Minns announces intention to begin independent review into Sydney trains
The state government is looking at beginning an independent review to look into maintenance and punctuality of Sydney trains, NSW premier Chris Minns says.
It comes as Sydney commuters avoid travelling by train this morning after major disruptions to the network yesterday afternoon involving high-voltage wires collapsing on the top of a train and shutting down the entire westbound line.
The premier said on 2GB:
We’ve got to get better, this is nowhere near good enough, and it’s certainly not on par with international standards.
I need an independent review into this. We are looking at bringing someone in from the airline sector … A fresh set of eyes that can look at three things. The maintenance program that we’ve undertaken, the punctuality of trains on the Sydney trains network, and also communication … I don’t think that we are clear enough about what the immediate and longer-term impacts will be.
Key events
An update on the chopper situation in Glenthorn, where residents stranded amidst flooding have been pleading for rescue.
In response to a local woman’s request for help for her kids and baby – alongside a video of flood waters rushing past homes and cars submerged above the wheels – a commenter in a local Facebook group says “chopper picking up now.”
The local woman who made the post posted around an hour ago, saying: “they are out. thank you all.”
Littleproud says decision to split with Liberals not unanimous
Dan Jervis-Bardy
The Nationals leader, David Littleproud, and his deputy, Kevin Hogan, have admitted not all of their colleagues supported the decision to split with the Liberals.
Rumours of discontent among some Nationals MPs have been swirling since Littleproud announced the party would abandon the Coalition for the first time in 38 years.
The Nationals leader said the decision was a matter of “principle” after the Liberal leader, Sussan Ley, refused to immediately guarantee support for four policies, including nuclear power.
The Liberals say the Nationals also would not commit to cabinet solidarity – a basic principle that means senior frontbenchers cannot cross the floor in parliament.
Speaking with reporters in Parliament House, Littleproud acknowledged the decision to split was not unanimous within the party room.
I think you’d be naive to think any party room would get a unanimous decision.
I mean, there’s a diverse range of people, not only in our party room, in the Liberal party room, in the Labor party room, even in our good friends the Greens. I think that’s really superfluous to the fact that as a collective, we got to a position and we’re respecting that position, and we’re going to carry through that position.
In an earlier interview on Sky News, Hogan admitted the decision “wasn’t unanimous but was quite conclusive”.
The split will have huge implications for the Nationals, which will lose shadow cabinet positions (and associated salaries) as well as staffing numbers. It could potentially make it harder to retain Senate seats in Victoria and NSW, where the Nationals run on a joint ticket with the Liberals.
The Nationals’ Bridget McKenzie and Ross Cadell are up for re-election in 2028 in Victoria and NSW respectively.
Littleproud hinted there might still be a possibility of joint tickets in 2028 if state officials from the two parties could come to some agreement. But he acknowledged the threat of losing seats was one of the risks that was weighed up during the party room debate.
I can assure you that when we had discussions in the party room, all those risks and factors were put on the table. We still got to the decision because you know what? We’re here for a reason, and we’re going to put our record in front of the Australian people at the next election and we’ll do it with conviction.
James Patterson on making decisions on principle and policy: ‘We can walk and chew gum at the same time’
Talk about the big coalition split continues, with Liberal senator James Patterson saying he doesn’t see a problem with making decisions on principle before getting to policy.
Patterson was on Sky News a short while ago:
I don’t see a problem at all there. I mean, we can walk and chew gum at the same time. We will have a review process which will be thorough and will be focused on listening to the Australian people and hearing their message.
But you have to make tactical decisions every day in politics and how you respond to issues that arise, and the Labor party will bowl up many interesting policy options for us to consider and respond to, some of which they might have a mandate for, much of which they will not, and we will have to determine what we think is in the Liberal party’s interest and the national interest. That’s how we’ll vote.
SES aviation ‘in place’ but treacherous conditions may prevent rescue flights
The NSW SES’ chief superintendent, Dallas Burnes, says wet conditions on the mid-north coast are “incredibly dynamic and escalating”.
SES are prioritising rescues in Taree, where people are on rooftops and top stories of houses, as well as the Wingham and Coffs Harbour areas, Burnes says. He is speaking live on ABC News:
The SES and our emergency service partners have conducted flood rescues and we are seeing more coming through all the [time]. We are prioritising rescues in the Taree, Wingham and Coffs Harbour areas at the moment. We are seeing a real significant river rise.
In Taree, we’re looking at record flooding surpassing 1929 levels. We have a lot of people being rescued from rooftops and the other stories of houses. Those areas are subject to evacuation orders.
For the community, if you receive emergency warning advice to evacuate, please do so. Unfortunately, some of those people were unable to be rescued last night due to weather conditions and we are prioritising those now and we have aviation assets in place to support that but the conditions are treacherous and it may be that those aviation assets are not able to fly throughout the day.
Trapped Glenthorne resident gives ABC eyewitness account of sudden flooding
In Glenthorne, on the mid-north coast of NSW, resident Jordan Halloran is stranded on the top level of her house with her partner and two-year-old son. She says her neighbour’s house is about to be inundated.
Halloran spoke to ABC News a short while ago:
It’s about probably 600 [cm] off coming into the top level of our house. The main concern is our 2-year-old son who is here with us and two dogs. Even more of a priority is our neighbour’s house which is about to be inundated with water.
We’re awaiting rescue since 1am. They said the only way to get us out is with a chopper and there aren’t any. We do feel there’s access through the back of the house. That’s much calmer.
We didn’t expect this amount of water. I think in the 2021 flood, there may have been, oh, maybe a foot of water through the bottom storey of this house. And this area is really not insurable because of the cost of insurance. But you would never expect something of this amount of volume of water and velocity as well.
