NSW government considered cancelling metro station amid potential $2bn blowout
Penry Buckley
The NSW premier, Chris Minns, says the government considered – but decided against – cancelling one of the stations on Sydney’s largest metro line amid a potential multibillion-dollar cost blowout.
The Sydney Morning Herald has reported that confidential estimates show the cost of the Metro West line, set to open in 2032, could be at least $2bn higher than official forecasts. The blowout is reportedly due the cost of building underground stations following delays to awarding contracts, which could bring the total spend to more than $27bn.
Speaking today, Minns characterised the $2bn figure as being “at the upper end of a potential cost overrun”. He said:
Some of the ways that we’ve looked at, to be honest with you, reducing that bill and keeping it within its original envelope … is to cancel a station that we’d already announced.
And we’ve looked at all different ways of ensuring that that can come in on time and on budget, but that was a decision that we felt was too far.
But that’s what it would take to reduce the cost of that Metro.
Minns did not say which station the government was considering cancelling on the line, which will run from Hunter Street in the CBD to Westmead via Olympic Park and Parramatta, but said there were “a few options”.
Key events
Krishani Dhanji
Albanese welcomes Gaza plan and calls on parties to ‘bring its vision into reality’
Anthony Albanese welcomed the Gaza peace plan, and has urged all parties to “engage seriously” with it.
In a statement – as the PM returns from an overseas trip to the UN general assembly, the UK and UAE – Albanese said the government commends the focus on Palestinian self-determination and its commitment to denying Hamas any role in the future governance of Gaza:
We commend the plan’s focus on Palestinian self-determination and statehood, and the Palestinian Authority taking back effective control of Gaza. President Trump’s plan reflects a clear rejection of annexation and forced displacement of Palestinians.
Australia urges all parties to engage seriously with the plan and to work to bring its vision into reality without delay.
Albanese added that he “welcomed the opportunity” to discuss the plan with other leaders over the past week.
Earlier this morning, deputy prime minister Richard Marles said the plan “keeps the door open” to a two state solution, and represents “hope”.
Luca Ittimani
Seven gets bigger boost than Southern Cross after merger news
Seven West Media’s shareholders enjoyed a much larger boost in value than Southern Cross Austereo’s after news of a proposed merger between the two.
Seven has jumped $15m in value to $230m, while the radio stable’s value is just $6m higher than it was yesterday, at $207.5m.
The companies told investors this morning they expected to get rid of up to $30m in annual costs by linking their assets, including combining their digital platforms, Seven Plus and Listnr.
Listnr has grown revenues by nearly a third annually, offsetting declining radio audiences and helping Southern Cross recover from its lows last year, when it was worth just $120m.
Southern Cross investors will see higher earnings per share under the merger, implying bigger profits and dividends, E&P Capital’s media analyst, Entcho Raykovski, said.
Seven West Media, meanwhile, reported a $61m drop in revenue in the year to June and after-tax profit nearly 20 times smaller than it recorded in 2021, with advertising revenue sliding everywhere except Seven Plus.
SWM’s share price has risen as investors weigh up the benefits of the deal to Seven against the chance they will have to sell their shares at a discount.
Seven investors would have to trade each of their shares for less than one-sixth of a Southern Cross share under the deal, which is less than their market value at current prices – a term Raykovski described as “unusual”.
Krishani Dhanji
Hanson-Young says commission didn’t consult enough with creative industries
Following from our last post, Sarah Hanson-Young also said the commission had “misread the value of the creative industry”.
You consulted with Mastercard, you consulted with Microsoft, you consulted with Meta, you consulted with OpenAI … you consulted with a lot of other players but you didn’t consult with all the creative industries.
I’m really interested to know who these many parties are who told you this was a problem that there needed to be an exemption, or that copyright was an issue. I’m assuming you didn’t write this report with AI itself.
Commissioner Julie Abramson, said the commission was doing “wide consultation” and had received more than 400 submissions for the final report.
She said there wasn’t a “firm view” on what approach should be taken on copyright legislation.
Krishani Dhanji
Senators grill productivity commission during hearing on copyright and AI
The productivity commission was hounded by senators this morning during an inquiry hearing into copyright laws, artists and AI.
Senators accused the commission of “waving the white flag” on artists in their interim report on harnessing the benefits of AI in Australia.
A key element of the report was a proposal to implement a text and data mining exemption to the Copyright Act, which would allow tech companies to use copyrighted work to train AI.
