Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has announced he wants to extend a touted east-coast high-speed rail project to Melbourne.

The PM raised the pie-in-the-sky concept while speaking in Melbourne today, after his government yesterday announced $230 million in preliminary funding for a high-speed rail project linking Sydney and Newcastle.

The massive infrastructure development would connect Newcastle to the Sydney CBD in one hour, link the Central Coast to the capital in half an hour and add billions to the economy, according to a business case spruiked by the government.

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Albanese wants the project to be "shovel ready" in two years.

Today, the PM revealed he wants the train line extended all the way to Brisbane and Melbourne – with superfast travel between the two biggest cities.

"Yesterday, we announced that we would be taking the first stage of this project, Newcastle to Sydney, into design and development," Albanese said in his address to the Future Victoria Summit.

"But let me be clear: for high-speed rail to deliver its full economic and national benefits, it cannot terminate at Sydney.

"Australia is the only inhabited continent on earth that doesn't already have high-speed rail. And Melbourne to Sydney is one of the busiest flight corridors in the world."

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Albanese accepted he "will not be the Prime Minister when High Speed Rail is finished"

But he said he was "determined to be the Prime Minister who starts it".

The government has not revealed how much it would cost, nor how long it would take, to extend the network to Melbourne.

The current leader is not the only PM to pitch the idea, with the concept floated several times over the last couple of decades.

John Howard first gave legs to the idea back in 1998 following a strong community push.

But the sod has never been turned on a high-speed rail network, with some think tanks and experts, including the Grattan Institute, believing such a project is not suitable for Australia.

"While a bullet train may be a captivating idea, it's not realistic for Australia," Marion Terrill from the Grattan Institute wrote in a 2020 report, suggesting rail renovations to improve speed more modestly as a better alternative.

"Our population is small and spread over vast distances; the countries most like us – Canada and the US – don't have bullet trains either."

Albanese used his first term as prime minister to establish the High Speed Rail Authority to plan to build a network connecting Brisbane, Sydney, Canberra and Melbourne, as well as Newcastle and Central Coast regional lines.

An evaluated business case has proposed construction start by 2027 and completion by 2042.

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Former Victorian CFMEU boss John Setka has been arrested for the second time in months over allegedly harassing messages sent to a CFMEU administration official.

Setka was arrested at his home today and charged with using a carriage service to harass and committing an indictable offence whilst on bail.

Investigators will allege the 61-year-old sent a harassing message to a CFMEU Administration staff member on Christmas Day last year.

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The additional charges come months after Setka was initially charged with seven counts of using a telecom communications device to menace, harass and offend, on November 12, 2025.

On December 5 he was further charged with two counts of using a telecom communications device to offend.

The ex-union boss quit the CFMEU in July 2024 following explosive allegations of criminal conduct made in a joint investigation by 60 Minutes and The Age.

He has always denied all allegations of misconduct.

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The CFMEU was plunged into administration by the federal government one month after Setka's resignation following claims of bikie and organised crime figures infiltrating the union.

Barrister Mark Irving KC was appointed as the union's administrator to oversee its financial, legal and business affairs.

The union could remain under administration for up to five years.

Setka has been bailed to appear at Melbourne Magistrates' Court on June 3, 2026. 

Speaking to The Age in relation to today's charges, Setka denied sending a harassing message on Christmas Day.

"People should just toughen up and drink a bit of concrete and harden up a bit…it is the building industry," Setka said.

Anyone with information about these incidents is urged to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000 or submit an online confidential report at www.crimestoppersvic.com.au

Carl Philipp, in a rage over disputed child support payments, set a car and house on fire.

An Australian working in the United States has been jailed for more than seven years after selling stolen secrets to a buyer with connections to the Russian government.

Peter Williams, 39, admitted to selling eight pieces of critical software and information related to cybersecurity to a Russian broker in return for $US4 million ($5.6 million), which he used to buy jewellery, watches, homes and luxury holidays.

The tools were cyber-exploit components, meaning they can be used to identify weaknesses in technological systems, or to infect them with viruses.

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These components could have given the buyer access to millions of digital devices within the US.

It is not known whether Russia or any other foreign government gained access to these materials and used them in a malicious way.

Williams was working as the general manager of Trenchant, an intelligence firm owned by US defence contractor L3Harris Technologies at the time of the thefts.

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The US Department of Justice claims Williams' crimes cost his former employer $US35 million.

"Peter Williams stole a US defence contractor's trade secrets about highly sensitive cyber capabilities and sold them to a broker whose clients include the Russian government, putting our national security and countless potential victims at risk," FBI counterintelligence and espionage division assistant director Roman Rozhavsky said.

