Australia has its best chance at finally getting high-speed rail, as the federal government splurges almost $700 million to make the project shovel-ready within a few years.

A two-year development phase started on Tuesday, ensuring work on the long-awaited transport project can begin.

The development phase will be responsible for the approvals process of the route, awarding contracts and finalising the design.

It’s estimated a high-speed rail line would mean travel time of only one hour between Sydney and Newcastle and 30 minutes from Sydney to the Central Coast.

The federal government will pump an extra $229 million into the plan, bringing the Commonwealth’s spend to almost $660 million.

The total cost of the project, including an airport extension, has been estimated at more than $90 billion – making it one of Australia’s most expensive infrastructure projects.

Transport Minister Catherine King said should the development phase be successful, a decision on the project would be made by 2028, with construction to start the following year.

“This is getting it ready for a final investment decision. If you think of the way the private sector works, they do a huge amount of work before they actually are ready,” she told reporters in Newcastle.

“We want to make it happen. We really want to see it come to Australia finally. We can’t be the only populated country in the world without high-speed rail.”

The business case projects a boost of $250 billion to the economy over the next 50 years, with the first stage set to produce about 99,000 jobs.

Stations would be set up in Sydney, the Central Coast, Lake Macquarie and Newcastle.

Further stages include expanding the high-speed rail to Parramatta in Sydney’s west, before heading to the city’s second airport.

Plans are being developed for potential expansion to Melbourne and Brisbane.

Australia had the best chance since high-speed rail was first placed on the agenda in the 1980s to stand the project up, City Futures Research Centre director Christopher Pettit said.

“It’s more of an imperative as a solution to the housing crisis with Melbourne and Sydney bursting at the seams,” he said.

“It offers growth corridors to help alleviate that.”

The smaller leg between Sydney and Newcastle was the start of an exciting project which would help activate regional areas while building Australia’s “backbone”, Professor Pettit said.

“For many Australians there’s a lot of appeal to high-speed rail with comfortable carriages you can work in … it can be more productive and quicker than driving,” he said.

High-speed rail has long been touted as a transport option in Australia, but successive governments over multiple decades have failed to make the thought bubble leave the station.

There has been several proposals for a high-speed route linking Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane.

Monash Institute of Railway Technology director Ravi Ravitharan said he was confident it would get off the ground because of the significant investment and planning.

“You have to start somewhere and high-speed rail is a must for us as a country to move forward with the interest of connecting major cities and improving access to education and health,” he said.

The project was key to Australia achieving its climate targets as rail produced a significantly lower level of emissions compared with planes, Professor Ravitharan said.

It would transform Australia’s east coast, Australian Railway Association chief executive Caroline Wilkie said.

“High-speed rail has been a dream for decades but, today, we are a step closer to making it a reality,” Ms Wilkie said.

A bipartisan push to ensure Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor never becomes Australia’s head of state is making global headway.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese wrote to his British counterpart on Monday, expressing support for any moves to remove the disgraced royal from the line of succession.

New Zealand is the latest nation to join the push, after the former prince was arrested over the alleged leaking of secret documents to dead pedophile Jeffrey Epstein.

Mountbatten-Windsor has been released as investigations continue.

New Zealand Prime Minister Christopher Luxon said his government had been in contact with the British Cabinet Office about the saga.

“No one is above the law,” he told reporters on Tuesday, adding New Zealand had communicated its position before Australia’s stance became public.

The UK and other Commonwealth countries, including New Zealand, Canada and Papua New Guinea, have to agree to remove the former prince from the line of succession for the measure to be finalised.

The removal would only take place after laws are introduced to the British parliament.

Sir Keir said his government would only do so once a police investigation was concluded.

But Mr Albanese said the disgraced royal should have no prospect of being Australia’s head of state.

“I think I speak on behalf of all Australians in saying we don’t want a bar of this bloke,” he told the Karl Stefanovic podcast on Tuesday.

