Final Melbourne Metro Tunnel station completed
Benita Kolovos
State Library station – the final of five stations to make up Melbourne’s Metro Tunnel – has been completed, marking the end of construction on the long awaited project.
After the premier, Jacinta Allan, and infrastructure minister, Gabrielle Williams, on Sunday announced the completion of Town Hall station, they will today visit State Library station to confirm it is also complete. Anzac, Arden and Parkville stations were handed over to Metro trains in April.
State Library station is the deepest and most complex to be built under Melbourne’s CBD, as the tunnel needed to travel underneath the existing City Loop. It sits 36m below ground, and will have a 42m-long escalator, which is 12m longer than the escalators at Parliament station, which until now was the longest in Melbourne.
The station’s main entrance at La Trobe and Swanston Street features 12m-high columns topped with massive, 70-tonne, 18m beams, reflecting the classical architecture of the nearby State Library Victoria. A second entrance opens on to Franklin Street, right outside RMIT.
It also includes an underground underpass that will allow commuters to transfer between State Library and Melbourne Central, without tapping on or off. The $13.48bn Metro 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.
Now in its third term, the Labor government is pinning its hopes on the tunnel delivering political capital before the November 2026 state election. It will now be under pressure to announce the date it will open to commuters – so far they have only said it will open by the end of the year.
In a statement, Allan said the announcement marked “ one small step for a commuter and one giant leap for Victoria”. She continued:
The end of major construction means the start of a new era for Melbourne, where you can get to uni, work and retail faster and easier.
Key events
Here’s how to vote in the 2025 Australian bird of the year poll
In exciting news, you can now vote in the 2025 Australian bird of the year poll! Matilda Boseley explains how the voting works, while definitely not at all encouraging you to vote for a particular bird.
With the news of the completion of the final station of Melbourne’s Metro Tunnel, here’s something we prepared earlier on “the biggest change to Melbourne’s rail network since 1981”.
Benita Kolovos
Jacinta Allan says Metro Tunnel next step is to add it to rest of network
Jacinta Allan said the next step before the Metro tunnel opens is rewriting the city’s entire transport timetable – trains, trams and buses – to make way for it. She says this is one of the key difference between Melbourne’s Metro and Sydney’s, which opened last year.
Allan said:
That Sydney Metro project, it’s a great project. It’s a great public transport project as well. That’s a standalone line – it runs on its own line. It doesn’t have to intersect with the rest of its network. That adds to the complexity here with the Metro Tunnel in terms of how we connect it in to the rest of Melbourne and Victoria’s train network.
Allan also used the opportunity to have a dig at the Liberal party, who she says called the project a “cruel hoax” when it was first proposed more than a decade a go.
She continued:
They said it would be an absolute disaster for Melbourne. And worse than that, not only were they critics of it, when they were in government, they refused to fund the Metro tunnel project.
Well Labor, not only did we fund it, we’ve been building it, we’re delivering it, and it’s going to open later this year, a full year ahead of schedule. And we’ve done this because we’ve understood that when you look to the future of our great city and state, you need to invest, work through the complexities of projects like this and, yes, I can say very clearly, there were challenges along the way, you’ve got to roll up your sleeves.
Benita Kolovos
Victorian premier hails new State Library station
The Victorian premier, Jacinta Allan, and infrastructure minister, Gabrielle Williams, are holding a press conference at State Library station to mark the completion of construction.
State Library station is the final of five stations to make up the Metro Tunnel and Allan says it was one of the most complex of the project. She continues:
Here at State Library, we can see the size of the cavern that’s been excavated here, the width of the platforms at 18m – they are amongst the longest in the in the world. There are 27 escalators, including one that’s the longest also in the world, because we are deep beneath the ground.
Here at State Library, we are six storeys deep beneath the ground, or if you like, that’s deeper than the height of Marvel Stadium. And that, I hope, gives a sense of this huge, complex construction task that was before the thousand of workers who’ve worked around the clock over that eight year period.
Moreton Island fire caused by campfire, RFS says
A holidaymaker could be charged after allegedly lighting a campfire during a total fire ban, sparking the massive blaze on Queensland’s Moreton Island over the weekend, AAP reports.
Rural Fire Service Queensland Acting Chief Supt Neil Parker said the cause of the blaze was a campfire at Eagers Creek, on the island’s eastern coast.
Parker told AAP:
When careless things like this happen, it has a big impact, particularly on our volunteers who go out at all hours of the night to keep our community safe.
As we reported earlier, the fire’s warning level was downgraded this morning to “advice” level after firefighters worked over the weekend to contain it.
Penry Buckley
‘It sounded considered’: Croydon Park witness on gunfire
Returning to the alleged shooting incident in Sydney’s inner west last night, Matt Iocco, who lives locally, arrived in the area at about 8pm to find the road blocked off. He and his family waited at one end of the street as the police operation unfolded. He shared a video in which a burst of gunfire can be heard.
Iocco, who works at the vet next door to the apartment the gunman allegedly opened fire from, said “it is very scary” to think what could have happened if he had been walking through only minutes earlier.
