post-pandemic surge in net overseas migration.

ABS data for the 2024-25 financial year showed net migration of 306,000, with temporary students forming the largest group of migrant arrivals at 157,000.

Critics argue that reducing migration would ease demand in the housing market and give governments time to catch up on infrastructure.

One Nation’s Victorian leader Warren Pickering said relying on continued population growth to keep the economy expanding demonstrated what he described as “fiscal illiteracy”.

He argued Australia needed a more targeted approach that prioritised genuine skill shortages while accounting for pressure on infrastructure and social cohesion.

Carroll, by contrast, argues the economic consequences of cutting too deeply would be particularly severe for Victoria.

International education alone is worth considerably more to the state than tourism or professional consulting services.

Victorian Government data puts international education exports at $17.9 billion in 2025, compared with $6.5 billion for other personal travel and tourism and about $2.2 billion for professional consulting.

The state government also points to international students as a source of workers, future skilled migrants, business connections and long-term links between Victoria and overseas markets.

The economic debate is further complicated by the way international education export figures are calculated.

The $17.9 billion figure includes tuition fees as well as spending by international students on accommodation, food, travel and other services while living in Victoria.

Those economic benefits sit alongside growing public concern about whether governments have adequately planned for population growth.

Australia’s post-pandemic migration surge was extraordinary by historical standards.

Burke has acknowledged that migration peaked at levels that were “too high”, while arguing the numbers have since fallen substantially and that migration must be tailored to Australia’s economic and social needs.

The political question now is how far they should fall.

For Victoria, Carroll’s warning suggests the state government fears the answer could have consequences beyond the headline migration figure.

International students make education decisions months or years in advance and compare Australia with competing destinations including Canada, the United Kingdom, the United States and rapidly expanding European and Asian education markets.

Study Melbourne has itself warned that restrictive visa policies and rising costs in major English-speaking education destinations are already encouraging students to consider alternative countries.

That makes political messaging important.

If Indian students begin to believe Australia is becoming harder to enter, less welcoming or offers fewer opportunities after graduation, Victorian universities and vocational providers could feel the impact before migration numbers formally change.

India’s importance is particularly difficult for Victoria to ignore.

The state recorded more Indian international student enrolments than Chinese enrolments in 2025 and has spent years promoting Melbourne and regional Victoria as education destinations in the Indian market.

Carroll’s warning therefore places him directly at odds with the political momentum in Canberra.

The federal government is under pressure to demonstrate that it is controlling migration.

Victoria, meanwhile, is warning that going too far — or simply allowing the debate to become hostile to migrants and students — could damage one of the state’s most valuable industries.

The argument is unlikely to disappear.

Australia needs more homes and infrastructure. Businesses continue to report skill shortages. Universities depend heavily on international students. Voters increasingly say migration levels are too high. And governments are trying to reconcile all four realities at once.

For Carroll, the immediate message is that reducing migration cannot become an end in itself.

His concern is that in the political rush to respond to One Nation and public anxiety over population growth, Australia risks discouraging the very workers, students and investors Victoria believes it needs.

And with India now Victoria’s largest international student market, the consequences of that debate could be felt not only in Canberra and Melbourne, but thousands of kilometres away among families deciding whether Australia is still the place where they want their children to study.

Support our Journalism

No-nonsense journalism. No paywalls. Whether you’re in Australia, the UK, Canada, the USA, or India, you can support The Australia Today by taking a paid subscription via Patreon or donating via PayPal — and help keep honest, fearless journalism alive.

The post Ben Carroll warns Albanese migration cuts could hurt Victoria and send ‘wrong signals’ to India and China first appeared on The Australia Today.

Namaste Westside, developed by Western Melbourne Tourism Inc, is the centrepiece of an 18-month visitor servicing project focused on the rapidly growing Indian tourism market.

Around one in 10 Indian visitors to Australia are now spending time in Melbourne’s west, prompting a push for more culturally relevant and easily accessible visitor information.

The platform combines a WhatsApp-based AI chatbot with an interactive website, allowing travellers to ask questions and receive instant recommendations based on their interests.

Visitors could, for example, ask where to find a popular butter chicken or jalebi shop, what family activities are available nearby, which cultural attractions to visit or how to plan a weekend itinerary across Melbourne’s western suburbs.

The service is designed to bring together restaurants, festivals, cultural landmarks, local businesses, attractions and community stories through one conversational platform.

Victorian Minister for Trade, Tourism and Investment Natalie Suleyman said the initiative was about celebrating and promoting the brands and experiences that make Melbourne’s west distinctive.

She said she looked forward to a strong partnership that would help boost the visitor economy across Melbourne’s west.

Suleyman said the region attracted around 200,000 Indian visitors last year, generating approximately $700 million for the local visitor economy.

“Culturally relevant information would be particularly important when targeting the Indian market, with the platform providing information in Hindi and English about tourism experiences and destinations across the west.”

The project is intended to make it easier for Indian travellers and visiting friends and relatives to find places that match their interests rather than relying entirely on conventional tourism websites.

Major western Melbourne attractions, cultural experiences and family destinations — including experiences connected with Victoria’s zoo network — are among the types of destinations the platform can help visitors discover.

Member for Point Cook Mathew Hilakari said it was an exciting opportunity to showcase the western suburbs to visitors from Australia and overseas.

Mr Hilakari said It’s a privilege to represent Melbourne’s west, and this project gives us another opportunity to show visitors what those of us who live here already know — the west has incredible food, culture, people and places to discover.”

“When visitors come to Melbourne, we want them to look beyond the CBD and discover Point Cook, Wyndham and the wider west. Namaste Westside makes that easier by putting local knowledge directly into people’s hands.”

“Our Indian Australian community has helped shape Melbourne’s west, and this is a great way of connecting visitors with the restaurants, festivals, businesses and local experiences that make our region special.”

Western Melbourne Tourism Board member and Maribyrnong councillor Pradeep Tiwari said community knowledge was one of the strengths behind the new platform.

“Namaste Westside is about making visitors feel welcome from the moment they arrive and giving them information that is relevant to the way they actually travel.”

Indian visitors are not only looking for major tourist attractions. They want to know where locals eat, where communities gather, what festivals are happening and what experiences they may not find in a traditional tourist brochure.

He added,

“The real strength of this project is that technology is being combined with community knowledge. AI can provide information instantly, but local residents bring the stories, cultural understanding and hidden gems that make the west worth exploring.”

Western Melbourne Tourism said extensive research was undertaken before developing the platform to better understand the travel patterns, motivations, information gaps and barriers experienced by Indian visitors.

Those findings led to WhatsApp being selected as one of the key delivery channels because of its widespread use among Indian consumers.

Rather than asking travellers to download another dedicated tourism application, visitors can interact with the AI-powered service through a platform many already use every day.

The project has also involved extensive engagement with Melbourne’s Indian community.

Community organisations, local hosts and residents have contributed recommendations and insights designed to create an “insider’s guide” to the west rather than simply reproducing information already available through search engines.

When visitors want to learn more about the history, traditions or local stories behind a destination, Namaste Westside can also help connect them with community groups and people who can provide firsthand knowledge.

Melbourne’s west is home to one of the largest concentrations of Indian Australians in the country and has increasingly become a centre for South Asian restaurants, grocery stores, temples, cultural organisations and major community festivals.

Western Melbourne Tourism CEO Richard Ponsford said our communities are an important part of the region’s tourism offering.

“Melbourne’s West is one of the most diverse and creative parts of the city and home to the highest concentration of the Indian diaspora — full of stories, flavours and neighbourhoods that often get overlooked,” he said.

“We’re here to change that, by spotlighting the people, traditions and hidden spots that locals already love.”

Namaste Westside is being coordinated by Western Melbourne Tourism Inc in partnership with Brimbank City Council, City of Maribyrnong, Melton City Council, Moonee Valley City Council, Hobsons Bay City Council and Wyndham City Council, along with Victoria University and multicultural consultancy Culture Kite.

Western Melbourne Tourism hope the service will encourage visitors to spend more time exploring the western suburbs, support local businesses and strengthen tourism connections between Victoria and India.

With Indian visitor numbers continuing to grow, the project also represents an attempt to move tourism promotion away from a one-size-fits-all approach and towards information tailored to individual communities and travel habits.

For Melbourne’s west, the proposition is simple: visitors already know the city centre. Namaste Westside wants to show them what is waiting beyond it.

Support our Journalism

No-nonsense journalism. No paywalls. Whether you’re in Australia, the UK, Canada, the USA, or India, you can support The Australia Today by taking a paid subscription via Patreon or donating via PayPal — and help keep honest, fearless journalism alive.

The post ‘Visiting Melbourne’s west? Ask ‘Namaste Westside’ to find Dal makhani, jalebi, temples, cafés and weekend plans first appeared on The Australia Today.

The Legislative Council voted 18 to 17 on Thursday to refer the bill to a parliamentary committee for further scrutiny, effectively pushing debate on the proposed laws beyond the current parliamentary term.

The motion was moved by Shooters, Fishers and Farmers MP Jeff Bourman, who argued the legislation required greater examination because of concerns from employer groups about additional costs, red tape and restrictions on workplace flexibility.

“There are a lot of employer associations that are concerned that the extra burden and extra problems that this may cause will make it harder for businesses to flourish and even harder to start,” Mr Bourman said before the vote.

“There’s a lot of extra bureaucracy. A lot of extra time and effort … and businesses are nervous. We’re still coming out of the COVID period.”

Mr Bourman said the referral was not intended to permanently block the legislation, noting the government could recall parliament for an additional sitting if it wanted the bill reconsidered before the election.

However, Mr Carroll later indicated he was unlikely to do so.

The Premier said when asked whether the government would bring MPs back for an additional sitting period,

“I’ve already added one week to the parliamentary sitting”

The result represents a major setback for Labor, which had expected the bill to clear the upper house after making a series of concessions in response to strong opposition from business groups.

The legislation was originally announced by former premier Jacinta Allan at Labor’s state conference in 2025 as part of a plan to give eligible Victorian workers a legal right to work from home.

Ms Allan had pledged to have the protections in place before the 2026 state election.

The proposal quickly became politically contentious, with business groups warning the laws could create new compliance costs, reduce flexibility for employers and discourage investment.

Legal experts also questioned how the state-based proposal would interact with existing federal workplace laws.

After becoming premier, Mr Carroll sought to reset Labor’s relationship with the business community and delayed the planned commencement of the work-from-home laws by almost a year to allow further consultation.

The government had hoped those changes would be enough to secure parliamentary support.

Instead, the bill was referred to a committee that will examine its economic impact on Victoria, meaning it is now unlikely to return to the chamber before voters go to the polls in November.

The decisive vote was assisted by independent MP Adem Somyurek, the former Labor minister who returned to parliament after a lengthy absence and supported the referral.

Following the vote, Mr Carroll lashed out at Opposition Leader Jess Wilson and those who voted to delay the legislation.

“What we have seen tonight is anti-family [and] anti-worker,” he said.

The government has argued that formal work-from-home protections would give workers greater certainty and help families better manage caring responsibilities, commuting times and the cost of travelling to work.

Business groups, however, welcomed the upper house decision.

Property Council of Australia Victorian executive director Cath Evans described the referral as “the only correct choice”.

“The Victorian Parliament has seen sense,” she said.

“Instead of forcing rushed legislation through parliament, it has made the right call by sending the bill to a committee to properly examine its operation, implications and legal validity.”

Ms Evans said the government should instead focus on housing, jobs, investment and restoring business confidence.

“This decision should be the clearest signal: the Victorian government needs to be focused on the things that will actually drive growth — building more homes, creating jobs, attracting investment and restoring confidence in the state.”

Business Council of Australia chief executive Bran Black went further, urging Labor to abandon the policy entirely before the election.

“This referral should be the final nail in the coffin for this economy-wrecking legislation,” Mr Black said.

“The bill is not needed, it hurts jobs and adds costs to businesses at the worst time.”

The Victorian Greens criticised Labor from the opposite direction, accusing the government of failing to deliver on its promise to workers.

Greens leader Ellen Sandell called on Mr Carroll to recall parliament and push ahead with the laws.

“Workers were promised a right to work from home. Labor delayed it, gutted it and then completely botched getting it through Parliament,” Ms Sandell said.

“Labor had the opportunity to pass a bill, and through sheer political incompetence and kowtowing to big corporations, they’ve now left workers with nothing.”

The defeat leaves work-from-home arrangements set to become another major election issue, with Labor likely to campaign on its promise to legislate protections while the opposition and business groups argue the policy would impose unnecessary burdens on employers.

The political stakes are particularly high for Mr Carroll, who has made rebuilding Labor’s relationship with the business sector one of his priorities since taking over as premier.