Australia is “directly involved” in the situation because Virginia Roberts Giuffre – who was allegedly sexually abused by the former prince – was Australian-American, Mr Albanese said.

Ms Roberts Giuffre took her life after reaching a confidential settlement. Mountbatten-Windsor has always maintained his innocence.

Mountbatten-Windsor is eighth in line to the throne, meaning he would only become Australia’s head of state in the unlikely event those ahead of him – King Charles, Prince William, Prince Harry and five royal children – all died or abdicated.

“This guy’s led an incredible life of privilege and he quite clearly has abused that privilege in a range of ways that are completely unacceptable,” Mr Albanese told Brisbane radio station B105.

“Now, there’ll be legal processes there and that should take its course, but while that’s going on, I just don’t think that he should be still on the line of succession to be our head of state.”

Opposition Leader Angus Taylor backed the government’s stance.

“The law must take its course, including a full and fair process. If the United Kingdom determines to pursue this course of action through its parliament, we would support that action,” he said.

The line of succession has been altered before, including through 2013 laws that allowed firstborns to ascend to the throne regardless of their gender.

Male heirs were previously given higher standing, even if there was an older female in line.

In the letter to his UK counterpart, Mr Albanese said he agreed with the King that a full investigation was needed and “the law must now take its course”.

The prime minister said he was not planning a referendum for Australia to ditch a monarch as its head of state and become a republic.

Mountbatten-Windsor was arrested on his 66th birthday after a trove of emails released in the US suggested he leaked confidential documents to Epstein while serving as the UK’s trade envoy.

Lifeline 13 11 14

beyondblue 1300 22 4636

Known for its sun and surf, the Gold Coast also appears to have a skyscraper scrap after the Trump Organization revealed its plans for the tourist strip.

Rival petitions have been launched over a proposed 340-metre, 91-storey Trump tower at the Queensland holiday hotspot that is being billed as Australia’s tallest building.

Reactions have been mixed after a local developer claimed to have signed a deal with United States President Donald Trump’s family to build the $1.5 billion monolith, creating a “natural home to the well-heeled”.

The super tower’s design has been revealed by Mr Trump’s son Eric, depicting the huge high-rise complete with family logo dominating the Surfers Paradise skyline.

“I am so proud to announce what will soon be the tallest building in Australia – Trump International Hotel & Tower Gold Coast,” he posted on social media.

“This marks our first venture into Australia – an extraordinary country in every respect – and I couldn’t be more excited to help shape its iconic skyline forever. More to come …”

Gold Coast City Council is set to mull over the development application after Queensland’s Altus Property Group claimed to have pulled off the landmark deal.

Mayor Tom Tate said the development was “quite incredible”.

“It’s all about quality. Putting the Trump brand on it, it will take it next-level, and all the Americans will know where the Gold Coast is,” he told Triple M Gold radio on Tuesday.

Asked if he had met Mr Trump, the mayor replied: “I had dinner with him and marvelled at how beautiful Melania is in real life.”

Not everyone is on board after Altus CEO David Young said he had signed the deal with Trump Organization executive Eric Trump.

Almost 28,000 people have signed a Change.org petition calling for the Gold Coast Council and Queensland government to reject the tower’s construction.

“Allowing a Trump-branded development on the Gold Coast would send the wrong message about who we are as a community and what we are willing to endorse,” the petition says.

A counter-petition launched to rally support for the Surfers Paradise skyscraper has attracted more than 3000 signatures.

“The proposed Trump Tower on Trickett Street, Gold Coast, holds immense potential to transform the local economic landscape and propel the region into a thriving hub of activity and opportunity,” it says.

The proposed tower features a six-star resort hotel, about 270 luxury apartments reportedly starting at $5 million each, a retail plaza, and a beach club.

“It will be finished before the Olympics start, creating a tourism adjunct to the Games themselves,” Mr Young said in a statement.