Drone images review extent of recent flooding in NSW mid-north coast
Intense rainfall has been hitting the New South Wales mid-north coast and Hunter regions, and is expected to continue with flooding to come over the next two days.
Here is a look at the impact so far in Gloucester in the lower mid-north coast:
Looking back to Nationals senator Bridget McKenzie speaking on ABC News Breakfast this morning about the coalition break up.
She recognised the risk of the Liberal party running in National seats at the next election:
The reality is we are no longer in coalition and that is a very real prospect for us and that was part of our thinking as we went forward. We also see it as an opportunity to put a very strong proposition for rural and regional Australia to those communities. At the end of the day, though, coalition arrangements are matters for our state parties, the LNP in Queensland, the New South Wales state Nationals and also the Victorian Nationals.
We’re just going to get on with the job of representing our communities that sent us here to Canberra, get out on the ground, and start bringing those issues that are of concern to them here to Canberra and take it up to the Labor Party, which is why they voted for us.
Catie McLeod
‘Lots of flooding to come’ in NSW mid-north coast: BoM
Intense rainfall is expected to continue in the New South Wales mid-north coast and northern Hunter regions for another two days with “lots of flooding to come”, a senior meteorologist at the Bureau of Meteorology has said.
Speaking on ABC News Breakfast a short time ago, the weather bureau’s Dean Narramore said he was expecting another day of 50mm to 150mm rainfall in parts of the state north of Forster with isolated falls in excess of 200m possible.
Narramore said some areas had already been inundated by 300mm to 400mm of rain – and the town of Taree by even more – causing widespread flash flooding and major river flooding to continue.
He said the floods weren’t expected to ease until later in the week and that:
There’s a severe weather warning current for heavy to locally intense rainfall from Yamba all the way down to just north of Forster and extending inland as well.
[The weather system] wobbles north today and then it will probably come back south, unfortunately, tomorrow, and then finally clearing out on Friday from the mid-north coast.
But [there are] still two days of rainfall on the way, with lots of flooding to come.
Catie McLeod
What is the ‘designated complaint’ system?
Under the federal designated complaints mechanism, introduced by the Albanese government last year, a select group of consumer and small business groups are permitted to make one special complaint a year.
A designated complaint must relate to a significant or systemic market issue affecting Australian consumers or small businesses, the ACCC says.
It must also relate to either a potential breach of the laws the ACCC enforces, or the regulator’s functions or powers.
Under the mechanism, the ACCC must consider and publicly respond to designated complaints within 90 days.
The Consumer Action Law Centre lodged Australia’s first designated complaint in March, in relation to unsolicited door-to-door sales.
Catie McLeod
Choice says ACCC should stop ‘dodgy practices’ of energy companies to save consumers money
In a statement, Choice’s CEO, Ashley de Silva, said:
Among the energy bills we collected, we found 64 examples of retailers telling consumers to switch to a plan with the same name.
Across these 64 examples, people could have saved an average of $171 annually had they switched to the cheaper plan, even though it had the same name.
The highest potential savings among these examples was $588 per year.
De Silva said Choice was calling on the ACCC to take court action to stop what he described as “dodgy practices” that he said were costing consumers money.
Choice makes ‘designated complaint’ to ACCC over ‘misleading’ energy retailers
Catie McLeod
Choice has asked the consumer watchdog to investigate some of Australia’s biggest energy retailers over concerns they are potentially misleading customers with the way they describe and promote their plans.
The consumer advocacy group has raised the allegations in its first designated complaint to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC), only the second of its kind in Australia, which requires the regulator to respond within 90 days.
Choice’s chief executive officer, Ashley de Silva, said energy customers could be missing out on approximately $65m in collective savings.
Choice says it analysed nearly 400 energy bills from supporters between January and March 2025, which found many retailers were reusing identical names for energy plans, despite offering them at different prices.
Several bills informed consumers they could save money by switching to a plan with the same name as their existing plan, Choice says, leading to confusion among many customers who believed they were already on the best plan and their potentially missing out on savings as a result.
Sydney trains repairs completed as timetable expected to recover throughout the day
Good news for Sydney commuters: repairs are complete and trains will progressively recover throughout the day – but expect reduced off-timetable services.
Extensive repairs have been completed to overhead wiring at Homebush, Transport for NSW said in a statement. Power was switched back on at 7:20am, and the first train service through previously closed lines was in action at 8:05am.
Services will now be able to progressively move through those sections of track.
Services will gradually recover, but Transport for NSW warns passengers should expect residual delays for the remainer of the day.
They continue to urge commuters to delay travel or use alternative transport, flagging there will be reduced services on all lines but trains will not run to timetable.
Sydney Trains teams worked hard overnight in tough rainy conditions to remove a defective train and repair the overhead wiring that caused major disruption on the rail network yesterday.
Minns announces intention to begin independent review into Sydney trains
The state government is looking at beginning an independent review to look into maintenance and punctuality of Sydney trains, NSW premier Chris Minns says.
It comes as Sydney commuters avoid travelling by train this morning after major disruptions to the network yesterday afternoon involving high-voltage wires collapsing on the top of a train and shutting down the entire westbound line.
The premier said on 2GB:
We’ve got to get better, this is nowhere near good enough, and it’s certainly not on par with international standards.
I need an independent review into this. We are looking at bringing someone in from the airline sector … A fresh set of eyes that can look at three things. The maintenance program that we’ve undertaken, the punctuality of trains on the Sydney trains network, and also communication … I don’t think that we are clear enough about what the immediate and longer-term impacts will be.