The referral gives the government an opportunity to argue the policy needs further consultation, but it also means one of Labor’s most prominent workplace promises is effectively on hold until after the election.

Unless parliament is recalled, Victorian voters will now likely decide the future of the proposal at the ballot box in November.

Support our Journalism

No-nonsense journalism. No paywalls. Whether you’re in Australia, the UK, Canada, the USA, or India, you can support The Australia Today by taking a paid subscription via Patreon or donating via PayPal — and help keep honest, fearless journalism alive.

The post Ben Carroll’s work-from-home laws have been effectively pushed beyond the Victorian election first appeared on The Australia Today.

Bondi Terror: The tragedy, the courage, the aftermath, written by News 24 journalist Sharri Markson and Executive Council of Australian Jewry co-chief executive Alex Ryvchin, was launched at Bondi Pavilion ahead of its formal publication on September 15.

The 384-page book reconstructs the December 14, 2025 attack minute by minute, drawing on survivor testimony, first responders, security officials and families of those killed. It also examines the years and months before the massacre, asking whether rising antisemitism, Islamist extremism and warnings about potential violence were adequately confronted.

NSW Premier Chris Minns used the launch to make one of his strongest acknowledgements yet about the failures surrounding the attack.

“We failed our Jewish brothers and sisters on December 14,” Minns told those gathered.

He said the first responsibility of government was protecting its citizens and acknowledged mistakes made before the massacre, including the decision to allow protesters to march near the Sydney Opera House shortly after the October 7, 2023 Hamas attacks in Israel.

Minns said political and civic leaders could not treat the Bondi attack as an isolated event disconnected from the hatred that preceded it.

The Premier described the book as asking difficult questions of governments and public institutions.

Those questions have become central to the continuing national debate over how two men were allegedly able to prepare and carry out an Islamic State-inspired attack against a Jewish Chanukah celebration at one of Australia’s most recognisable locations.

The attack began at about 6.40 pm on Sunday, December 14, 2025, when emergency services were called to Bondi Beach following reports of gunfire.

Police said two men armed with long guns were firing into crowds gathered for the Chanukah by the Sea celebration.

Fifteen victims were ultimately killed, and more than 40 people were injured. One alleged attacker, 50-year-old Sajid Akram, was shot dead by police. His son, Naveed Akram, was critically wounded and arrested. Two police officers were also shot during the response.

The Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions says Naveed Akram now faces 78 charges arising from the attack after 19 additional offences were laid in June.

Those charges include 15 counts of murder and a terrorism offence. He has not entered a plea, and the case remains before the courts. The balance of the prosecution brief is due to be served by October 28.

Much of Bondi Terror focuses not only on the killers but on those who ran towards danger.

Recent reporting based on the book has detailed the actions of Detective Senior Constable Cesar Barraza, who rushed towards the gunfire and exchanged fire with the attackers despite having limited ammunition and no opportunity to fully equip himself.

The book also recounts the actions of civilians, police, surf lifesavers and emergency workers who attempted to stop the killing and help the wounded during the chaotic minutes that followed.

News Corp chairman Lachlan Murdoch opened the book launch and said combating antisemitism would require sustained action from governments, universities, institutions and ordinary Australians.

“At News Corp, we stand with the Jewish community,” Murdoch said.

He said the book bore witness to stories of both extraordinary courage and devastating loss and paid tribute to the victims and survivors who agreed to recount their experiences.

Former federal treasurer Josh Frydenberg described the challenge facing Australia in even broader terms.

“We are literally fighting for the soul of Australia,” he said.

Frydenberg argued that when antisemitism moves from the margins of society into mainstream public life, its consequences extend well beyond Jewish Australians.

He also accused authorities of failing to heed warnings before the massacre, saying people in positions of responsibility had received repeated signals about escalating hatred and extremist threats.

That question — what was known, when it was known and whether enough was done — has become one of the most contested aspects of the Bondi story.

Evidence subsequently made public showed that the Community Security Group had raised concerns with counter-terrorism police about Naveed Akram as far back as 2019.

The email identified Akram in connection with a street-preaching group and was sent shortly after authorities arrested people who later became convicted Islamic State supporters.

Documents revealed during the Royal Commission on Antisemitism and Social Cohesion also showed Akram remained on the counter-terrorism radar in 2022 and was being managed by ASIO as a “residual risk”.

ASIO and the Australian Federal Police subsequently conducted internal reviews and concluded there had not been an intelligence failure or negligence that allowed the attack to occur.

However, former ASIO director-general Dennis Richardson, while advising the royal commission, questioned whether the original assessment of Akram had been sufficiently rigorous and whether the father and son should have been reassessed in subsequent years.

ASIO Director-General Mike Burgess has also said political and institutional leaders failed to fully heed repeated warnings about the deteriorating security environment and growing antisemitism before the Bondi attack, according to an interview published in connection with the book.

The formal inquiry has produced a more complicated picture.

The Royal Commission on Antisemitism and Social Cohesion, headed by former High Court justice Virginia Bell, was established in January following intense calls for a national investigation.

Its terms of reference include examining the circumstances surrounding the Bondi attack, antisemitism across Australian society, extremism and radicalisation, and the effectiveness of security, border and law-enforcement responses.

In its April interim report, the commission found Australia’s existing legal and regulatory frameworks had not prevented security agencies from responding to the threat and concluded there was no need for urgent legislative change.

But it issued 14 recommendations, including stronger security arrangements for high-risk Jewish festivals, improved counter-terrorism coordination and accelerated work on nationally consistent firearms controls. Several recommendations remain classified for national-security reasons.

The interim report also scrutinised security planning for the Chanukah event.

Evidence before the inquiry indicated Sydney’s Jewish community had assessed the threat surrounding the public-facing celebration as high, while questions were raised about the comprehensiveness of the police risk assessment before the event.

The royal commission has since heard extensive evidence about policing, intelligence, radicalisation, antisemitism in universities and cultural institutions, online hatred, traditional and social media and the wider challenge of maintaining social cohesion.

Its public hearings concluded in August after 60 sitting days and testimony from hundreds of witnesses. The commission says it had received about 20,000 submissions by early September and is now preparing its final report.

That report is expected in December, around the first anniversary of the attack.

The massacre also produced immediate policy consequences.

The day after the shooting, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese convened National Cabinet, which committed to stronger national coordination against terrorism and antisemitism and began work on changes to the National Firearms Agreement.

Within days, NSW introduced reforms tightening gun laws, restricting certain public assemblies following declared terrorist incidents and strengthening measures against hateful symbols and extremist conduct.

Legislation passed on December 24 imposed tougher firearm limits and restrictions, with the Minns government describing them as the state’s most substantial gun reforms in a generation.

The Commonwealth also announced a special honours process to recognise civilians, police and others who displayed bravery during and after the massacre.

The book launch also placed the victims back at the centre of the story.

Among the most emotional moments came when the family of 10-year-old Matilda Britvan, the youngest person killed, joined Ryvchin to announce the creation of the Matilda Foundation.

Her father Michael said the family wanted Matilda’s memory to live through something positive.

The foundation is intended to honour the young girl through initiatives promoting kindness, happiness and community connection.

Matilda was one of 15 people killed while celebrating Chanukah. Among the dead was also an 87-year-old Holocaust survivor, underlining the particular horror of an antisemitic attack directed at a religious celebration.

The launch was attended by survivors and bereaved relatives alongside figures including former prime minister John Howard, NSW Opposition Leader Kellie Sloane, Frydenberg, Minns and Murdoch.

Survivors Elon Zizer and Hanna Abesidon took part in a discussion about what happened that evening and how the attack had changed their sense of safety in Australia.

For Markson and Ryvchin, the book is intended to serve both as a historical account and as an argument against allowing the attack to fade into collective memory.

Its central timeline stretches well beyond seven minutes of gunfire.

It reaches back through warnings about extremism and a sharp rise in antisemitism after October 7, through the attack itself, the funerals and vigils that followed, the criminal prosecution and the political response, and into the royal commission now examining whether Australia properly understood the danger developing in its midst.

There are competing views about where institutional responsibility lies, and the royal commission has not yet delivered its final conclusions.

But the fact that the book was launched at Bondi Pavilion — close to the location where Australians gathered for a Jewish festival before being attacked because of their faith — gave the event a symbolism that was difficult to escape.

Nine months after the massacre, Bondi remains simultaneously a crime scene in Australia’s recent memory, a place of mourning and a test of how the country responds to antisemitism and violent extremism.

The criminal case is unfinished. The royal commission’s work is unfinished. For many survivors and families, recovery will never have a neat ending.

Bondi Terror arrives in that unsettled period, before the first anniversary and before the final findings of the national inquiry.

Its message, echoed repeatedly at the launch, is that remembering the victims requires more than mourning what happened on December 14.

It also requires Australia to understand how it happened — and what must change to prevent it happening again.

Support our Journalism

No-nonsense journalism. No paywalls. Whether you’re in Australia, the UK, Canada, the USA, or India, you can support The Australia Today by taking a paid subscription via Patreon or donating via PayPal — and help keep honest, fearless journalism alive.

The post ‘Bondi Terror: The Tragedy’ book launch revisits the warnings, horror and aftermath of Australia’s deadliest terror attack first appeared on The Australia Today.

Anthony Albanese spent the same day in Suva signing a defence treaty with Fiji. Narendra Modi landed in Melbourne the following morning, and by the end of that week had signed a joint declaration on defence and security cooperation in Australia and elevated the relationship with New Zealand to a strategic partnership.

In February 2025, a People’s Liberation Army Navy task group — the cruiser Zunyi, frigate Hengyang and replenishment vessel Weishanhu — sailed through the Torres Strait, down Australia’s east coast, and conducted live-firing exercises in the Tasman Sea on 21 and 22 February before circumnavigating the Australian continent. The exercises were conducted without prior official notice.

New Zealand’s Defence Minister called the deployment unprecedented in those waters. New Zealand’s response was concrete: a Defence Capability Plan in April 2025 committing NZ$12 billion over four years, raising defence spending above 2 per cent of GDP for the first time in over three decades. Australia’s 2026 National Defence Strategy reflects the same fundamental reassessment.

India brings a different kind of experience to this conversation. Chinese naval deployments have been a persistent presence in the Indian Ocean for years. What registered as a shock in the Tasman in 2025, Indian naval planners have been accounting for routinely. That shared experience — at different stages of familiarity — is part of what is pulling these three navies closer together.

Against this backdrop, will India’s Chief of Naval Staff, Admiral Krishna Swaminathan’s visit to Australia on 10 September 2026 amount to much? Australians have been told for the better part of two decades that India is on the verge of mattering.

Uranium, the Quad, the trade agreement, the recurring language about natural partners: each cycle arrived with a summit and receded without altering a great deal at sea. According to the 2026 Lowy Institute Poll, half of Australians say they trust India to act responsibly in the world, four points fewer than last year. Set against the same poll’s numbers for the United States- 31 per cent, and China – 28, that result describes something other than affection. It describes a public that has become wary of almost everyone, and within which India occupies a middle position — neither trusted as Japan is, at 89 per cent, nor entirely written off.

Some of the reasons for the wariness are specific and will not dissolve with a single visit of a navy chief. India buys Russian oil and Russian weapons, and has declined to vote on Ukraine the way Canberra would prefer — a divergence officials on both sides have learned to work around. The same Lowy Poll found support for cultural diversity in Australia falling from ninety per cent to seventy-three in two years. Just under half of respondents described migration as too high. Indian-Australians are the fastest-growing part of that migration, which means the people-to-people warmth invoked in every ministerial speech, it appears, is carrying more weight than it can safely be asked to bear.

None of that settles the narrower and more tractable question raised by this week’s visit, which is whether the two navies can produce something operationally useful together. On the evidence, they already are. AUSINDEX began in 2015 and now incorporates even anti-submarine warfare, which is about as technically intimate as naval cooperation gets. India joined Exercise Kakadu this year and will be at Talisman Sabre in 2027. Australian ships sailed to MILAN at Visakhapatnam in February. The two navies held their seventeenth staff talks in Sydney last month. July added a defence industry roundtable, uranium supply under IAEA safeguards, and work towards an arrangement covering defence articles and services.

Australia’s 2026 National Defence Strategy calls India its most important defence partner in the northeast Indian Ocean, and the phrase is meant seriously. India operates the P-8I; Australia operates the P-8A; New Zealand operates four of the same aircraft. Maritime patrol aircraft are how all three countries locate submarines and follow shipping traffic across large oceanic distances.

The July missile launch reminded us that the problem in these waters is rarely a shortage of law and usually a shortage of domain awareness. Compatible procedures, shared sensor practice and an agreed picture across the eastern Indian Ocean would constitute a real capability, and would require no new platform, no new money and no treaty. June’s Defence Ministers’ Dialogue identified this as a priority. Admiral Swaminathan and Vice Admiral Matt Buckley are the two officers positioned to convert it into a coordinated information-sharing protocol.