Life-threatening flash flooding and dangerous thunderstorms are strengthening over a major city, as ominous dark skies and downpours spark emergency shelter warnings.

Severe and dangerous thunderstorms that formed over Melbourne’s west and northwest and outer northeastern suburbs have converged into a massive single cell, bringing intense rainfall that could lead to life-threatening flash flooding, VicEmergency warns.

Authorities urged people in areas including, Glen Waverley, Ringwood, Mill Park, Bundoora, Dandenong, Belgrave, Berwick and the area east and south of Pakenham towards Koo Wee Rup and Poowong to move indoors immediately.

“You are in danger,” they said on Tuesday afternoon.

Millions of Victorians are in the firing line of the wild weather, which could trigger six-hour rainfall totals of between 40 to 70 millimetres.

Thousands of households across the city have been left without power, while rivers including the Werribee, Yarra and Bunyip are overflowing.

Residents should remain on alert to flash flooding, Victoria State Emergency Service spokesperson Josh Gamble told AAP. 

A flood watch is in place for central and eastern Victoria, including river catchments in the Melbourne area.

“Flash flooding happens fast. Roads can become very dangerous very quickly. It’s deeper than it looks,” he said.

“Low-lying and creekside communities (should be) on alert, particularly those that are known in those flash-flood areas in and around the Melbourne areas.”

A warning has also been issued for towns within fire-affected grounds, with authorities warning burnt land does not absorb water effectively, meaning runoff can occur quickly and without warning.

“We’ve got some concerns, particularly around the fire grounds with increased fast runoff and flash-flooding risks,” Mr Gamble said. 

The drenching in the south comes as Australia’s parched interior braces for wild weather from a storm band lingering over the nation’s usually dry, red heart. 

Rail services have been affected, roads are cut off and freight deliveries stranded as hundreds of millimetres of rain inundate multiple states.

A slow-moving tropical low is causing havoc across central Australia, with heavy falls and damaging winds reported across the Northern Territory. 

Some of the heaviest falls from Monday through to early Tuesday were in the NT, with 79mm at the Granites in the Tanami Desert.

But only sparse data was available in central Australia due to limited rain gauges, the Bureau of Meteorology said.

“It is certainly possible that heavier falls were observed through parts of central Australia that we didn’t pick up in the weather stations,” senior forecaster Angus Hines told AAP.

“There are still severe weather warnings for heavy to locally intense rainfall in place – and they’re really large warning areas as well.”

They extend from central NT through the Simpson and Barclay Desert areas into southwest Queensland’s Channel Country, South Australia’s northeast and NSW’s northwest.

In Alice Springs, sandbagging stations have opened before potentially record falls, with up to 60mm of rain expected on Tuesday. 

In SA, restoration work began on Monday on the East West rail line that links Adelaide to Perth after sections of the track were washed away between McLeay and Bookaloo.

Flood watches extend from Queensland’s Cape York west to the NT, south to South Australia, and also to parts of NSW’s northwest.

A “cartel” of vested interests is stymying crucial tax reforms which could help free up more homes, a former boss of the Reserve Bank says.

Bernie Fraser, the only person in Australian history to have served as both RBA governor and Treasury secretary, said tax concessions for property investors should scrapped to boost housing supply.

He argued the current capital gains tax discount, which applies to properties owned by an investor for at least a year, exacerbates inequality by rewarding the top end of town.

“House ownership is a very profitable investment opportunity and a wealth-creating business for people that can afford it, but it has the effect of driving houses away from the dreams of ordinary, more modest-income people,” he told a parliamentary inquiry into the issue.

Mr Fraser urged the government to stare down its critics and scrap the tax discount altogether.

“There is … a cartel of people who are against dealing with tax changes,” he said.

“(It) comprises existing homeowners, property developers, and not least lots of politicians who like to see house prices rise and go on rising because there are votes in it.”

The federal government is believed to be considering changes to the tax treatment of investment properties but is yet to make any announcements.