In a somewhat rare scene, Liberal senator Sarah Henderson and Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young were on a unity ticket, attacking the commission for not modelling the impact of a text and data mining exemption in the copyright law on the creative industry and for failing consult with the creative industry ahead of releasing their interim report.
Henderson “condemned” the commission for “not having regard to our creative industries”. She said:
Why is it not realistic that we would not look at ways to protect the work of Australian creatives that is being stolen by big tech overseas?
NSW government considered cancelling metro station amid potential $2bn blowout
Penry Buckley
The NSW premier, Chris Minns, says the government considered – but decided against – cancelling one of the stations on Sydney’s largest metro line amid a potential multibillion-dollar cost blowout.
The Sydney Morning Herald has reported that confidential estimates show the cost of the Metro West line, set to open in 2032, could be at least $2bn higher than official forecasts. The blowout is reportedly due the cost of building underground stations following delays to awarding contracts, which could bring the total spend to more than $27bn.
Speaking today, Minns characterised the $2bn figure as being “at the upper end of a potential cost overrun”. He said:
Some of the ways that we’ve looked at, to be honest with you, reducing that bill and keeping it within its original envelope … is to cancel a station that we’d already announced.
And we’ve looked at all different ways of ensuring that that can come in on time and on budget, but that was a decision that we felt was too far.
But that’s what it would take to reduce the cost of that Metro.
Minns did not say which station the government was considering cancelling on the line, which will run from Hunter Street in the CBD to Westmead via Olympic Park and Parramatta, but said there were “a few options”.
Josh Taylor
Ombudsman fields hundreds of complaints of social media users locked out
The Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman (TIO) has received hundreds of complaints from social media users and businesses locked out of their accounts, despite the office not having a role in mediating disputes between consumers and social media companies.
Guardian Australia reported in August a spate of users finding themselves locked out of their accounts on Meta platforms after they were incorrectly flagged as breaching community standards.
The TIO reported on Tuesday that in data covering before the most recent spike in reports of being block, that for 2023 and 2024, there were 500 complaints to the TIO about social media platforms overall, with 70% of these complaints linked to Meta and Google platforms. The TIO said 60% of these were regarding blocked accounts.
The TIO is responsible for mediating complaints between consumers and telecommunications companies, but is now arguing that there needs to be a digital platforms ombudsman to deal with complaints made about social media companies, and it is a role the TIO wants to take on.
Freyja McCarthy, the TIO’s executive general manager for legal, policy and
regulatory affairs said:
The TIO already hears from consumers and small businesses falling through the cracks. They are unable to get fair outcomes when internal dispute resolution offered by social media companies falls short.
We need an ombudsman to play a vital role in increasing trust and confidence in the digital economy and providing individual redress to consumers when things go wrong.
Victorian Liberals extend timeline to nominate for preselection to try to find more candidates
Benita Kolovos
The Victorian Liberals have extended the timeline for nominations for preselection in four seats where sitting MPs have signalled their plans to retire at the next election.
While nominations for Liberal-held lower house seats close at 12pm today, Guardian Australia understands the party has left open nominations for the seats of Benambra, Croydon, Malvern and Rowville until a date to be fixed to allow for more candidates to come forward.
One Liberal source says there “hasn’t been a flood of nominations”, with several strong prospective candidates concerned about the impact nominating would have on their careers.
Another barrier could also be the $5,000 application fee for prospective candidates.
In early 2024, Benambra MP Bill Tilley announced he wouldn’t be contesting the election due to his ongoing cancer battle. This month David Hodgett, Michael O’Brien and Kim Wells announced they wouldn’t run again in Croydon, Malvern and Rowville, respectively.
Both Croydon and Rowville are considered target seats by Labor, on margins of 1.2% and 3.7%.
Communications minister meets with Optus owner Singtel, says triple-zero outage ‘must never happen again’
The communications minister, Anika Wells, says she has told Optus owner Singtel that the troubled telco must take full responsibility for its obligations to the community.
Wells met with Singtel group CEO, Yuen Kuan Moon, earlier today after two Optus outages in less than a fortnight, including one that blocked emergency calls for telco customers in South Australia, Western Australia, the Northern Territory and parts of NSW.
The deaths of two people in South Australia and one in Western Australia have been linked to the outages (a fourth death – an infant in SA – was found to have been likely unrelated).
In a statement, Wells restated that the government had ordered an Australian Communications and Media Authority (Acma) investigation and said she had used today’s meeting to convey the government’s “serious concern” over the triple-zero outage and “reinforce that it must never happen again”.