Aircraft are the easier half of the problem. The human side of this relationship is underleveraged. The professional military education exchange currently moves two Australian officers to India and three Indian officers to Australia each year, which, against the scale of what July envisages, is a token. The summit promised an Australian instructor posted to an Indian institution in 2028–29, a welcome commitment that is nonetheless three years away.

Combined exercises do not solve this, because the difficulty in a crisis is never the equipment. It is that officers who have never worked a problem together have no shared experiences and reflexes to fall back on. War games on disaster relief and maritime law enforcement, building towards combined operations, would cost very little too. The New Zealand leg may attract less attention than it warrants. Three arrangements signed in Auckland in July — on maritime cooperation, on hydrography and nautical cartography, and on mutual logistics support, including reciprocal access— give the Indian Navy its first formal standing in the South Pacific.

The Pacific is not, however, a space for Canberra and New Delhi to apportion between themselves. India’s value in the region will be judged by whether it contributes to priorities Pacific states have already set, and whether it does so consistently rather than episodically.

Support our Journalism

No-nonsense journalism. No paywalls. Whether you’re in Australia, the UK, Canada, the USA, or India, you can support The Australia Today by taking a paid subscription via Patreon or donating via PayPal — and help keep honest, fearless journalism alive.

The post The Pacific is changing fast: India and Australia face a new reality at sea, and China is driving it first appeared on The Australia Today.

Victoria Police said two boys, aged 14 and 15 and both from the Wyndham area, allegedly forced their way into a home on Otterham Way about 1.15 am on Tuesday, 8 September while armed with weapons.

Police initially said a 45-year-old man suffered non-life-threatening slash wounds, but an updated statement later identified the injured occupant as a 48-year-old man and said he remained in hospital with serious injuries. Three other people inside the house were not physically injured.

The injured man has since been publicly identified as Werribee father of one, Gof Sritanaamorn, who said he was trying to protect his wife and young daughter when the alleged intruders entered the house.

Sritanaamorn told 7NEWS he intervened when the teenagers allegedly tried to get towards the room where his wife and seven-year-old daughter were sleeping.

“They used a knife, the big knife, tried to stab on my face,” he said from hospital.

Media reports have described one of the weapons as a sword or samurai-style sword, although Victoria Police’s public statement has referred only to the teenagers being armed with weapons.

Police allege the pair stole car keys from the property after the assault and attempted to steal a vehicle from the home.

The alleged theft did not go as planned.

The teenagers allegedly struggled to operate the family’s Mazda and returned to the house to demand assistance from the injured homeowner. Sritanaamorn reportedly helped them in an effort to get them away from his family.

Police arrived while the alleged offenders were still at the property.

Officers blocked the vehicle, allowing them to arrest one teenager at the scene. The second boy allegedly ran from police but was arrested nearby a short time later.

A neighbour also came to the family’s assistance during the incident, confronting one of the alleged offenders while armed with a baseball bat before police completed the arrests.

The two boys were subsequently charged with home invasion, assault and theft of a motor vehicle.

Victoria Police said officers would apply for both teenagers to be remanded when they appeared before a children’s court.

The boys cannot be identified because of laws restricting the identification of children involved in criminal proceedings.

The case has attracted additional attention after multiple media outlets reported that both teenagers were already on bail at the time of the alleged home invasion.

Both boys had been granted bail over previous serious alleged offending, while the 15-year-old was on three separate grants of bail and had appeared in the Children’s Court only hours before the Werribee incident.

The 15-year-old later refused to appear in court in relation to the new allegations and was remanded in custody, while the 14-year-old was expected to make a further bail application.

Those circumstances are likely to add further pressure to Victoria’s already intense political debate over bail and repeat youth offending.

The alleged attack occurred despite a series of major changes to the state’s bail and sentencing laws introduced over the past 18 months.

Victoria’s strengthened bail regime has increased the number of alleged offenders being refused bail or having bail revoked.

The Victorian Government said in March that bail refusals and revocations had reached record levels, with revocations in the Magistrates’ Court up 84 per cent, while refusals and revocations in the Children’s Court had risen by more than a third.

The government also said remand decisions had increased by almost 70 per cent following its changes.

Further reforms known as “Adult Time for Violent Crime” came into effect on 27 February this year.

Under those laws, children aged 14 and over convicted of specified serious violent crimes, including home invasion and aggravated home invasion, can face adult sentencing principles in adult courts, where imprisonment is more likely and potential sentences are substantially longer.

The government has said the legislation was introduced because serious youth offenders needed to face stronger consequences.

Under the previous system, the maximum period of detention generally available in the Children’s Court was three years regardless of the offence, while serious home invasion matters dealt with under the new adult sentencing regime can attract far greater penalties.

The government has also committed $117.5 million to establish a specialised fast-tracked youth crime list in the County Court, designed to move serious cases through the justice system more quickly.

The 2026-27 Victorian Budget allocated $512 million for community safety measures and youth crime responses, including additional corrections capacity, youth justice investment and court funding.

But incidents involving alleged offenders already on bail have continued to drive political pressure on the government.

Victorian Opposition Leader Jess Wilson has repeatedly argued that the current system remains too lenient on repeat offenders and has promised further changes if the Coalition wins the November state election.

Following the Werribee incident, Wilson used the case to renew her criticism of Labor’s handling of crime, saying Victoria’s justice system was “broken under Labor”.

The Coalition has promised to recruit 3,000 additional police, introduce its own version of “Adult Crime, Adult Time”, establish what it describes as a one-strike bail rule and create a Court of Criminal Appeal.

Labor, meanwhile, argues that its existing reforms are already producing tougher bail outcomes and stronger sentences.

The Werribee incident occurred in Melbourne’s rapidly growing western suburbs, where community concern about home invasions, car theft and youth offending has become an increasingly prominent political issue.

Police have investigated several serious alleged home invasions, aggravated burglaries and vehicle thefts across Wyndham, Tarneit, Truganina and surrounding areas during the past year.

In June, for example, police charged six people following a series of alleged home invasions and aggravated burglaries across Melbourne’s west and north. Among those charged were teenagers aged 14 and 15.

The latest incident has been particularly confronting because the alleged offenders are accused of entering an occupied family home in the middle of the night and injuring a resident while other family members were present.

Sritanaamorn told the media his overriding concern during the attack was protecting his family.

“I just worried about my wife and my daughter,” he told 7NEWS.

His family has reportedly been left deeply shaken by the incident, with media reports suggesting they are considering whether they can continue living in the property following the attack.

The case also places renewed focus on how Victoria’s tougher laws operate when alleged offenders are repeatedly charged while already on bail.

Being charged with an offence does not establish guilt, and the allegations against the two teenagers remain before the courts.

However, if the reports that the boys were already on bail are confirmed through court proceedings, the circumstances will inevitably form part of the broader debate about whether Victoria’s recent reforms are preventing repeat offending quickly enough.

The government says its tougher laws are already increasing remand decisions and making jail more likely for serious violent offending.

The opposition says cases such as the Werribee home invasion demonstrate further restrictions are necessary.

For the family at the centre of the case, however, the political argument is secondary to the immediate consequences of an alleged attack inside their own home.

The two teenagers remain before the courts, while police investigations into the circumstances surrounding the alleged home invasion continue.

Support our Journalism

No-nonsense journalism. No paywalls. Whether you’re in Australia, the UK, Canada, the USA, or India, you can support The Australia Today by taking a paid subscription via Patreon or donating via PayPal — and help keep honest, fearless journalism alive.

The post Fourteen and 15-year-old charged after armed Werribee home invasion leaves father seriously injured first appeared on The Australia Today.

Victorian Premier Ben Carroll has hosted a roundtable with Indian community representatives and business leaders, promising to stand with one of the state’s fastest-growing communities as concerns over racism, cost of living, small business pressures, crime and infrastructure become increasingly prominent ahead of the November state election.

The meeting brought together community figures and business representatives for a direct discussion with the Premier about the contribution Indian Victorians make to the state and the issues affecting families, professionals and entrepreneurs.

Mr Carroll used the gathering to deliver a clear message to the community.

“Victoria’s Indian community contributes so much to our state, to our economy, our culture and to the success of modern Victoria,” he said.

“You are small business owners, teachers, doctors, entrepreneurs and community leaders — helping to build the Victoria we’re all proud to call home.

“We trust Victoria’s Indian community.

“We respect you.

The political importance of the Indian-Australian community in Victoria has grown rapidly alongside its population.

Victorian government data based on the 2021 Census records 371,901 Victorians with Indian ancestry, including more than 258,000 people born in India. More than half of the community arrived in Victoria between 2011 and 2021, with large populations now established across Melbourne’s west, north and south-east.

Indian Victorians are heavily represented in healthcare, technology, education, professional services, transport, hospitality and small business, while Victoria’s economic ties with India have also expanded. Merchandise trade between Victoria and India reached $3.67 billion in 2023-24, according to the state government’s India Strategy.

But the roundtable comes at a time when sections of the community have become increasingly vocal about feeling targeted in the wider migration debate.

Anti-Indian rhetoric has emerged as a serious concern both online and in public places.

Earlier this year, the announcement of a proposed Little India precinct in Melbourne triggered a wave of racist commentary on social media, including threats directed at the Indian community. Indian Victorians interviewed by The Australia Today spoke about racism in rental housing and fears that highly visible community initiatives could become targets for abuse.

Those concerns have also reached the Victorian Parliament.

MPs have reported Indian and South Asian residents raising incidents involving racial slurs, threats and anti-immigration abuse in Melbourne. One parliamentary contribution described racism and xenophobia against Indian Victorians as a concern being raised “consistently” both online and on the streets.

The issue became particularly visible during Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Melbourne visit in July.

Victoria has since strengthened its anti-vilification laws, with new civil protections applying from April this year and criminal provisions targeting serious vilification already in force.

Cost of living and the cost of doing business are another major concern.

Indian-Australian families are concentrated in rapidly growing mortgage-belt suburbs including Tarneit, Truganina, Point Cook, Werribee, Craigieburn, Mickleham, Cranbourne, Clyde and Pakenham, where housing costs, fuel prices, commuting expenses and access to services can have an outsized impact on household budgets.

The Victorian Government itself acknowledged that household budgets remained under pressure in its 2026-27 Budget, announcing measures including cheaper public transport.

For business owners, the challenges are broader.

Many Indian Victorians operate restaurants, grocery stores, professional services, construction businesses, transport companies, franchises and other small enterprises.

Business Victoria says award wages rose 4.75 per cent from July, adding to labour costs, while businesses are also preparing for changes including payday superannuation.

The 2026 Victorian Budget drew criticism for offering relatively little new targeted relief for small businesses, despite businesses dealing with many of the same inflationary pressures affecting households.

For Indian business leaders, this creates a straightforward question for the government: how does Victoria remain attractive for investment and entrepreneurship while operating costs, taxation and regulation continue to rise?

Community safety is another politically sensitive issue.

Many Indian families live in outer suburban communities where concerns about home burglaries, car theft and youth offending have dominated local conversations over recent years.

The latest statewide figures show a more complicated picture than the political debate sometimes suggests. Recorded offences fell 1.9 per cent in the year to March 2026, and criminal incidents declined 1 per cent, while youth alleged-offender incidents fell 6 per cent. However, retail theft continued to rise, and overall alleged-offender incidents increased.

For households and businesses, perceptions of safety can remain deeply personal regardless of statewide trends, particularly when families have experienced burglary, theft or threatening behaviour themselves.

Infrastructure pressures are equally important because so much of Victoria’s Indian population is concentrated in Melbourne’s growth corridors.

The west in particular has experienced rapid population growth while residents have repeatedly called for better roads, rail capacity, schools and hospitals.

The government has recently announced another $550 million towards widening the Western Freeway between Melton and Caroline Springs, adding to $1 billion in federal funding. The project will expand sections of the freeway to three and four lanes and upgrade major interchanges.

Those projects are likely to be welcomed, but the challenge for governments remains keeping services ahead of population growth rather than continually attempting to catch up.

There are also calls for stronger recognition of the community’s cultural infrastructure.

Victoria has funded plans for Indian community centres in Melbourne’s west and south-east, while Melbourne City Council is pursuing a Little India precinct in Docklands.

Community leaders have argued such projects are not simply about festivals or cultural symbolism. They can provide permanent spaces for seniors, young people, language programs, community support services and cultural organisations.

Mr Carroll’s roundtable also carried a clear electoral message.

The Premier used the meeting to warn Indian Victorians about the prospect of One Nation having greater influence after the November election.

“A Liberal-One Nation Government will hurt working people,” he said.