Michelle Baldock was at home across the street about 7.30pm when she heard what she thought were firecrackers. She says the shots were going off in bursts. “It sounded considered,” she says.
Baldock says her home didn’t appear to have sustained any damage, but there are visible bullet-holes in the windows in the home of her neighbours, who Baldock says are a family with young children.
NSW Ambulance has confirmed that five people were taken to hospital last night. One, a taxi driver in his 50s, self-presented at Canterbury hospital and was transported to Royal Prince Alfred hospital in a serious condition. A man and a woman, both in their 30s, self-presented at Campsie police station last night with minor injuries and were taken to hospital. Two more men were treated at the scene on Georges River Road before being taken to hospital.
Australia and PNG to sign major defence treaty
Dan Jervis-Bardy
Australia and Papua New Guinea will ink a major defence agreement in Canberra on Monday to entrench ties between the two countries.
The PNG prime minister, James Marape, will join Anthony Albanese in Parliament House later this morning to officially sign the Pukpuk mutual defence treaty.
The treaty will elevate Australia’s relations with PNG to the same status as the US and New Zealand, and includes provisions requiring that both countries come to the other’s aid in the event of a military attack.
It will also allow citizens of the two nations to serve in the other’s military, paving the way for potentially thousands of PNG residents to join the Australian Defence Force.
The treaty was expected to be signed last month when Albanese travelled to Port Moresby for the 50th anniversary of PNG’s independence but concerns over sovereignty and the lack of a quorum in Marape’s cabinet held up the deal.
Award-winning porridge jaffles
If the thought of porridge jaffles with rum bananas tickles your fancy, you’re in luck: the Golden Spurtle website has Caroline Velik’s prize-winning recipe, which makes use of a jaffle iron – the modern incarnation of which is an Australian invention, and food history enthusiasts trace it to a Bondi man in 1949.
Australian wins global porridge-making award
An Australian has won an award at this year’s Golden Spurtle World Porridge Making Championship.
Caroline Velik was named Speciality Dish winner for her porridge jaffles – a yoghurt flatbread filled with rum bananas, made with her mother’s recipe, which included Bundaberg banana toffee rum liqueur, bananas, oatmeal and wattle seeds, tossed in Davidson plum sugar.
Sven Seljom, from Norway, took home the title of Golden Spurtle world champion. He made his porridge from Norwegian black oats – an ancient grain that used to be grown all over Europe – sea salt, and water he brought with him from home.
Australian Toby Wilson, who has been a finalist in the championship multiple times, has previously given Guardian Australia his top tips for making prize-worthy porridge:
‘It was like non-stop bang, bang, bang’: Croydon Park business owner
Penry Buckley
A business owner on the street in Sydney’s inner west where a gunman allegedly opened fire on Sunday night says there was initial public confusion as the first of as many as 100 bullets were fired.
Aysegul, who asked that her surname not be used, was running her business at the Croydon Park Kebab House, next-door to the apartment the gunman allegedly began shooting from, when she heard two shots but did not know what they were. Customers inside the restaurant initially continued eating.
“Then it was like non-stop bang, bang, bang,” Aysegul said.
She said she could smell the live rounds inside the restaurant. They called police, who told her and her customers to shelter inside the restaurant, which they did until about 10pm.
Aysegul says she knew the alleged perpetrator but not by name, and understood he had moved to the area recently.
At Georges River Road, traffic is now flowing, although the northern side of the street is still blocked off. Several bullet holes are visible in a building across the street, and at the bus stop. Shattered glass from the bus stop is still strewn across the street.
Police are now examining the awning in front of the window from which the gunman allegedly opened fire. Officers have been visible inside the apartment this morning.
Moreton Island fire downgraded to ‘advice’ level
The alert for the Moreton Island fire has been downgraded to “advice” level this morning after fire crews worked over the weekend to contain the blaze.
The fire broke out on the island off Queensland’s south-east coast in dense national park near Eastern Beach at 10.30am on Saturday, forcing the evacuation of 20 campers to the western side of the island on the long weekend, AAP reports.
Emergency services sent in 32 fire crew and five aircraft, including water bombers, to contain the fire on Sunday.
Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service spokesperson Jay Lessons told AAP there had been a “really big effort” from multi-agency teams to get a backburn in place on the 37km sand island.
Acting Chief Supt Neil Parker said fire crew and aircraft worked together to ensure the fire didn’t jump Telegraph Track, “because then we will have communities that could be impacted”.
A favourable wind change on Sunday helped with the backburn, which was within a target area of about 2,300 hectares. There were about 500 people of the island, many visiting for school holidays and the state’s King’s birthday long weekend.
Images of apparent damage from shooting in Sydney’s Croydon Park
Guardian reporter Penry Buckley has been down in Croydon Park this morning at the scene of the alleged shooting last night, and has taken some snaps of the damage.
Inside the new State Library station
Earlier, we brought you the news of the final station in the Melbourne Metro Tunnel, State Library station, being completed. Here’s a peek at what it looks like.