Williams had previously pleaded guilty to two counts of theft of trade secrets in October and entered a plea agreement with prosecutors to get a lighter sentence. The maximum penalty can be up to 10 years imprisonment.

As well as sentencing Williams to 87 months jail, US District Court Judge Loren AliKhan ordered him to forfeit $US1.3 million in cash, as well as cryptocurrency, properties, and other items purchased with the proceeds of the sales.

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She claimed Williams' offending impacted both the USA and Australia.

"Mr Williams acknowledges that his actions caused harm to the intelligence communities, both in the US and Australia," she said.

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More than 600 people attended the kiwifruit marketer’s Momentum Conference today.

Sydney's current measles outbreak is continuing to grow after two more cases of the disease were confirmed by health authorities.

One of the new cases was confirmed to have been acquired from one of the exposure sites in the city, with NSW Health urging people to be on the lookout for symptoms of the highly infectious disease.

"The other case had recently returned from South East Asia where there are ongoing outbreaks of measles in several countries," the statement from NSW Health said.

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A total of 21 measles cases have now been confirmed in NSW since January 1.

The new exposure warnings date from Wednesday, February 18, to Saturday, February 21, meaning some people who visited the exposure sites may have to monitor for symptoms until March 11.

Eight new exposure sites have been confirmed, including several locations in the CBD and Inner West.

These include Rivaereno Gelato in Barangaroo between 7.40pm to 8.30pm on Thursday, February 19, and The Stinking Bishops Restaurant & Deli in Newtown between 7pm to 9pm on Friday, February 20.

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New exposure sites have also been declared in Lismore in the state's north, in addition to several current exposure sites in Western Sydney.

The new cases come after an alert was issued for two flights that landed and departed from Sydney Airport this weekend, one inbound from Indonesia, and one Jetstar flight to Melbourne.

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Symptoms of measles, which include fever, runny nose, cough, and a red, blotchy rash after three to four days, can take up to 18 days to appear.

NSW Health Director of Communicable Diseases Dr Christine Selvey urged residents to stay up to date with their vaccinations.

The measles, mumps, and rubella vaccine is free for anyone born after 1965 who hasn't had the recommended two doses.

"This is especially important before overseas travel, as measles outbreaks are occurring in several regions of the world at the moment," she added.

A full list of the current exposure sites can be found on the NSW Health website.

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A counter-terrorism expert warns of ‘young white men’ being targeted online.

Videos on TikTok and Discord show recent threats are linked to a school rivalry.

Students were given a security presentation after Sperry’s departure was announced.

A supermarket giant effectively misled shoppers with a catchy slogan that was "not just some meaningless phrase", a court has heard.

In its closing submissions to the Federal Court, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) argued Coles intentionally duped customers with its "down down" campaign, first launched in 2010.

Garry Rich SC, for the commission, said the campaign was a tactic to deceive consumers that prices on thousands of products were falling when in fact they were going up overall.

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In one example cited by Rich, the price of a jar of Coles-brand quince paste was raised to $4.50 from $3 for four weeks before being reduced to $3.15.

Rich argued that four weeks was not a genuine establishment period for $4.50 to be legitimately considered the regular price.

"When consumers hear the words 'down down', they don't think that's a meaningless phrase," he told Justice Michael O'Bryan.

"They think it means something, and what they think it means is that the price of this product has gone down."

Coles had defended its discount campaign in court, saying grocery shoppers understood they represented "fair dinkum" price reductions.

The retail giant argued its "down down" prices were genuine discounts for shoppers after an increase in wholesale costs during a post-COVID inflation surge.

In his summary, Rich painted a picture of the average consumer, saying that grocery shopping was a chore for most.

"There must be very few people who shop for groceries for fun," he said.

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Customers were often in a hurry, shopping for many different products on the same visit, Rich added.

"Many are travelling through the aisles of Coles with children in tow, perhaps hanging off the trolley begging for ice cream," he said.

"They see a big red and white ticket and read that the price is 'down down' … many of them will have no idea that the price was actually lower four weeks ago."

Justice O'Bryan queried whether time-poor consumers might take the meaning of "down down" to be simply a generic statement for prices as a whole.

But Rich countered by saying that "down down" immediately implied that there used to be a higher price.

Competitive pressures between Coles and Woolworths had created an ethical race to the bottom between the supermarket duopoly, he said.

"The better standard, if one is going to use Coles' standards as a guide, is what did they think was appropriate in circumstances where they weren't fighting tooth and nail with Woolworths, where they weren't concerned that Woolworths had thrown out the rule book," he said.

The commission alleges the supermarket giant deliberately raised prices on thousands of everyday items before offering discounts at prices higher than or equal to the original shelf price throughout a period of 15 months.

The case continues.

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