“Labor will always back our multicultural and multi-faith communities.”

That characterisation is contested politically.

Victorian Liberal Leader Jess Wilson has previously ruled out an alliance with One Nation, although debate about preference arrangements and the possibility of a hung parliament continues as One Nation seeks to increase its representation.

For Indian Victorians, however, the roundtable is likely to be judged less by the political warnings exchanged during the campaign and more by what follows from the meeting.

Community concerns are increasingly practical: families want to feel safe in their homes and on the street; business owners want relief from escalating operating costs; commuters want roads and trains that keep pace with population growth; professionals want their skills recognised; and community organisations want protection from racism alongside meaningful representation in government decision-making.

There is also a growing expectation that politicians engage the community beyond festivals, election campaigns and ceremonial events.

The Indian diaspora is now too large, economically active and geographically concentrated to be treated as a peripheral multicultural constituency.

For Mr Carroll, who grew up in Melbourne’s west and has made working families and outer-suburban communities central to his pitch as Premier, the roundtable was an opportunity to make that acknowledgement explicit.

“As Premier, I will always stand with you.”

With Victoria heading to the polls on 28 November, Indian Victorians will now be watching closely to see how that promise translates into policy on the issues affecting their homes, businesses and communities.

Support our Journalism

No-nonsense journalism. No paywalls. Whether you’re in Australia, the UK, Canada, the USA, or India, you can support The Australia Today by taking a paid subscription via Patreon or donating via PayPal — and help keep honest, fearless journalism alive.

The post ‘We respect you’: Premier Carroll reaches out to Indian Victorians amid rising anti-Indian rhetoric first appeared on The Australia Today.

The development comes as Mr Pickering and federal One Nation leader Pauline Hanson are already under pressure over separate historical allegations made by his former partner, including claims of illicit drug use during their long-term relationship — allegations Mr Pickering has rejected.

According to State Revenue Office notices obtained by The Australian, Mr Pickering was investigated over a first home owner grant associated with a property built in Mernda, in Melbourne’s outer north. A final notice dated January 4, 2010 reportedly demanded immediate repayment of $13,500 and warned that recovery action, potentially including proceedings in the Magistrates’ Court, could follow if the amount was not paid.

The State Revenue Office declined to discuss Mr Pickering’s individual circumstances with the newspaper because of taxpayer confidentiality.

There has been no public confirmation of whether Mr Pickering subsequently repaid the $13,500, and both he and One Nation reportedly declined to answer questions from The Australian about the status of the debt.

The reporting does not establish criminal wrongdoing by Mr Pickering. The issue is that a State Revenue Office demand was issued and the question of whether the money was later repaid remains publicly unanswered.

The reported dispute concerned a house constructed after land in Mernda was purchased in November 2005. The State Revenue Office later raised questions about previous property interests held by Mr Pickering’s then-partner, Jo Scott, according to the documents reported by The Australian.

That issue matters because Victorian first home owner grant eligibility rules do not look solely at the person whose name appears on an application.

The legislation in force around that period included eligibility tests relating to property previously owned by an applicant or their partner. Under the First Home Owner Grant Act, an applicant could be ineligible where either the applicant or their partner had previously held certain interests in residential property, depending on when the property was owned and whether it had been occupied as a home.

The State Revenue Office’s current guidance similarly requires applicants to disclose their spouse or partner and says a partner’s previous property ownership can affect eligibility even where that person is not named on the property title or grant application.

The existence of a previous property interest, however, does not automatically establish ineligibility in every case. The dates, nature of the ownership and whether the property was occupied are relevant under the legislation.

According to the newspaper’s report, the State Revenue Office wrote to Mr Pickering in September 2009 after identifying previous property interests associated with Ms Scott and later issued the $13,500 final demand.

Ms Scott has claimed Mr Pickering did not intend to repay the money and, to her knowledge, had not done so. That claim has not been independently established, and the State Revenue Office has not publicly disclosed what occurred after its 2010 demand.

The grant issue has surfaced during an already difficult week for Mr Pickering following a series of allegations made by Ms Scott about their relationship.

Ms Scott, who was Mr Pickering’s partner for about 18 years, has alleged that he regularly used illicit drugs, including crystal methamphetamine, during parts of their relationship.

The Australian reported that she supplied statutory declarations and what she said were handwritten letters and text messages from Mr Pickering to support her account. A separate person from their former social circle was also reported to have provided a statutory declaration alleging they witnessed Mr Pickering using ice on multiple occasions.

The material reportedly includes correspondence attributed to Mr Pickering referring to drug use and behaviour he described at the time as “sexual deviance”.

Mr Pickering has categorically rejected Ms Scott’s allegations.

In a statement issued before the reports were published, he described the claims as false and hurtful and challenged the reliability of his former partner’s account. One Nation’s lawyers also disputed the allegations and linked them to a long-running and difficult family dispute.

Mr Pickering has not publicly provided detailed answers addressing each of the reported letters, messages and drug-use allegations individually. However, One Nation has posted a statement on its social media.

The controversy has also raised questions about what One Nation knew before Senator Hanson elevated Mr Pickering to lead the party’s Victorian election campaign.

One Nation formally announced Mr Pickering as its Victorian state leader in August, with the party saying he would lead its campaign focused on crime, cost of living, energy, housing and health. He is also One Nation’s candidate for the lower-house seat of Pakenham.

The ABC reported when his leadership was announced that Mr Pickering, already One Nation’s Victorian state president, said the party intended to govern and planned an extensive field of candidates across the state.

But The Australian reports Ms Scott had contacted Senator Hanson’s parliamentary office well before that appointment.

According to the report, Ms Scott emailed Senator Hanson’s office in September 2025 with concerns about Mr Pickering. The office reportedly responded the following day asking her to resend an attachment that had been omitted.

Ms Scott reportedly contacted Senator Hanson’s office again in May 2026, this time raising the State Revenue Office correspondence concerning the first home owner grant.

She said she did not receive a substantive response to the second approach.

Those contacts have intensified questions about One Nation’s candidate-vetting process and whether Senator Hanson or senior officials examined the allegations before Mr Pickering was appointed Victorian leader.

Federal Opposition Leader Angus Taylor has called on One Nation to disclose its correspondence with Ms Scott and explain when the party became aware of her claims.

Mr Taylor said Victorians deserved answers about when One Nation received the correspondence, what it did in response and how Mr Pickering was ultimately selected to lead the state campaign.

Senator Hanson has largely sought to draw a line under the controversy.

Speaking in Canberra, she described the allegations as a “personal matter” and said they had been put to Mr Pickering and denied.

She repeatedly declined to provide further details about the party’s vetting or say whether she had personally investigated the specific claims before his appointment.

One Nation MP Barnaby Joyce has taken a somewhat different approach, emphasising the possibility that people can move on from mistakes in their past.

After speaking with Mr Pickering, Mr Joyce told The Australian that he believed in “the redemption of the human spirit” and said people who acknowledged mistakes and changed their lives deserved recognition for doing so.

Mr Joyce and Senator Hanson have also pointed to Mr Pickering’s subsequent Australian Defence Force service.

Mr Pickering joined the Army and served as a combat engineer, and One Nation figures have argued his ability to enter and serve in the Defence Force should be considered when assessing his character.

Senator Hanson said the Defence Force conducts vetting and noted that Mr Pickering had been accepted and remained associated with the military. Mr Joyce similarly pointed to his Army service when questioned about his suitability for political leadership.

However, military recruitment or security vetting does not determine whether a political party has adequately investigated matters relevant to selecting a candidate or leader, and the controversy has continued despite those defences.

One Nation federal director James Ashby has also defended Mr Pickering, with comments suggesting people should not necessarily be permanently judged for mistakes made earlier in life. That position has attracted attention because Mr Pickering himself has denied the central allegations rather than acknowledged past drug use as described by Ms Scott.

The issue is politically sensitive because Mr Pickering is not simply another candidate.

One Nation selected him to front its Victorian campaign as the party seeks to expand its presence in state parliament. The party already has representation in Victoria’s upper house and has been campaigning heavily in outer-metropolitan and regional electorates.

Pakenham, where Mr Pickering is contesting the Legislative Assembly, is viewed as an important battleground. The outer south-eastern Melbourne electorate is being targeted by One Nation amid acute cost-of-living and mortgage pressures.

The controversy has consequently spilled into the broader Victorian election campaign.

Victorian Labor has sought to use the allegations to put pressure not only on One Nation but also on the Liberal Party over what could happen if neither major party secures a majority in November.

Labor ministers have argued voters should know whether the Liberals would negotiate with or rely on One Nation in a hung parliament.

The Victorian Liberals have rejected Labor’s attempt to link them to the controversy, saying their objective is to form a majority government. Liberal frontbencher Evan Mulholland has accused Labor of trying to distract voters from its own record.

The latest revelations come only weeks after Senator Hanson publicly launched Mr Pickering as the face of One Nation’s Victorian campaign.

One Nation’s own campaign material describes him as the leader who will take the party into the election and says it intends to campaign on restoring law and order, reducing living costs, changing energy policy, addressing housing affordability and reforming government.

That positioning means questions surrounding Mr Pickering’s background, the first home owner grant and the party’s vetting are likely to remain politically relevant rather than being confined to a private dispute.

There is currently no public evidence showing whether the $13,500 demanded by the State Revenue Office in 2010 remains outstanding.

Similarly, the drug-related allegations remain allegations strongly denied by Mr Pickering. No material cited in the current reporting establishes that he was convicted of a drug offence arising from the conduct alleged by his former partner.

What is established through One Nation’s own material is that Senator Hanson appointed Mr Pickering Victorian state leader on the eve of a campaign in which the party hopes to substantially increase its influence.

The Victorian Electoral Commission has confirmed the state election will be held on Saturday, 28 November 2026, with almost 4.7 million Victorians expected to be eligible to vote.

With fewer than three months until polling day, the immediate questions for Mr Pickering and One Nation are now straightforward: whether the first home owner grant repayment was ultimately settled, what party officials knew about the allegations before his elevation, and whether One Nation will release the correspondence that has become central to the dispute.

Support our Journalism

No-nonsense journalism. No paywalls. Whether you’re in Australia, the UK, Canada, the USA, or India, you can support The Australia Today by taking a paid subscription via Patreon or donating via PayPal — and help keep honest, fearless journalism alive.

The post Pauline Hanson’s Victorian frontman Warren Pickering hit by $13,500 first-home grant debt and explosive personal allegations first appeared on The Australia Today.

Under the policy announced by One Nation leader Senator Pauline Hanson on Monday, eligible Australians would be able to take the equivalent of 3 per cent of their wages from future employer super contributions as additional take-home income, while the remaining 9 per cent would continue accumulating for retirement.

Employers would still be required to make the full 12 per cent compulsory super contribution, with the worker’s superannuation fund responsible for redirecting the elected portion to their nominated bank account.

The proposal is aimed squarely at households struggling with mortgages, rents and other living expenses and immediately opens a political fight over whether Australians should sacrifice some future retirement savings to ease financial pressure today.

“People are working hard and still struggling to get ahead,” Hanson said in announcing the policy.

“Interest rates keep rising. Rents keep climbing. Groceries, power bills, petrol and insurance are taking more and more out of the family budget.”

“One Nation wants to give people some breathing room.”

How the 3 per cent plan would work

The proposal would be voluntary and apply only to future superannuation contributions. Workers would not be permitted to withdraw their existing super balance.

A worker who opts in would effectively split their 12 per cent employer contribution:

• 9 per cent would remain in super
• 3 per cent would be redirected to the worker
• The arrangement could operate for a maximum of 36 months
• The worker could end the arrangement earlier
• Changing jobs or super funds would not restart the three-year entitlement.

The diverted amount would retain the concessional tax treatment it would ordinarily receive within super. One Nation says that for most workers this would mean a 15 per cent tax rate, rather than having the payment taxed again as ordinary salary.

Australia’s compulsory Super Guarantee rate is currently 12 per cent.

Hanson said the policy was about giving Australians greater control over their own money.

“If you are doing it tough now, paying a mortgage or rent, you should have the choice to use some of your own money to help stay afloat,” she said.

Who would qualify?

According to One Nation’s policy document, the option would be available to Australians receiving compulsory super who are paying either rent or a mortgage on the home in which they live.

Investment properties would not qualify.

Eligibility would be established directly with a person’s super fund using evidence such as a lease, rental statement or mortgage statement.

The party says a husband, wife or partner who genuinely contributes towards household rent or mortgage payments could also qualify even if their name was not formally listed on the lease or mortgage.

Super funds, rather than employers, would administer the scheme.

Under the proposal, employers would continue making their normal contributions and would not need to know whether an employee had elected to receive the 3 per cent payment.