Top government officials have disputed claims that reforms would free up more homes, saying most research showed curbing the tax concession would do little to boost housing supply.

“When we look at the research that’s been done on this, looking at changes in the capital gains discount … the impact on the housing market seems to be relatively small,” Deputy Treasury Secretary Shane Johnson told a parliamentary hearing on Tuesday.

Dr Johnson stressed the situation was complex, but said improvements to zoning and planning rules would be a better way to get more homes built.

Officials wouldn’t say whether they had modelled changes to the concession for investment properties, saying they didn’t want to prejudice discussions in the lead up to the federal budget, which will be handed down by Treasurer Jim Chalmers in May.

Dr Chalmers and Prime Minister Anthony Albanese have repeatedly refused to rule out an overhaul of the capital gains tax discount.

Burberry recreated a rainy London night out for its winter 2026 ‌show, sending models in fur and leather down a ‌tar-like catwalk covered in puddles.

In Old Billingsgate Market, a former ‌fish market on the banks of the Thames, a replica of Tower Bridge provided the centrepiece of creative director Daniel Lee’s seventh show for the British luxury brand on Monday.

Outerwear pieces included blue ‌trench coats ‌with ruffled collars, ⁠a check shearling jacket, and a ​dark plum overcoat with giant fur lapels.

In a collection meant to evoke “going out in a particularly London way”, women wore slinky satin dresses with fur trench coats and chunky check scarves, with ⁠men in leather suits, hoodies, ‌and ​motorcycle boots. Trousers and dresses featured beadwork designed to echo ​rainfall.

Among those walking ‌the runway were Romeo Beckham, son of soccer star ​David Beckham and designer Victoria Beckham, and model and actress Rosie Huntington-Whiteley, who were reflected in the resin puddles ​as ​they walked over ​the dark rubber floor to a ‌throbbing club soundtrack by FKA twigs.

Under CEO Joshua Schulman, Burberry has refocused on its core outerwear and scarf ranges and is beginning to recover from a two-year slump in ​sales. Last month the brand said young Chinese shoppers snapped ​up its ⁠check scarves in the fourth quarter, boosting its ​revenue.

Australia’s only locally owned streaming service has delivered record earnings, helping to boost the bottom line of its corporate parent.

Nine Entertainment made $95.2 million in net profit from continuing operations in the first half of 2025/26, up 30 per cent from the previous corresponding period.

Revenue fell five per cent to $1.05 billion while group earnings – before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation – climbed 6.0 per cent to $192.2 million in the six months to December 31.

Stan’s earnings climbed 24 per cent to $37 million, a record result for the streaming service.

The performance was notable because the same corresponding period included an audience boost from the Paris Olympic Games and screening of the popular drama series Yellowstone starring Kevin Costner.

Stan’s number of paying subscribers climbed five per cent to 2.4 million and the launch of advertising on Stan Sport delivered revenue in the “single digit millions” despite a short lead time before the start of the English Premier League season, Nine group CEO Matt Stanton told analysts.

Nine’s earnings from its television division fell 1.0 per cent to $98.9 million, a result Mr Stanton said on Tuesday was “pleasingly robust”, given the softness in the advertising market.

Print advertising declined by 11 per cent and digital advertising dropped 14 per cent, but earnings dropped just 1.0 per cent to $73.7 million for Nine’s publishing business. 

Part of that was due to $8 million less in defamation costs, primarily a result of Nine’s successful completion of the Ben Roberts-Smith litigation.

Increased digital subscriber volumes and average revenue per user at the Age, the Sydney Morning Herald and the Australian Financial Review more than offset the decline in print subscriptions, Nine said.

Mr Stanton said Nine had successfully begun licensing content to other Australian corporations for use in their in-house artificial intelligence large language models, but declined to say how much revenue that was bringing in. 

