Australia news live: Melbourne gets opening date for Metro rail; PM offers condolences on massacre anniversary | Australian politics
Melbourne’s Metro Tunnel rail line to open in December
Benita Kolovos
The Victorian premier, Jacinta Allan, has taken to social media this morning to announce the Metro Tunnel will open in early December.
EXCLUSIVE: Metro Tunnel is opening in early December.
— Jacinta Allan (@JacintaAllanMP) October 6, 2025
She’s holding a press conference later this morning to detail opening plans.
The tunnel will connect the Sunbury line in the west to the Cranbourne and Pakenham lines in the south-east via five new underground city stations, forming a single 97km train line.
It will provide more frequent services from Sunbury to Cranbourne and Pakenham and free up City Loop capacity, returning Frankston trains to the loop.
Here’s a look at the final two completed stations:
Key events
Average GP consultation is 20 mins as peak body says more subsidies needed for longer consultations
Natasha May
GP appointments are getting longer with the average consultation now nearly 20 minutes, the annual report from the peak body shows.
The Royal Australian College of GPs (RACGP) has today released its annual ‘Health of the Nation’ report, a month ahead of the government’s expansion of bulk billing incentives to all Australian Medicare cardholders coming into effect in November.
The president of the college, Dr Michael Wright, acknowledged the commonwealth’s record investment in general practice but said the report highlights the need for further investment increasing patient rebates for longer consultations.
Since the government announced the reforms, GPs have raised concerns the increases in the bulk billing incentives are largest for shorter consultations, and then become lower for longer appointments – which is where they say they need more support to help manage increasing levels of chronic disease and complex presentations.
‘There is nothing worse than politicians focusing on themselves’: Cash
The opposition is trying to stop talking about itself following the dramatic resignation of Andrew Hastie from the frontbench on Friday.
Over on the Today show, senior shadow minister, Michaelia Cash, said she has “one job” which is to hold the government to account (and not talk about the internal politics of the Liberal party).
there is nothing worse than politicians focusing on themselves. The Australian people, they actually hate that… the Australian people, they don’t like it when we focus on ourselves.
Cash is on a panel with Labor minister, Amanda Rishworth, who describes the turmoil as “a bit days of our lives”. But she does agree that, “people don’t like parties that are focused on themselves.”
Three major telco bosses will be hauled into parliament today for a chat with the communications minister, Anika Wells, following two outages of Optus’ mobile network.
The government will also be introducing legislation to enshrine the “Triple Zero Custodian” into law, which provides oversight over the whole triple zero system.
Marles told Sky News a bit earlier that the government was acting on the recommendations of a March 2024 report it had commissioned after a previous Optus network outage two years ago.
We expect the obligations that are given by the telecommunications companies in putting in place the triple zero service that those obligations are met, and that is obviously what we have been talking with Optus about when this has previously been looked at after the previous outage a couple of years ago.
Melbourne’s Metro Tunnel rail line to open in December
Benita Kolovos
The Victorian premier, Jacinta Allan, has taken to social media this morning to announce the Metro Tunnel will open in early December.
EXCLUSIVE: Metro Tunnel is opening in early December.
— Jacinta Allan (@JacintaAllanMP) October 6, 2025
She’s holding a press conference later this morning to detail opening plans.
The tunnel will connect the Sunbury line in the west to the Cranbourne and Pakenham lines in the south-east via five new underground city stations, forming a single 97km train line.
It will provide more frequent services from Sunbury to Cranbourne and Pakenham and free up City Loop capacity, returning Frankston trains to the loop.
Here’s a look at the final two completed stations:
As mentioned, deputy PM and defence minister Richard Marles has been tapped on the shoulder to do the morning media, lauding the “historic” agreement with PNG.
Marles tells Sky News the alliance is “natural” in making Australia the security partner of choice for PNG. When pressed on whether the deal is about countering China, Marles emphasises that the deal is about Australia and PNG.
Albanese was anticipated to sign the alliance agreement during a recent trip to PNG, and had also been expected to sign a separate defence agreement with Vanuatu. On the latter, Marles says he won’t speculate when, but is confident that it will happen.
It doesn’t surprise me that it would take some time in order to do that, but I’m confident in in the not too distant future, you will see us being able to sign the agreement that we are planning.
Good morning
Krishani Dhanji
Krishani Dhanji back with you for another sitting week, and it is going to be a busy one. There is plenty of legislation up for debate, and of course we have Senate estimates, which always brings the drama.
The deputy prime minister is doing the media rounds this morning, spruiking yesterday’s signing of a defence agreement between Australia and Papua New Guinea.
The opposition’s also out, trying to turn up the heat on the government, and trying not to talk about itself. It’s the first sitting week since the resignations of Andrew Hastie and Jacinta Nampijinpa Price from the Coalition frontbench.
Let’s get stuck in!
Sarah Basford Canales
Bill to enable listing of state entities as terror organisations to enter parliament
Foreign state entities, such as Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), could soon be listed as terror groups in Australia as the federal government looks to pass a bill tweaking counter-terrorism laws.
The bill, which will first be scrutinised by parliament’s security and intelligence committee, will amend laws to allow foreign state entities to be listed as a terror organisation for engaging directly, or indirectly, on acts on domestic soil.