Hanson says worker on $90,500 could get $44 extra a week

One Nation estimates a median full-time worker earning $90,500 could receive about $2,300 a year after the proposed concessional tax treatment, equivalent to roughly $44 a week.

For a couple earning a combined $168,000, the party estimates the benefit at about $4,300 annually, or $82 a week.

An individual earning $120,000 could receive approximately $3,060 a year, while a household earning a combined $240,000 could receive about $6,120 annually under the party’s calculations.

Those estimates broadly correspond with the mechanics of redirecting three percentage points of wages and applying the proposed 15 per cent tax treatment.

Hanson said the money could make a tangible difference to households struggling with everyday expenses.

“That’s a real boost to help you pay the rent or the mortgage, leaving more room for groceries, power bills and the costs of raising a family,” she said.

“Your existing super won’t be touched. Not one dollar.”

One Nation MP and Treasury spokesperson Barnaby Joyce has thrown his support behind the proposal, arguing the retirement system should recognise the immediate financial pressures confronting households.

“There’s no point telling a family they’ll be better off in retirement if they can’t afford the mortgage or their rent payment today,” Joyce said.

“A good retirement starts with keeping a roof over your head.”

Joyce also challenged the government’s approach to superannuation, arguing workers should have greater control over money held on their behalf.

“Labor calls your money in super a ‘national asset’. Jim Chalmers wants to treat it like it is his, when it most definitely is yours,” he said.

Speaking on Monday, Joyce said the policy was fundamentally about giving people access to their own money and argued Australians were capable of assessing the trade-off between immediate financial relief and their retirement savings.

The proposal has already drawn strong criticism from the Albanese government.

Social Services Minister Tanya Plibersek argued people who participated could ultimately retire with thousands of dollars less.

“It’s obvious One Nation wants you to raid your super instead of getting a pay increase,” she said.

“We support higher wages and better super when you retire.”

Treasurer Jim Chalmers has gone further, describing the proposal as a “dangerous risk” to workers’ financial security and arguing it would result in Australians having less superannuation available in retirement.

That criticism points to the central economic question surrounding the proposal: while redirecting contributions would put additional cash into household budgets immediately, workers would lose not only those contributions from their retirement accounts but also the investment returns those contributions might have earned over subsequent decades.

For younger workers in particular, the effect of lost compound returns could substantially exceed the amount initially redirected.

The Coalition has taken a more cautious position.

Deputy Liberal leader Jane Hume said the proposal deserved examination if One Nation could provide sufficient detail, while arguing that addressing inflation and government spending was a bigger part of tackling cost-of-living pressures.

“If there’s any more substance behind it, of course, everybody should be interested in looking at it and what it might mean both for your retirement and to whether you can pay your rent and pay your mortgage,” Hume said.

The debate comes amid broader political arguments over the purpose of Australia’s compulsory superannuation system and how much flexibility workers should have to use retirement savings before reaching retirement age.

Australians can already access super early in limited circumstances, including severe financial hardship and certain compassionate grounds, but the One Nation proposal would create a much broader mechanism specifically tied to housing costs.

One Nation’s proposal represents a fundamentally different approach to cost-of-living assistance.

Rather than providing a government payment or requiring employers to increase wages, it would allow workers to redirect part of money already being contributed for their retirement.

For Hanson, the argument is about choice: Australians facing financial pressure should be able to decide whether having more money today is more valuable than having a larger super balance decades later.

For critics, the concern is that cost-of-living pressures could push workers into sacrificing retirement savings when they have little practical choice.

That battle — money in Australians’ pockets today versus more money in retirement tomorrow — is now shaping up as another major dividing line in the national debate over the future of Australia’s multitrillion-dollar superannuation system.

Support our Journalism

No-nonsense journalism. No paywalls. Whether you’re in Australia, the UK, Canada, the USA, or India, you can support The Australia Today by taking a paid subscription via Patreon or donating via PayPal — and help keep honest, fearless journalism alive.

The post ‘Take cash now’: Pauline Hanson wants to put 3% of your super into your pocket to pay rent and mortgages first appeared on The Australia Today.

The Graduate Diploma of Management (Learning), BSB80120, will effectively be closed to new overseas students from 5 October 2026, affecting hundreds of vocational education providers across Australia.

The federal government says the intervention follows evidence of “significant and systemic integrity issues” surrounding the qualification, including its alleged use to facilitate transfers by non-genuine students already in Australia, as well as high visa refusal and course non-completion rates.

But the decision is also expected to have substantial consequences for education providers, agents and prospective students who had already planned study pathways involving the qualification.

Registered Migration Agent Seema Chauhan of Abode Australia Migration has criticised the government’s approach, arguing genuine students and reputable providers risk being caught up in a crackdown aimed at misconduct elsewhere in the system.

“The government has every right to act against misuse of the student visa system, but cancelling access to an entire qualification for international students is a very blunt response,” She said.

“Genuine students who have made study and career plans in good faith should not be made collateral damage because some providers, agents or students may have abused the system.”

“If there are bad operators, regulators should identify them and take strong action against them rather than creating uncertainty for everyone,” Ms Chauhan added.

The scale of the government’s intervention is considerable.

According to the Department of Education, 452 VET providers are registered to deliver the Graduate Diploma of Management (Learning) to international students.

There are currently 41,033 active Confirmations of Enrolment, or CoEs, associated with the qualification, including 15,772 students recorded as currently studying it.

The qualification is an Australian Qualifications Framework Level 8 course aimed at developing advanced skills in organisational learning, leadership and capability development. Providers advertise potential career pathways including training manager, RTO manager and organisational learning and leadership roles.

From October 5, however, its availability to overseas students will change dramatically.

The Australian Skills Quality Authority says providers will no longer be permitted to issue new CoEs, enrol new overseas students or commence international students who have not already started the course by that date.

Domestic students are not affected.

What happens to students already enrolled?

Importantly, the government is not cancelling the studies of international students who have already commenced the qualification.

Students who have begun BSB80120 with their current provider by October 5 will be permitted to finish.

For providers with existing international students studying the qualification, the course will initially be suspended from their CRICOS scope rather than immediately cancelled. They can continue teaching those students but cannot enrol new overseas students.

Once the remaining international students have completed or withdrawn, the course will automatically be removed from the provider’s CRICOS registration.

For providers with no overseas students who have commenced by October 5, the course will automatically be cancelled from their CRICOS scope.

The situation is more complicated for people holding a CoE who have not yet commenced.

ASQA says CoEs associated with the course for students who have not commenced will be automatically cancelled on October 5. Providers have been instructed to comply with their placement and refund obligations and to direct students with visa questions to the Department of Home Affairs or a registered migration agent.

That distinction could become particularly important for students whose visa, future study or migration arrangements have been planned around the qualification.

Government says course was being misused

Assistant Minister for International Education Julian Hill said the measure was necessary to protect Australia’s international education system.

“The government will continue to act decisively to ensure Australia remains a trusted global education destination, to protect international students and to prevent misuse of the student visa system,” Mr Hill said.

The government says there is evidence the qualification has been used to facilitate onshore course transfers by students it considers non-genuine, while also being associated with high levels of visa refusals and students failing to complete their courses.

Mr Hill used unusually strong language in describing problems inherited by the government, claiming Australia’s student visa had been degraded into a “low-rent illegal work visa” and exploited by unscrupulous operators.

He said Australia remained open to genuine students seeking high-quality education but needed to maintain a strong focus on integrity and student experience.

The significance of the decision extends beyond this particular qualification.

It represents the first time the federal government has used its new power to effectively remove a specified course from the international education market across the country.

The authority followed integrity reforms passed in November 2025.

Under amendments to the Education Services for Overseas Students framework, the minister can specify classes of courses for automatic CRICOS suspension or cancellation after considering matters including systemic delivery problems, Australia’s skills requirements and the public interest.

The action against BSB80120 therefore provides the first indication of how aggressively that power could be used.

While the immediate target is one qualification, the precedent will be closely watched across Australia’s private VET sector.

Providers face immediate disruption

The decision leaves affected colleges with only about a month between the September 4 announcement and the October 5 commencement of the restrictions.

ASQA has instructed affected providers to contact current and prospective students promptly and provide them with government information explaining the changes.

Colleges must also meet applicable refund and placement obligations and brief their education agents so students receive consistent information.

Providers will not be able to circumvent the restriction by simply re-registering the same qualification.

While the ministerial instrument remains in force, CRICOS providers cannot register BSB80120 again, renew its international registration or add the qualification to their CRICOS scope.

The restriction relates specifically to international education. Registered training organisations can continue offering the qualification to Australian domestic students.

Questions over genuine students caught in crackdown

The government has presented the decision as a targeted integrity measure rather than a wider attack on international education.

However, the numbers involved mean its effects will extend well beyond students suspected of misusing the visa system.

Thousands of legitimate students may already have been considering or arranging future enrolment in a qualification offered by hundreds of institutions.

The challenge for the government will therefore be demonstrating that the extraordinary national intervention is proportionate to the integrity problems it has identified.

Ms Chauhan said enforcement needed to distinguish between people abusing the system and international students who followed the rules.

“International students need certainty. Governments can and should protect the integrity of Australia’s migration and education systems, but policy changes of this scale need clear evidence, adequate notice and proper transitional arrangements,” She said.

“Students who have paid fees, received offers or structured their future around a course need very clear advice about what happens next.”

The government says it will work with education and migration regulators to monitor the impact of the measure on both the international education sector and Australia’s visa system.

For prospective international students, however, the door to the Graduate Diploma of Management (Learning) is closing — and after October 5, new enrolments will no longer be permitted anywhere in Australia’s CRICOS system.

Support our Journalism

No-nonsense journalism. No paywalls. Whether you’re in Australia, the UK, Canada, the USA, or India, you can support The Australia Today by taking a paid subscription via Patreon or donating via PayPal — and help keep honest, fearless journalism alive.

The post Australia cancels Graduate Diploma registrations across 452 VET providers, more than 25,000 international students affected first appeared on The Australia Today.

Opposition Leader Jess Wilson has announced a $40 million, four-year Victorian Rural Health Workforce Incentive Scheme, designed to help regional hospitals recruit and retain health professionals in areas struggling with critical workforce shortages.

Under the proposal, eligible workers could receive up to $10,000 in upfront financial assistance when taking a regional position.

They could then qualify for further incentives of up to $10,000 for each year they remain in the role, creating a financial incentive not only to move to regional Victoria but to stay.

The assistance could take the form of direct payments or support for relocation and accommodation expenses.

The Coalition says the model would be based on a workforce incentive program operating in New South Wales and would cover doctors, nurses, midwives and allied health professionals.

“Regional Victoria is a fantastic place to live, work and build a career, and we want to create more opportunities for our brightest health professionals to do just that,” Ms Wilson said.

“More doctors, nurses and midwives in our regions means stronger local hospitals, better care closer to home and less pressure on our entire health system.”

The announcement comes ahead of Victoria’s November election, with access to healthcare and shortages of doctors and other health professionals continuing to be major concerns across regional communities.

The Coalition argues there is a mismatch in Victoria’s health workforce, with some professionals competing for positions in Melbourne while regional hospitals struggle to recruit staff.

Shadow Health Minister Georgie Crozier said the policy was intended to better connect available health workers with communities where vacancies were most acute.

“We want to better connect our growing health workforce with the rural and regional hospitals that need them,” Ms Crozier said.

“This is about filling critical vacancies today, while building a strong and stable regional health workforce for the future.”

Housing included in regional health push

The Coalition has also identified housing availability as a barrier to recruiting workers outside Melbourne.

Under the proposal, dedicated health-worker accommodation would be considered as part of new regional hospital developments where appropriate.

The Coalition specifically identified the proposed West Gippsland Hospital and Mildura Base Public Hospital developments as locations where worker accommodation could be incorporated.

Housing shortages and rental availability can make recruiting professionals to regional communities difficult even where employment is available, particularly for workers who need to relocate quickly or are unfamiliar with the area.

The Coalition argues combining financial incentives with accommodation support could make regional positions more attractive and improve retention.

Shadow Mental Health Minister Emma Kealy said regional communities needed greater access to mental health professionals as part of the wider workforce push.

“This is a great chance for some of Victoria’s best and brightest health professionals to get ahead by setting themselves up in regional Victoria,” Ms Kealy said.

“Regional Victorians are crying out for a fair share and deserve to have the same mental health resources available to those living in metropolitan areas.”

NSW scheme provides model

The Coalition says its Victorian proposal draws on a health workforce incentive scheme used in New South Wales.

NSW Health operates Rural Health Workforce Incentive Schemes for eligible positions in rural and regional areas, with packages that can include recruitment and retention incentives, relocation assistance, professional development and other benefits.