Wells added:
Optus and all telecommunications providers have legal obligations under Australian law to make sure calls to emergency services go through. As the parent company of Optus, Singtel is also accountable.
I have requested Optus employs external advisers to independently assess the company’s network plans to provide confidence to the Australian Communications and Media Authority [Acma] and the Australian government that these problems will not recur.
The Australian government has directed Acma to investigate, and I reiterated to Optus and Singtel they must be fully transparent as part of this process.
We have made clear that Optus is accountable for what happened, and Optus needs to take full responsibility for its obligations to the community.
Andrew Messenger
Plan for troubled Brisbane childcare centre
Students at a troubled Brisbane childcare centre will be relocated to a disused classroom at a nearby school, while a dispute over its finances and management is investigated.
The community-run Craigslea kindergarten, in Brisbane’s north, made international headlines last Monday, after its management committee asked parents for $2,200 for their children’s own artwork to pay off debts. It has since been returned and the centre has gone into administration.
Education minister John-Paul Langbroek announced on Monday that all 44 children would be accommodated at the Craigslea state school until the centre could be re-established next year.
He said the department’s regulator would investigate allegations that the centre had been run by a single person, and whether any crime had been committed:
It’s a very rare situation where you have a voluntary management committee that ends up in the situation this one did …
What we’ll take from this is, following the completion of the investigation, we’ll have a look at the situation to try to strengthen procedures that happen early childhood is a completely different situation for schooling, as you’ve already mentioned. It’s the only part of our education system that has an element of private involvement in it as well, and so it’s quite complicated.
Stokes to step down from Seven if merger succeeds
Luca Ittimani
Kerry Stokes, Seven’s billionaire chair, will step down from the media business in February if its merger with Southern Cross Media goes ahead.
As we reported earlier, Seven West’s proposed merge with Southern Cross Media would combine the former’s TV and news stable with the latter’s radio networks.
Stokes, the 85-year-old Western Australian businessman, took a major stake in the Seven Network in 1995 and has chaired the media company since 2008.
He stepped down as chair of his industrial and materials company, Seven Group Holdings, in 2021. SGH held two-fifths of the shares in the media business and will now control one-fifth of the merger.
Stokes will be succeeded as chair of the merged companies by the sitting chair of Southern Cross, Heith Mackay-Cruise. Stokes said:
I have every confidence Heith will continue to guide the combined group successfully. Following my retirement from the Board in February 2026 I intend to continue to support the Chair and Board wherever I can add value.
Joining Mackay-Cruise on the new board will be Stokes’ son, Ryan Stokes, who has sat on the board of Seven West since 2012 and has served as chief executive of SGH since 2010.
The Seven West chief executive, Jeff Howard, will remain CEO in the merged company and will also sit on the board, along with two more Seven West directors plus two others from Southern Cross.
Henry Belot
Australia’s Future Fund discloses huge profits from weapons manufacturers despite fierce criticisms of support for industry
Australia’s $250bn sovereign wealth fund has secured huge returns on investment in weapons and defence companies in less than two years, despite long-running criticism of its support for the industry.
The value of shares held in eight companies increased by $76m between October 2023 and June 2025 amid wars in the Middle East and Ukraine and the sharpest increase in military spending since the cold war.
The fund’s investments in Israel’s largest private defence contractor, Elbit, which is a major supplier to the Israeli Defense Forces, increased from $489,000 to $2.69m as of 30 June, according to the fund’s latest disclosures.
Elbit Systems describes itself as the “backbone” of the IDF’s drone fleet, which has been used extensively in the assault on Gaza. Its portfolio also includes systems for command and control, military aircraft and helicopters, armed remote control boats, and land vehicles.
Read more:
Singtel and Optus executives defend Optus CEO after triple-zero outages
Yuen Kuan Moon, the CEO of Singtel, just spoke to reporters and said a review of the Optus triple-zero outage would be conducted “thoroughly to make sure this will not happen in the future”. The telco appointed Dr Kerry Schott to lead an independent review into the outages last week.
Yuen told reporters the Optus CEO, Stephen Rue, had only been in the role for 11 months and was brought on to “transform” the telco, but it was still “very early days”:
It takes time to transform a company.
John Arthur, the chair of the Optus board, said the company was “committed to working with the government to do whatever needs to be done here”:
We are going to get all of the expertise and help that we need to make sure we make things right here.
Arthur went on to say the board was “satisfied” with Rue’s work:
He has been in the job 11 months, the board is satisfied that he is making progress. But it is a work in progress.