The company confirmed it expected its sale of Nine Radio to be completed by the end of April and its $818 million acquisition of outdoor advertising business QMS to be done by the end of June.

Nine ended the first half with $158 million in net cash, reflecting a $720 million net impact from the sale of its real estate platform, Domain, to US property business CoStar in 2025.

Nine will pay an interim dividend of 4.5 cents per share, unfranked, up from a 3.5 cent per share a year ago.

Around midday, Nine shares were up 3.5 per cent to $1.10.

Asian ‌stock markets have stuttered in early trade as a selloff on Wall Street overnight rattled investors, with sentiment hurt by heightened uncertainty ‌over US President Donald Trump’s tariff policy and rising geopolitical tensions.

MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan flipped from gains to losses ‌following a six-day rally, and was last down 0.2 per cent on Tuesday, led by declines in South Korea.

The Nikkei 225 advanced 0.7 per cent as Japanese markets returned after a holiday. S&P 500 e-mini futures were up 0.1 per cent.

Stock market momentum “has been under pressure with increased concerns around the AI trade and escalation in geopolitical and trade uncertainty”, analysts from Bernstein wrote in a research report.

Trump warned on Monday countries against ‌backing away from recently ‌negotiated trade deals ⁠with the US after the Supreme Court struck down his emergency tariffs, saying that ​he would hit them with much higher duties under different trade laws.

The new tariffs are based on Section 122 of the Trade Act of 1974, causing further confusion in markets trying to come to grips with US protectionist policies.

Overnight, the S&P 500 was down 1.0 per cent, erasing the past week of gains, as fears over the displacement effects of AI on software and other industries pushed the ⁠Nasdaq Composite 1.1 per cent lower. 

A bearish report from Citrini Research on the possible ‌risks to ​the global economy took a further toll on jittery investor sentiment.

The CBOE Volatility Index, commonly known as the VIX, rose 1.9 ​percentage points to ‌21.01.

Japan and China are returning from holidays on Tuesday, adding to liquidity in regional markets.

Against the yen, the US ​dollar was 0.1 per cent stronger at 154.77 yen. The Chinese yuan was unchanged at 6.889 yuan in offshore trade.

Fed funds futures are pricing an implied 95.5 per cent probability that the US central bank will remain on hold at its ​next two-day ​meeting on March 18, little changed from a ​day earlier, according to the CME Group’s FedWatch tool.

The yield on ‌the US 10-year Treasury bond was up 0.6 basis point at 4.029 per cent as investors pondered the implications of the Supreme Court’s decision on US tax receipts.

In commodities markets, WTI crude edged down 0.1 per cent to $US66.23 ($A93.85), as tensions continued to simmer between the US and Iran. 

On Monday, a senior State Department official said the department is pulling out non-essential government personnel and their eligible family ​members from the US embassy in Lebanon, amid growing concerns about the risk of a military conflict.

All of this uneasiness ​pushed the safe-haven gold up 0.3 per cent ⁠to $US5,244.96 ($A7,432.54), while silver slipped 0.1 per cent to $US88.12 ($A124.87).

Bitcoin climbed 0.4 per cent to $US64,832.48 ($A91,872.97), while ether was down 0.1 per cent ​at $US1,861.22 ($A2,637.50). 

Softer oil and gas prices have dragged on Woodside’s full-year bottom-line net profit, which slumped by almost a quarter to $US2.7 billion ($A3.8 billion) despite record production and lower unit costs.

Underlying net profit after tax came in at $US2.6 billion ($A3.7 billion), an eight per cent slip from 2024.

Oil prices tumbled 20 per cent in 2025 in their worst year since 2020, due to a global supply glut that the International Energy Agency expects will continue in 2026.

Record production of 198.8 million barrels of oil equivalent and a four per cent reduction in unit costs helped offset lower realised prices over the period, acting chief executive Liz Westcott said on Tuesday.