The Victorian Coalition’s proposal differs in its announced funding and payment structure, with $40 million committed over four years and incentives of up to $10,000 initially and up to a further $10,000 for each year an eligible worker stays.

However, important details are yet to be outlined, including exactly which locations and occupations would qualify, how long annual retention payments could continue and the criteria used to determine the value of individual incentive packages.

Those details would determine how many workers could ultimately benefit from the $40 million program.

Regional health emerges as election issue

Health workforce shortages are not unique to Victoria, with governments across Australia using financial incentives, training programs and relocation support to attract professionals outside major cities.

The challenge is particularly acute because recruiting a worker does not necessarily mean retaining them over the longer term.

The Coalition’s proposed annual retention payments are designed to address that problem by providing an ongoing financial reason for workers to remain in regional communities after receiving their initial relocation assistance.

The policy also gives the opposition another health commitment to take into the November state election, pitching the program as a response to what it says is an imbalance between employment opportunities in Melbourne and workforce shortages elsewhere.

For regional patients, the Coalition argues the intended outcome would be fewer vacancies, shorter journeys for treatment and greater access to doctors, nurses, midwives, allied health and mental health professionals closer to home.

The Liberals and Nationals say the $40 million scheme would be established if they win government in November, putting regional health workforce recruitment firmly into the contest over which side can deliver better access to healthcare outside Melbourne.

Support our Journalism

No-nonsense journalism. No paywalls. Whether you’re in Australia, the UK, Canada, the USA, or India, you can support The Australia Today by taking a paid subscription via Patreon or donating via PayPal — and help keep honest, fearless journalism alive.

The post Jess Wilson’s regional health workforce plan: $10,000 to go regional, more to stay for doctors, nurses and midwives first appeared on The Australia Today.

The Coalition plans to introduce an Australian National Symbols and Heritage Protection Bill later this year, with serious public desecration of the Australian national flag potentially carrying up to 12 months in prison.

The proposed legislation would also introduce penalties of up to 10 years’ imprisonment for deliberately damaging, defacing, desecrating or destroying war memorials and other significant monuments.

Taylor said Australians were free to criticise their country and government but argued publicly burning the national flag crossed a line.

“People are welcome to make political statements on Australia, and they can criticise Australia all they like, but burning the flag goes a step further,” Taylor said.

“It is a symbol, it is part of our nation and our heritage that really matters.”

Taylor described burning the flag as “sacrilege” and said a maximum penalty of one year in prison was appropriate.

The announcement puts questions of patriotism, protest and national identity firmly on the political agenda, while Labor has accused the Coalition of pursuing the issue as it battles One Nation for conservative voters.

What would the proposed flag-burning law cover?

The Coalition proposal would not appear to criminalise every instance in which an Australian flag is damaged or destroyed.

According to details reported on Sunday, the offence would apply to serious public desecration where a person is reckless as to whether their conduct could incite hatred or violence, threaten public order or cause a public disturbance.

Taylor said the Coalition’s position was about defending Australia’s way of life, not its political competition with One Nation.

“We are about protecting our way of life and fixing the economy. And if we’re going to protect our way of life, we need to stand up for Australia,” he said.

Shadow Attorney-General Michaelia Cash has also backed stronger protections, arguing there is a distinction between political speech and acts directed at national symbols.

The legislation is also expected to form part of a wider Coalition push around Australian national symbols and heritage, including reinforcing January 26 as Australia Day. Reports say the proposal would seek to require a national vote before the date could be changed.

War memorial vandals could face 10 years

The second major element of the Coalition proposal concerns war memorials.

People who deliberately damage or desecrate protected memorials could face penalties of up to 10 years in prison under the proposed federal regime.

Vandalising memorials is already prohibited under various state and territory laws, meaning the Coalition’s proposal would enter an area where criminal offences already exist but penalties differ between jurisdictions.

The push follows a series of incidents involving national monuments and symbols, including damage to Melbourne’s historic Pioneer Monument and Australian flags being burned during protests.

Supporters of tougher laws argue such incidents demonstrate that existing protections are inadequate and that monuments commemorating Australia’s war dead deserve stronger national protection.

Opponents are likely to question whether new federal offences are necessary where vandalism, property damage and conduct threatening public order can already be prosecuted.

The Coalition’s announcement is not occurring in a legislative vacuum.

Two separate flag-protection proposals were introduced into the House of Representatives in February.

Independent MP Rebekha Sharkie’s Criminal Code Amendment (Flag Protection) Bill 2026 proposes making it an offence to intentionally or recklessly burn or desecrate the Australian national, Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander flags. Parliamentary records list the bill as before the House.

Nationals MP Pat Conaghan also introduced the Flags Amendment (Protection of Australian National Flags) Bill 2026, which proposes prohibiting burning, destroying, desecrating or otherwise seriously dishonouring the Australian national flag or Australian Red Ensign.

The new Coalition proposal would therefore add another attempt to settle a question that has repeatedly surfaced in federal politics.

One of the biggest obstacles is likely to be Australia’s implied freedom of political communication.

Australia does not have an American-style constitutional right to free speech. But the High Court has recognised an implied freedom of political communication arising from Australia’s system of representative government.

Importantly, the Parliamentary Library says that freedom is not an individual personal right. Instead, it operates as a restriction on government power. A law burdening political communication can remain valid if it pursues a legitimate purpose and the burden imposed is proportionate.

That distinction could become central to any legal challenge.

Burning a flag during a protest can plainly carry a political message. A court could therefore have to consider whether criminalising the conduct burdens political communication and, if it does, whether the restriction is constitutionally justified.

There is precedent for concern.

When Parliament’s human rights committee considered an earlier flag-related criminal proposal, it warned that the offence risked being excessively broad and disproportionate and raised concerns about compatibility with freedom of expression under international human rights law.

Constitutional experts have again warned that a broadly drafted prohibition could face scrutiny in the High Court.

Labor has indicated it will oppose the Coalition push.

Assistant Foreign Affairs Minister Matt Thistlethwaite said existing criminal laws already provided mechanisms to deal with conduct such as incitement to violence and questioned whether another offence was necessary.

He also invoked former Liberal prime minister John Howard, who opposed making flag burning a criminal offence when the issue arose during his government.

Howard’s position was that while he strongly disliked flag burning, banning the act was difficult to reconcile with political expression in a liberal democracy.

That gives Labor an unusual political argument: opposition to the Coalition proposal can be framed not simply as a progressive free-speech position, but one previously shared by one of the Liberal Party’s most successful conservative prime ministers.

Coalition denies it is chasing One Nation

The politics surrounding the announcement are nevertheless difficult to separate from the Coalition’s competition with One Nation.

Taylor’s opposition has increasingly placed Australian identity, national values and law and order at the centre of its political pitch.

Labor has characterised the flag proposal as an attempt by the Coalition to win back voters attracted to One Nation.

Taylor rejects that interpretation, saying the policies should be judged on whether they are good for the country rather than their electoral consequences.

The debate now presents Parliament with two distinct questions.

The first is whether deliberately burning Australia’s flag or desecrating its war memorials deserves stronger punishment than existing laws provide.

The second — and potentially more difficult — is how far Parliament can go in protecting national symbols without criminalising political expression.

With the Coalition preparing to put legislation before Parliament, that argument is likely to move from political rhetoric to a test of where Australia draws the line between protest and desecration.

Support our Journalism

No-nonsense journalism. No paywalls. Whether you’re in Australia, the UK, Canada, the USA, or India, you can support The Australia Today by taking a paid subscription via Patreon or donating via PayPal — and help keep honest, fearless journalism alive.

The post ‘Sacrilege’: Angus Taylor backs jail for Australian flag burning and tougher penalties for war memorial vandalism first appeared on The Australia Today.

Premier Ben Carroll announced the state commitment ahead of November’s Victorian election, saying the project would deliver about 30 kilometres of new traffic lanes, with sections of the freeway expanded to as many as four lanes in each direction.

The Victorian funding comes on top of $1 billion already committed by the federal government to upgrades between Melton and Caroline Springs.

The Commonwealth says more than 86,000 vehicles use the corridor each day, with that number forecast to reach about 113,000 by 2031 as Melbourne’s western suburbs continue to grow.

Under Labor’s plan, the Ferris Road, Leakes Road and Hopkins Road interchanges would be upgraded, while a new half interchange would be built at Mount Cottrell Road to provide local motorists with direct access to and from the freeway.

The government says the upgraded sections would also have a consistent 100 kilometres per hour speed limit.

Mr Carroll said the announcement reflected his government’s renewed focus on basic infrastructure.

“I said as a new premier my first task is to listen to what Victorians’ needs are,” he said.

“They told me very clearly they wanted a relentless focus on the basics and there was nothing more important than getting our road infrastructure right and making sure hard-working Victorians can spend less time in traffic and get to spend more time with their families.”

Federal government already committed $1 billion

The project has been in development for years.

The federal government announced its $1 billion commitment for the Melton-to-Caroline Springs section in March 2025 as part of a broader $1.1 billion investment in the Western Freeway.

At the time, the Commonwealth said the exact upgrades would be determined with the Victorian government following completion of a jointly funded business case.

A further $50 million in federal funding for pre-construction work was announced in May this year.

That work includes detailed planning and design, ground investigations and environmental and planning studies before major construction begins.

Mr Carroll said that planning meant the project was already moving forward and the new $550 million commitment represented Victoria “coming to the table as well”.

The announcement would bring the combined state and Commonwealth commitments for the Melton-Caroline Springs upgrade to about $1.55 billion, although the final scope, staging and construction timetable will depend on planning and funding arrangements.

Population boom putting pressure on roads

The announcement comes amid growing pressure on governments to provide infrastructure at the same pace as housing and population growth in Melbourne’s west.

The City of Melton describes itself as Australia’s fastest-growing municipality and says its population is forecast to almost double to about 456,000 over the next two decades.

The Victorian government has also set the municipality a target of another 109,000 homes by 2051.

Melton recorded annual population growth of 6.61 per cent in 2022-23, according to council data.

That expansion has increasingly exposed the gap between new housing development and transport infrastructure.

Melton City Council said in July that years of underinvestment had left residents dealing with congested roads, overcrowded trains and long daily commutes.

It has made transport one of its major issues ahead of November’s election, calling on political parties to commit to upgrades to the Western Highway and Hopkins Road, as well as electrification and duplication of the Melton rail line.

Council has previously warned the Western Highway was not equipped for the scale of development planned along the corridor, arguing additional lanes and upgraded interchanges were needed to accommodate population growth while maintaining freight movements.

Hopkins Road among major pressure points

The proposed upgrade of the Hopkins Road interchange is likely to be particularly important for residents around Truganina, Tarneit, Mount Cottrell and surrounding growth areas.

Melton council has repeatedly identified Hopkins Road as requiring urgent investment, including duplication to address congestion and safety concerns.

The Western Freeway is also more than a suburban commuter route.

It forms part of the main road connection between Melbourne and Adelaide and connects with major Victorian freight routes including the Midland, Sunraysia, Pyrenees, Henty and Wimmera highways.

The federal government has described the corridor as critical to both passenger travel and freight productivity.

Transport becomes election battleground in Melbourne’s west

Labor’s announcement comes as transport infrastructure in Melbourne’s west emerges as a major battleground ahead of the state election.

The Liberal-Nationals opposition this week pledged $1.7 billion for 25 hybrid-electric trains for the Melton and Wyndham Vale corridors if it wins government, arguing western suburbs commuters have waited too long for suburban-quality rail services.

Labor, meanwhile, is seeking to demonstrate that road and rail infrastructure in the west will be a priority under Mr Carroll’s leadership.

The government has already highlighted the opening of the new Melton Station and other works along the Melton rail corridor, while the federal and Victorian governments have committed $152.7 million for development work supporting future electrification of the Melton line.

But the scale and speed of population growth means infrastructure remains a potent issue for western suburbs voters.

Melton City Council says housing growth cannot occur in isolation from transport investment, warning that residents are already experiencing congestion, safety concerns, long travel times and inadequate public transport.

For Labor, the $550 million Western Freeway commitment is therefore both an infrastructure announcement and an election pitch to communities that have spent years arguing roads and public transport have failed to keep pace with Melbourne’s expansion.

Mr Carroll said the objective was straightforward: increase capacity and allow residents to spend less time stuck in traffic.

For voters in Melton and Melbourne’s rapidly expanding outer west, the question heading into November will be whether the latest commitments can finally close the gap between population growth and the infrastructure needed to support it.

Support our Journalism

No-nonsense journalism. No paywalls. Whether you’re in Australia, the UK, Canada, the USA, or India, you can support The Australia Today by taking a paid subscription via Patreon or donating via PayPal — and help keep honest, fearless journalism alive.

The post After years of congestion, Premier Ben Carroll promises $550m Western Freeway fix months before election first appeared on The Australia Today.