‘I heard a bang-bang-bang on the left side of the car,’ Sydney shooting eyewitness says
A taxi driver, who was an eyewitness to the shooting in Croydon Park, has described his experience to the ABC:
I was just happened to be driving by, and as I was driving by, I just heard a bang-bang-bang on the left side of the car, the taxi. And then I looked next to me, and I saw a couple of holes through the window right next to – on the passenger side. And I didn’t realise there was actually a hole on the roof as well. And I smelled the gunpowder, but I assumed because it was [NRL] Grand Final night, [it was] somebody throwing firecrackers or something.
Police say Sydney shooting ‘incredibly concerning’ but they do not suspect terrorism
The shooting in Sydney’s Croydon Park overnight was “incredibly concerning” and it was lucky more people weren’t hurt, the acting assistant commissioner for New South Wales police Trent King has said.
A 60-year-old man allegedly used a longarm rifle to fire “at least 50” bullets from a residence above a shop on Sunday night. In addition to the man in his 50s who had been taken to hospital with a gunshot wound and remained in a serious condition, King said up to 16 other people had received minor injuries “from glass shattering and other shrapnel as a result of the shots being fired”.
King told ABC RN:
It’s unprecedented for Sydney to have something like this, with such a large number of shots fired. And we’re very fortunate that we didn’t have more damage and certainly more injuries or indeed fatalities.
Police who initially attended the incident were also allegedly fired upon, King said, and a large tactical response including highway patrol, the air wing and dog unit were called in, set up a perimeter and “initiated tactical response to the active shooting”.
King said:
Just like [for] the community, it would have been terrifying [for the police]. What I can say is that those initial police were fired upon. We have damaged police vehicles, and we’re very fortunate that no police have been injured.
There was no understanding as yet about what prompted the incident, but police did not suspect terrorism, King said.
The 60-year-old man, he is undergoing medical treatment in hospital. Once that treatment is resolved, we will have him in custody and then we’ll speak further with him. But certainly there’s nothing in relation to history, in relation to any relation to gang or other associations that would indicate why this has occurred.
Final Melbourne Metro Tunnel station completed
Benita Kolovos
State Library station – the final of five stations to make up Melbourne’s Metro Tunnel – has been completed, marking the end of construction on the long awaited project.
After the premier, Jacinta Allan, and infrastructure minister, Gabrielle Williams, on Sunday announced the completion of Town Hall station, they will today visit State Library station to confirm it is also complete. Anzac, Arden and Parkville stations were handed over to Metro trains in April.
State Library station is the deepest and most complex to be built under Melbourne’s CBD, as the tunnel needed to travel underneath the existing City Loop. It sits 36m below ground, and will have a 42m-long escalator, which is 12m longer than the escalators at Parliament station, which until now was the longest in Melbourne.
The station’s main entrance at La Trobe and Swanston Street features 12m-high columns topped with massive, 70-tonne, 18m beams, reflecting the classical architecture of the nearby State Library Victoria. A second entrance opens on to Franklin Street, right outside RMIT.
It also includes an underground underpass that will allow commuters to transfer between State Library and Melbourne Central, without tapping on or off. The $13.48bn Metro 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.
Now in its third term, the Labor government is pinning its hopes on the tunnel delivering political capital before the November 2026 state election. It will now be under pressure to announce the date it will open to commuters – so far they have only said it will open by the end of the year.
In a statement, Allan said the announcement marked “ one small step for a commuter and one giant leap for Victoria”. She continued:
The end of major construction means the start of a new era for Melbourne, where you can get to uni, work and retail faster and easier.
Hastie did ‘the honourable thing’ by moving to backbench, Paterson says
Andrew Hastie has done “the right thing and the honourable thing” by stepping down from the Liberal party’s frontbench given his disagreement on immigration policy, Liberal senator James Paterson has said.
Paterson, speaking to ABC RN this morning, defended Hastie against criticism that was reportedly levelled against him by Peter Dutton in a submission to the party’s election review.
Paterson, while he hadn’t seen that submission, said:
I don’t agree with the characterisation of Andrew’s contribution. He was a key voice in our national security and defence team, which was one of the strongest areas that we put forward during the last term … We have to accept collective responsibility for our election loss. We all contributed to that, and Peter Dutton has taken public responsibility for that, as have I.
Paterson continued:
What I would say is: if there are any current members of the parliamentary party or their staff who are playing games with an important process like this for internal positioning or advancement, then I think that will end very badly … We have to have a review that can look at the last election result holistically and in a way that has confidence and trust in the party, and that when it is handed down, we can implement the recommendations. And get on with our business. Leaks from a process like that undermine trust in that process.
Welcome
Good morning.
Multiple fire danger warnings are in place across Queensland, with residents in parts of the Bundaberg region and Moreton Island told to prepare to leave, as bushfires rage across the state.
The fire on Moreton Island broke out in dense national park on Saturday morning, forcing the evacuation of 20 campers, while the Queensland Fire Service warned last night that fires in Nearum and Takilberan “could get worse quickly”.
We’ll also bring you more on the shooting in Sydney’s Croydon Park that left several cars damaged and one person hospitalised with a gunshot wound, as that story develops.
I’m Stephanie Convery and I’ll be with you until early this afternoon. Let’s get stuck in.