In August, the Albanese government announced it would expel Tehran’s ambassador to Canberra after “credible intelligence” from the Australian Security and Intelligence Organisation (Asio) that Iran was behind the attacks against the Adass Israel synagogue in Melbourne and Lewis’s Continental Kitchen in Bondi in Sydney.
Asio’s head, Mike Burgess, said the attacks had been ordered by the IRGC working through a series of paid intermediaries acting in Australia.
The attorney-general, Michelle Rowland, said the changes will “make it more difficult, more risky, and more costly for malicious foreign actors to seek to cause Australia and our community harm”.
Read more:
Natasha May
Indonesia ‘will not be offended’ by Australia-PNG treaty, Marape says
Ferguson asked James Marape specifically if it was possible that PNG could make a decision not to be involved in a conflict Australia was engaged in with China.
Marape said:
There’s a high possibility, when it even happens, PNG has a sovereignty in itself. This treaty was constructed within the fullest ambit of respecting sovereignties, in making their own calls.
Likewise Australia, if PNG was engaged in a conflict, we would not expect Australia to drop everything else and run to us. The treaty has provisions where there’ll be consultations that will be engaged. There’s a finality of making calls that rests with respect to defence force commanders.
Ferguson asked Marape on the other side of the equation – is Australia committing to assisting Papua New Guinea in the event of cross-border raids between West Papua and Papua New Guinea?
Marape said “not so much – we have a healthy dialogue with Indonesia.”
He said PNG did not discuss the treaty with Indonesia before he signed. “It’s a matter between PNG and Australia.”
He said Indonesia and other nations will be informed on the finer details of the treaty: “I’m 100% certain Indonesia will not be offended. They clearly understand where our need is. It is also in our shared interest – Indonesia and PNG have 800 kilometres of land borders.”
Natasha May
PNG prime minister dismisses ‘alarmist approach’ to China relations
Marape commended Chinese officials for giving Papua New Guinea “full respect to our sovereign interests” in the process of the treaty. When asked, he said Chinese officials did not make any direct or indirect threats as to the consequences if he signed this treaty with Australia.
ABC 7.30 host Sarah Ferguson asked: “This treaty is different because it commits you to act in the face of a common danger. That’s clearly in Australia’s interest, because PNG provides a useful geographic location as well as all the other benefits. But what does PNG get from Australia’s interests vis-a-vis a heavily militarising China?”
Marape said PNG stands to benefit in its capacity to build their own defence force but emphasised:
The construct of this treaty is a construct in peacetime for peace. This is not a construct to create war. It’s rather a construct to establish peace …
I don’t necessarily see China as [an] enemy. China is a good relationship nation, even with Australia. We, PNG, we trade with China. We do business with China, and so there’s no need for an alarmist approach in this conversation.
PNG defence Treaty is a ‘natural progression’, says Marape
Natasha May
James Marape, the prime minister of Papua New Guinea, says yesterday’s signing of the Pukpuk defence treaty with Australia is a “natural progression” for the two countries.
Pukpuk will require Australia and PNG to come to each other’s aid in the event of a military attack, and allow citizens of either country to serve in the defence force of the other.
Marape, appearing on ABC’s 7.30 program Monday evening, said there would be “interoperability” with the PNG defence force using Australian facilities and vice versa.
Asked whether ADF bases in PNG were a possibility, Marape said “not at this stage.”
PM marks anniversary of 7 October massacre
Sarah Basford Canales
Anthony Albanese has offered his condolences to the Jewish community on the second anniversary of the 7 October massacre by Hamas in southern Israel.
The prime minister’s statement paid tribute to Australian woman, Galit Carbone, who was living in the Be’eri kibbutz at the time of the attack.
Albanese said Australia stood with the Jewish community, “who feel the cold shadow of history’s darkest chapter in any act of antisemitism”.
“We will always stand against antisemitism, and so should everyone,” he said.
The prime minister also used the statement to show his support for Donald Trump‘s peace plan for the ongoing conflict. Negotiations are underway in Egypt over the first phase of the proposal, which would result in a ceasefire along with the release of Israeli hostages and Palestinian prisoners in Israeli prisons.
Albanese’s statement continued:
Australia welcomes President Trump’s plan to end the conflict in Gaza after almost two years of conflict and a devastating loss of civilian life. Australia has consistently been part of the international pressure for a ceasefire in Gaza, the return of hostages, for aid to flow and for a two-state solution.
It is our duty to do everything in our power to see a just and lasting peace in the Middle East. The state of Israel and the state of Palestine living side by side, within internationally recognised borders, in peace and security.
Welcome
Good morning and welcome to our live politics blog, as parliament (plus Senate estimates) kicks off again. I’m Martin Farrer with the top overnight stories and then it’ll be Krishani Dhanji with the main action.
Anthony Albanese has offered his condolences to the Jewish community on the second anniversary of the 7 October 2023 massacre by Hamas in Israel. We have more on this shortly, plus later in the day the Executive Council of Australian Jewry is holding a press conference in Sydney to mark the anniversary.
A hearing at NSW supreme court will rule on a police bid to stop a pro-Palestine protest at Sydney Opera House, while Victoria’s Palestinian community will hold a public vigil at Queen Victoria gardens. We’ll keep tabs on everything.
Elsewhere, James Marape, the prime minister of Papua New Guinea, has told ABC’s 7.30 that yesterday’s signing of the Pukpuk defence treaty with Australia was a “natural progression” for the two countries. More details coming up.