“In a testament to the strength of our underlying business, during a period of increased capital expenditure and softer prices, we generated free cash flow of $US1.9 million ($2.7 million),” she told analysts in an earnings briefing.

Ms Westcott was optimistic about oil’s attractiveness in 2026.

“Oil is a core product for Woodside underpinned by a robust demand outlook,” she said.

“The difficulty of decarbonising hard to abate sectors such as heavy transport and petrochemicals means that oil demand is forecast to remain resilient as the world’s energy mix evolves.”

Ms Westcott is acting for outgoing boss Meg O’Neill, who will become BP’s first female leader on April 1.

Woodside has not announced a permanent replacement for Ms O’Neill, but Ms Westcott confirmed the board was assessing several internal and external candidates and expected to make an announcement in the first quarter.

“I know everyone’s very interested in the outcome, but I want to reinforce that what I’m interested in and what I know is very important … is that we continue to execute against our strategy and deliver shareholder value through our disciplined decision making and our operational excellence,” she said.

Investors responded warmly to the results, as production topped the upper end of guidance, supporting a 1.4 per cent lift in Woodside shares to $27.48 in early trade.

Woodside declared a final dividend of 59 cents per share, compared with 53 cents the year before.

“The strength of our base business has delivered returns for shareholders, with Woodside having returned approximately $11 billion in dividends since merger completion in 2022,” Ms Westcott said.

In project news, the Beaumont New Ammonia project off the US Gulf Coast achieved first production in December 2025, Trion off Mexico remains on target for first oil in 2028, and Scarborough’s first LNG cargo should be loaded off the WA coast in 2026.

Paramount Skydance has submitted a higher offer for Warner Bros Discovery, a source familiar with the matter told Reuters, ratcheting up efforts to derail ‌the HBO Max owner’s deal with Netflix.

The bidding war for one of Hollywood’s most coveted assets including the Harry ‌Potter and Game of Thrones franchises has raised the stakes for dominance in the streaming-led market.

Warner Bros’ chosen suitor ‌Netflix, which offered to buy the studios and streaming assets for $US27.75 ($A39.32) per share in cash, or $US82.7 billion ($A117.2 billion), is allowed to match the latest bid from David Ellison-led Paramount.

Netflix has ample cash and could bump up its offer for HBO Max owner, while Paramount’s rival bid is backed by Oracle billionaire Larry Ellison.

Paramount’s ‌initial offer for ‌the whole company ⁠comes to $US108.4 billion ($A153.6 billion), or $US30 ($A43) per share.

It was asked to submit ​its “best and final offer” after Warner Bros rejected an enhanced bid that included paying the $US2.8 billion ($A4 billion) in termination fee to Netflix and adding a 25-cent per share quarterly “ticking fee” from next year to compensate Warner Bros shareholders for any delay in deal closure.

Warner Bros said Paramount’s February 10 offer still falls short of what ⁠its board would consider a superior proposal and gave a ‌seven-day ​deadline until February 23 to submit a revised offer.

MoffettNathanson analysts had earlier said that an offer in the ​range of $US34 ($A48) per ‌share from Paramount would end the bidding war and “avoid further debate over Discovery Global’s value.”

Discovery Global ​could fetch between $US1.33 ($A1.88) and $US6.86 ($A9.72) a share, according to Warner Bros estimates.

Netflix said its offer gives Warner Bros shareholders added upside from the Discovery Global spinoff, which WBD argues will add value ​by ​giving the new company greater strategic, operational and ​financial flexibility.

However, Paramount has said the cable spinoff ‌central to the streaming giant’s offer is effectively worthless.

The David Zaslav-led Warner Bros came under pressure from Ancora Capital after the activist investor built a roughly $US200 million ($A283 million) stake in the HBO owner and accused the company of failing to adequately engage with Paramount.

The investor warned if Warner Bros refuses to re-enter discussions with ​Paramount, it will vote against the Netflix deal and hold the company’s board accountable during its ​annual meeting.