The Australian Trade and Investment Commission, Austrade, announced the appointment on Friday, saying Ms McKay would focus on strengthening Australia’s commercial relationships across India and the broader South Asian region.

Ms McKay brings an unusual combination of political, business and Australia-India experience to the position, having spent 15 years in the NSW Parliament before taking on several senior roles focused on the bilateral relationship.

Austrade confirmed she will be based in Mumbai and work closely with Australia’s consuls-general and High Commission officials to deepen relationships with governments, businesses and other stakeholders across South Asia.

Her appointment comes as Australia seeks to turn increasingly close political ties with India into substantially greater trade and investment.

From NSW politics to Australia-India business

Before joining Austrade, Ms McKay was director of the Australia-India CEO Forum at the Business Council of Australia.

The forum brings together senior Australian and Indian business leaders and provides advice to both governments on policies that could increase trade and investment.

It was established by the two countries’ prime ministers, has operated since 2012 and was relaunched by Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2023. The Business Council of Australia serves as its Australian secretariat.

The forum was again in the spotlight during Mr Modi’s Melbourne visit in July, when the two prime ministers addressed business leaders at its 2026 meeting.

Business Council chief executive Bran Black described India at the time as one of Australia’s most important economic partnerships.

Ms McKay previously served as national chair of the Australia India Business Council, becoming one of the organisation’s most visible advocates for stronger commercial and diaspora links between the countries.

During her tenure, she argued Australia’s Indian diaspora should be viewed as a “living bridge” capable of helping expand the economic relationship.

She was also appointed to the inaugural advisory board of the Centre for Australia-India Relations, established by the federal government to deepen business, policy, cultural and community links with India.

Ms McKay has also been Vice-Chancellor’s Fellow for South Asia at Western Sydney University and served as a director on government and non-government boards including Destination NSW and Business Events Sydney.

She holds a Master of Public Administration from the University of Sydney.

15 years in NSW Parliament

Before moving into Australia-India relations, Ms McKay had a lengthy career in NSW politics.

She spent 15 years in the NSW Parliament, serving as a cabinet minister and later becoming leader of the NSW Labor Party and NSW Opposition.

Her transition from state politics into Australia-India engagement accelerated after leaving Parliament, including through her leadership of AIBC and subsequent work with the CEO Forum.

Austrade said that experience would now underpin her work across South Asia.

As Senior Trade and Investment Commissioner, Ms McKay will be one of Australia’s most senior trade officials in the region and will lead Austrade’s efforts to connect Australian businesses with commercial and investment opportunities.

India trade relationship continues to grow

The appointment comes at an important stage in Australia’s economic relationship with India.

India is Australia’s fifth-largest trading partner, with two-way trade in goods and services worth $50.2 billion in 2025, according to the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade.

Australian exports to India were worth about $32 billion, while imports totalled $18 billion.

At the end of 2025, Australia’s investment stock in India stood at $26.8 billion, while Indian investment in Australia was valued at $45.3 billion.

The relationship has expanded since the Australia-India Economic Cooperation and Trade Agreement, known as ECTA, entered into force in December 2022.

More than 90 per cent of Australian goods exports to India by value will eventually have tariffs eliminated or reduced under the agreement, while all Indian imports into Australia are now tariff-free.

There have also been sharp increases in some Australian exports.

Australian agricultural exports to India rose from $1 billion in 2022 to $2.3 billion in 2025, while industrial exports excluding coal increased from $6 billion to $10.2 billion over the same period.

The two governments are continuing negotiations on the more ambitious Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement, or CECA, intended to build on ECTA and further liberalise the economic relationship.

Bigger task than India alone

While Ms McKay’s recent career has been closely associated with India, her new Austrade position covers the broader South Asian region.

That means her responsibilities will extend beyond the bilateral relationship and include building commercial connections across one of the world’s fastest-growing regions.

Austrade said she would focus on developing deeper relationships with key stakeholders and work closely with Australia’s diplomatic network.

Her Mumbai base places her in India’s commercial capital at a time when Australian governments are increasingly encouraging businesses to look beyond traditional markets and pursue opportunities in India.

The federal government’s New Roadmap for Australia’s Economic Engagement with India, launched in 2025, identified clean energy, education and skills, agribusiness and tourism as four major “superhighways of growth”, alongside opportunities in other sectors.

India’s scale remains central to that strategy. The country has a population of about 1.4 billion and recorded economic growth of 6.5 per cent in 2024, with Australian officials identifying opportunities across resources, education, agriculture, energy, healthcare, infrastructure, financial services, science and technology.

For Ms McKay, the Austrade appointment represents the next stage of a career that has moved from NSW politics to increasingly senior roles at the centre of Australia’s economic engagement with India.

She will now be tasked with converting those relationships into something successive Australian governments have identified as a major economic objective — more Australian companies doing business in India and more two-way investment across the Australia-South Asia corridor.

Support our Journalism

No-nonsense journalism. No paywalls. Whether you’re in Australia, the UK, Canada, the USA, or India, you can support The Australia Today by taking a paid subscription via Patreon or donating via PayPal — and help keep honest, fearless journalism alive.

The post India veteran Jodi McKay appointed Australia’s Senior Trade and Investment Commissioner based in Mumbai first appeared on The Australia Today.

The academy will be developed through a partnership between the Albanese Government, the Crisafulli Government and Central Queensland University, focusing on preparing high-achieving regional students for careers in medicine, nursing, paramedicine and allied health.

The Albanese Government is contributing $80 million towards the $95 million project.

The academy will be built at 550–554 Yaamba Road in Norman Gardens, next to Central Queensland University’s Rockhampton North campus.

Students in Years 10 to 12 will be able to undertake advanced health sciences studies while completing school and earn credit towards university health degrees through the academy’s partnership with CQUniversity.

The model is intended to give regional students a more direct pathway into health professions while allowing them to remain close to their families and communities.

The federal government says the project is aimed at strengthening the regional health workforce and increasing the number of doctors, nurses, paramedics and allied health professionals trained in Central Queensland.

Education Minister Jason Clare said securing the site was an important step towards delivering the academy.

“Securing this site is another important step towards making the Rockhampton Health Sciences Academy a reality,” Mr Clare said.

“This Academy will help more young people in Central Queensland become the doctors, nurses, paramedics and other health professionals the region needs.

“We’re putting in $80 million to help make that happen. And up to a quarter of a billion more to help more people from Central Queensland get a crack at uni.”

The federal government also has legislation before the Senate that could provide Central Queensland University with up to $260 million in additional funding over the next decade.

The government says that funding would expand access to university education across Central Queensland and help more students study closer to home.

Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Local Government Minister Catherine King said the academy formed part of broader Commonwealth investment in the region.

“The Albanese Government is delivering the infrastructure and facilities communities in Central Queensland need,” Ms King said.

“This health sciences academy is part of our landmark investment in Central Queensland, alongside the $7.2 billion being invested by the Albanese Government in the Bruce Highway safety upgrade.”

The project was also an election commitment of Queensland’s Crisafulli Government.

Queensland Education Minister John-Paul Langbroek said the academy would deliver benefits beyond the students who ultimately attend it.

“This was an election-commitment and we’re proud to be delivering it,” Mr Langbroek said.

“It’s a huge investment and an exciting prospect for the students who will attend the new academy, with even broader benefits for the region.”

Mr Langbroek said the academy would work with health providers, education leaders and tertiary institutions to prepare students for health careers and help address regional Queensland’s growing demand for workers.

The academy is expected to provide an accelerated education pathway for academically strong students interested in health-related professions, allowing them to begin university-level study while still completing secondary school.

Its location beside CQUniversity’s Rockhampton campus is intended to strengthen links between secondary schooling, university education and local health services.

Governments have increasingly focused on growing the health workforce outside major metropolitan areas as regional communities face ongoing challenges recruiting and retaining medical and allied health professionals.

The Rockhampton academy is scheduled to open to students in 2028.

Support our Journalism

No-nonsense journalism. No paywalls. Whether you’re in Australia, the UK, Canada, the USA, or India, you can support The Australia Today by taking a paid subscription via Patreon or donating via PayPal — and help keep honest, fearless journalism alive.

The post Rockhampton academy to create new pathway into medicine, nursing and paramedicine first appeared on The Australia Today.

The anniversary falls on Australian National Flag Day, observed each year on 3 September. On this day in 1901, the new flag was raised above the dome of Melbourne’s Royal Exhibition Building, just months after the six Australian colonies joined to form the Commonwealth of Australia.

The Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet said the 125th anniversary was an opportunity to reflect on Australia’s history and the nation’s achievements since Federation.

“While our flag does not tell the full story of our nation, it remains an enduring symbol of unity and our shared achievements since Federation,” the department said.

The milestone is particularly closely linked with Melbourne. The Royal Exhibition Building, where the flag was first raised, had hosted the opening of Australia’s first Commonwealth Parliament on 9 May 1901.

A commemorative event at the historic building on Thursday was organised to include Speaker of the House of Representatives Milton Dick, federal MPs and Museums Victoria, with a ceremonial unfurling of an Australian Parliament House flag.

The story of the flag began almost immediately after Federation on 1 January 1901, when Australia’s first prime minister, Edmund Barton, backed an international competition to find a flag for the newly created Commonwealth. Entrants were asked to develop designs suitable for official use as well as merchant shipping.

The response was extraordinary for a nation whose population was then only about 3.5 million. A total of 32,823 designs were submitted from Australia and overseas by people from different backgrounds and age groups. Some were tiny enough to be disqualified, while others used enormous quantities of bunting. Designs featuring kangaroos, native animals and the Southern Cross were among those submitted.

Judges spent six days examining the entries at Melbourne’s Exhibition Building. They considered historical relevance, heraldic conventions, originality, practical use and manufacturing cost, while also seeking a design acceptable to the British Admiralty.

In the end, there was no single designer.

Five entrants had independently submitted designs that were judged to be almost identical, and all five were declared joint winners. They were Annie Dorrington, an artist from Perth; Ivor Evans, a 14-year-old Melbourne schoolboy; Leslie Hawkins, a teenage apprentice optician from Sydney; Egbert Nuttall, a Melbourne architect; and William Stevens, a ship’s officer with the Union Steamship Company of New Zealand. The £200 prize was divided between them.

On 3 September 1901, Barton announced the winners and a huge flag measuring about 5.5 metres by 11 metres was raised above the Exhibition Building while the submitted designs were on display below. The flag was initially known as the Commonwealth Blue Ensign.

The 1901 design was recognisably Australian but was not identical to the flag flown today.

It featured the Union Jack in the upper-left corner, a six-pointed Commonwealth Star below it representing the six states, and the five stars of the Southern Cross. The individual Southern Cross stars originally had different numbers of points, ranging from nine to five, intended to indicate their relative brightness.

The design was subsequently standardised. An official drawing published in 1903 showed four of the Southern Cross stars with seven points and the smaller Epsilon Crucis with five. In 1908, a seventh point was added to the Commonwealth Star to recognise Australia’s territories, producing the basic design still used today.

The modern flag has three principal elements. The Union Jack acknowledges the history of British settlement in Australia; the seven-pointed Commonwealth or Federation Star represents the six states and the territories; and the Southern Cross reflects Australia’s location in the Southern Hemisphere.

For decades after Federation, however, there remained confusion about which flag Australians should use. The blue ensign was originally associated particularly with government use, while a red version served as the merchant ensign, and the Union Jack also continued to be widely flown.

King George VI endorsed the Australian government’s recommendation to use the Commonwealth Blue Ensign as the national flag in 1951. Parliament subsequently passed the Flags Act 1953, formally declaring the blue design to be the Australian National Flag and the red design the Australian Red Ensign for merchant shipping. Queen Elizabeth II gave royal assent during her first Australian royal tour in 1954.

The flag received another layer of legal protection in 1998, when the Flags Act was amended so the existing Australian National Flag could not simply be replaced without the Australian people having a say. If alternative designs were put before voters, the existing flag would also have to be included among the options.

Australian National Flag Day itself is considerably younger than the flag. Governor-General Sir William Deane formally proclaimed 3 September as Australian National Flag Day on 28 August 1996, declaring that the anniversary should be observed throughout Australia and its external territories.

For the 125th anniversary, Commonwealth departments and agencies have been asked to fly or display the Australian National Flag throughout Thursday, while schools, businesses, community organisations and members of the public are also being encouraged to display it.

The anniversary comes during a broader year of Federation commemorations. The Commonwealth has noted that 2026 marks 125 years since Federation, the adoption of the Constitution, the first sitting of the Commonwealth Parliament and the first official flying of the national flag.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, in a National Flag Day message published for the anniversary, described the flag as an emblem of “unity, identity and pride”, saying it had accompanied Australians through war, peace, celebration, mourning and enormous social and political change over 125 years.

The flag has long had particular importance for the Australian Defence Force. Chief of the Defence Force Admiral Mark Hammond said the anniversary was a chance to remember Australians who had served and sacrificed under it, describing the flag as a reminder of the ADF’s duty to the country and the people it protects.

Today the Australian National Flag flies permanently above Parliament House in Canberra. Inside Parliament, it is displayed alongside the Australian Aboriginal Flag and the Torres Strait Islander Flag, reflecting the range of symbols now used to represent Australia and its people.

The 125th anniversary also coincides with Merchant Navy Day. Australian merchant mariners historically sailed under the Australian Red Ensign, sometimes known as the “Red Duster”, and government guidance allows it to be flown on 3 September in recognition of their wartime service and sacrifice. When displayed together, the Australian National Flag takes the position of honour.

From a public competition involving nearly 33,000 entries to a flag flown above Parliament House, military deployments, citizenship ceremonies, schools, sporting grounds and Australian missions around the world, the design first raised in Melbourne in 1901 has remained through dramatic changes in Australian society.

One hundred and twenty-five years later, Australian National Flag Day provides an opportunity not only to remember how the flag came into being, but to reflect on the history, identity and shared values Australians have placed beneath it — and on the changing nation it continues to represent.

Support our Journalism

No-nonsense journalism. No paywalls. Whether you’re in Australia, the UK, Canada, the USA, or India, you can support The Australia Today by taking a paid subscription via Patreon or donating via PayPal — and help keep honest, fearless journalism alive.

The post Australia marks 125 years of the national flag, celebrating history, identity and shared values first appeared on The Australia Today.

Mr Modi and Mr Putin met on Monday on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit in Bishkek, where the Indian leader reiterated New Delhi’s support for diplomatic efforts to end the more than four-year conflict.

“Every day spent in war sets humanity back, whereas every step taken towards peace fills humanity with new hope and enthusiasm,” Mr Modi told Mr Putin.

“We must move away from endless war towards an end to the war. This is essential for the well-being of humanity.”

Mr Modi said the two leaders had repeatedly discussed Ukraine and that Mr Putin had previously briefed him on developments surrounding the conflict.

“As you are aware, India supports all peace efforts in this regard, and we shall continue to do so in the future,” Mr Modi said, according to a Kremlin transcript cited by Reuters.

The Indian Prime Minister said disputes needed to be resolved peacefully and invoked two of India’s most internationally recognised figures in making his case.

“A peaceful resolution to all issues at the earliest is the call of humanity, and this is India’s message,” he said.

“The land of Gandhi and Buddha shares a single message: the path of peace.”

India walks diplomatic tightrope over Russia

The comments underline the delicate position India has maintained since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

New Delhi has not joined Western countries in publicly condemning Moscow or imposing sanctions and has maintained close diplomatic, defence and economic ties with Russia.

At the same time, Mr Modi has repeatedly called for dialogue and diplomacy to resolve the conflict.

India has also become one of the largest purchasers of Russian oil, alongside China, providing an important market for Moscow as Western governments sought to restrict Russia’s energy revenues through sanctions and other measures.

The relationship has exposed India to criticism from some Western governments, but New Delhi has consistently defended its energy purchases as necessary to protect its economic and energy interests.

Mr Modi again emphasised national interest during his meeting with Mr Putin, while also welcoming the expansion of economic ties between the two countries.

The two leaders discussed trade and investment, energy and other areas of their long-standing strategic relationship. Mr Modi later said energy, innovation, space, fertilisers and people-to-people links remained important areas of cooperation.

Echoes of Modi’s ‘era of war’ message

Monday’s comments build on Mr Modi’s much-publicised message to Mr Putin at the 2022 SCO summit in Samarkand, Uzbekistan.

During that meeting, Mr Modi told the Russian leader that “today’s era is not an era of war”, a comment that attracted international attention at a time when India was facing pressure over its relationship with Moscow.

Four years later, his language in Bishkek was again directed towards ending the fighting.

“Every day that the war continues, humanity is, in effect, set back a step, whilst every step towards peace gives all of humanity real hope for peace,” Mr Modi said, according to the Kremlin transcript.

“We need to move from endless war to an end to the war, to a cessation of hostilities.”

The statement is notable because it was delivered publicly while Mr Putin was sitting alongside him, rather than through a later diplomatic statement.

Putin says Russia-India ties strengthening

Mr Putin used the meeting to emphasise the strength of Russia’s relationship with India.

He said ties continued to develop on the basis of the two countries’ “special and privileged strategic partnership” and thanked Mr Modi for his attention to the bilateral relationship.

Mr Putin also highlighted his personal relationship with the Indian Prime Minister.

Following the talks, the Kremlin said the Russian President had briefed Mr Modi on developments in what Moscow continues to call its “special military operation” in Ukraine.

Russia has repeatedly said it is prepared to end the conflict if its conditions are met. Ukraine has rejected Moscow’s terms, arguing they would effectively require Kyiv to surrender territory and accept Russian demands.

The two leaders nevertheless demonstrated the continuing warmth of their bilateral relationship.

They greeted each other warmly before the talks and later travelled together to the opening ceremony of the World Nomad Games in Bishkek.

SCO brings major powers together in Bishkek

The meeting took place as leaders from across Eurasia gathered in Kyrgyzstan for the SCO summit.

The grouping includes China, Russia, India, Pakistan, Iran, Belarus and Central Asian states and has increasingly become a platform through which Moscow and Beijing seek greater cooperation among countries outside Western-led institutions.

Chinese President Xi Jinping, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian and other regional leaders were also in Bishkek.

For India, participation presents a complicated diplomatic equation.

New Delhi maintains a decades-old strategic relationship with Russia while simultaneously deepening security and economic cooperation with the United States, Australia and Japan through arrangements including the Quad.

India’s position on Ukraine has therefore centred on maintaining its strategic autonomy while repeatedly advocating negotiations rather than military escalation.

Mr Modi’s latest intervention appears consistent with that approach: maintaining India’s partnership with Moscow while telling Mr Putin directly that the fighting should end.

As the war continues without a comprehensive peace agreement, Mr Modi framed India’s position not in terms of alignment with Russia or the West, but as a broader humanitarian argument.

“We must move away from endless war towards an end to the war,” he said.

“This is essential for the well-being of humanity.”

Support our Journalism

No-nonsense journalism. No paywalls. Whether you’re in Australia, the UK, Canada, the USA, or India, you can support The Australia Today by taking a paid subscription via Patreon or donating via PayPal — and help keep honest, fearless journalism alive.

The post “We must move away from endless war’: Modi urges Putin to end Ukraine conflict at SCO summit first appeared on The Australia Today.

Opposition Leader Jess Wilson said the Liberal-Nationals plan would provide more frequent services, more seats and more than double passenger capacity on the two corridors, which currently rely on V/Line diesel trains.

The Coalition says the new fleet could be delivered within four years and would be capable of operating across both electrified and non-electrified parts of Victoria’s rail network.

The proposal represents a major pitch to voters in Melbourne’s western growth corridor ahead of the November election, where transport infrastructure and rapidly increasing demand have become key political issues.

“Labor has twice promised and twice failed to deliver the modern train services communities across Melton and Wyndham Vale deserve,” Ms Wilson said.

“Labor says one thing before an election then does another afterwards.

“Our plan will deliver metro-quality train services to Melbourne’s west sooner — meaning more trains, more seats and greater capacity.”

Why Melbourne’s west wants change

Melton, Wyndham Vale and Tarneit are part of one of Australia’s fastest-growing urban corridors, but commuters continue to rely on regional V/Line services rather than Melbourne’s electrified metropolitan train network.

The problem is particularly acute on the Wyndham Vale corridor.

Wyndham City says commuters from Melbourne’s western suburbs now account for about 40 per cent of all V/Line boardings outside Southern Cross Station, with Tarneit and Wyndham Vale consistently among the busiest stations on the regional network.

The council argues V/Line trains were not designed to carry the volume of suburban commuters now using them and has been campaigning for electrification of the Regional Rail Link.

The Coalition says its 25 new trains could potentially provide additional services through the City Loop during peak periods and more than double passenger capacity.

The trains would be assembled in Victoria, according to the opposition.

Hybrid capability is central to the proposal because the Melton and Wyndham Vale corridors are not currently electrified.

The Coalition says the trains could use electric power on electrified sections while retaining the ability to operate on sections without overhead electrical infrastructure.

Shadow Public Transport Minister Matthew Guy said western suburbs passengers should no longer have to depend on regional rolling stock for what is increasingly a suburban commuter service.

“Suburban passengers need suburban trains,” Mr Guy said.

“Our hybrid suburban trains will deliver metro-quality services now and are able to run seamlessly across both electrified and non-electrified train lines.”

Labor’s 2018 promise

The argument over electrification stretches back almost eight years.

Ahead of the 2018 state election, the Andrews Labor government announced its Western Rail Plan, which included planning for two new electrified metropolitan rail lines to Melton and Wyndham Vale, alongside additional tracks between Sunshine and the CBD.

The government subsequently committed $100 million in the 2019-20 budget towards planning and design for the broader Western Rail Plan.

But neither corridor has yet been converted to metropolitan electric services.

The government has argued the enormous rail infrastructure task in the west needs to be completed in stages, including new stations, additional tracks and longer platforms before electrification.

Labor has now taken a further step towards electrifying Melton.

The Australian and Victorian governments have jointly committed $152.7 million to development work for Melton Line electrification, including detailed design and costing, environmental assessments, planning approvals, site investigations and securing the future electricity supply.

That development phase is expected to be completed in mid-2027, but the government has not yet committed the full construction funding or announced a completion date for electrification.

There is also no equivalent construction commitment yet to electrify the Wyndham Vale corridor.

Longer V/Line trains coming to Melton

Labor is separately upgrading the existing Melton service while electrification planning continues.

Nine-car VLocity trains are scheduled to begin running on the Melton Line in 2027, increasing peak passenger capacity by 50 per cent.

Platforms at stations including Caroline Springs, Deer Park, Rockbank and Cobblebank are being extended, while a new train stabling facility is being constructed at Cobblebank.

Importantly, that facility is being designed so it can eventually accommodate Metro trains once electrification takes place.

The new Melton Station has also been designed with four platforms — two intended for future metropolitan electric services and two for regional trains.

Sunshine remains crucial

Both the Coalition proposal and Labor’s longer-term electrification ambitions depend heavily on what happens around Sunshine.

More than $4 billion is being invested by the Victorian and federal governments in works between West Footscray and Albion, including transforming Sunshine Station into a major transport interchange.

The project is intended to increase capacity through the Sunshine rail junction and prepare the network for both the future Melbourne Airport Rail connection and Melton electrification.

The upgraded Sunshine station is expected to have capacity supporting more than 1,000 train movements each day, with works due to be completed around 2030.

The Coalition says its hybrid proposal would not prevent the Melton and Wyndham Vale lines from eventually being fully electrified after the necessary Sunshine works are completed.

Instead, it argues hybrid trains offer a way of providing electric suburban-style rolling stock sooner.

Questions over cost and technology

The proposal will now face scrutiny over exactly what type of hybrid technology would be used, procurement and delivery timelines, modifications required to existing infrastructure and how the trains would integrate with Melbourne’s metropolitan network.

The Coalition estimates its plan will cost $1.7 billion.

According to reporting on the announcement, full electrification of the two western corridors has been estimated at between $4.7 billion and $5.5 billion, making the hybrid proposal substantially cheaper as an interim measure.

However, full electrification would deliver permanent infrastructure rather than relying on dual-mode rolling stock, meaning the two proposals are not directly equivalent.

The Coalition has also promised to establish a new independent Public Transport Victoria board, which it says would sharpen the system’s focus on service delivery and value for taxpayers.

The announcement puts western Melbourne’s rail network firmly into the state election campaign.

Labor can point to billions of dollars already being spent on Sunshine, the Melton Line Upgrade and the newly funded development work for Melton electrification.

The Coalition, however, is asking voters in the west a simpler question: after the first electrification commitment was made in 2018, why are Melton and Wyndham Vale commuters still travelling on diesel-powered regional trains eight years later?

“The only way to deliver the quality train services Melton and Wyndham Vale communities deserve is to change the government this November,” Mr Guy said.

Support our Journalism

No-nonsense journalism. No paywalls. Whether you’re in Australia, the UK, Canada, the USA, or India, you can support The Australia Today by taking a paid subscription via Patreon or donating via PayPal — and help keep honest, fearless journalism alive.

The post 25 new trains, double the capacity: Coalition pledges $1.7 billion for hybrid-electric trains on Melton and Wyndham Vale lines first appeared on The Australia Today.