As it happened: Sydney commuters fuming as major train delays hit; Albanese to discuss sending troops to Ukraine with other leaders

Thanks for joining us this afternoon, despite appearances there was plenty going on aside from the train problems in Sydney today! Here was the day in a nutshell:

• The way GST revenue is shared among Australia’s states and territories is a hot topic again. Today the responsible body made its latest decision, which involves great news if you live in Victoria, not so much if you’re in WA, Queensland or NSW.
• A rift has opened up between the two major parties on whether to deploy Australian peacekeepers to Ukraine. The PM is set to join talks with world leaders via phone on Saturday.
• By contrast, Albanese and Dutton are in lockstep in saying they don’t support reciprocal tariffs on the US, after confirmation America will impose tolls on our steel and aluminium exports.
• Three people have been arrested after what are believed to be the remains of a missing man were discovered on Sydney’s outer northwestern fringe.
• Looking ahead to sport: How great is it having AFL and NRL back? Tonight we’ve got live blogs on Hawthorn V Essendon and the Sea Eagles v the Warriors before the Panthers v the Roosters. There’s been a bit happening for Aussie Oscar Piastri in the Australian Grand Prix too, by the way, he finished second in practice two at Melbourne’s Albert Park circuit today.

And here’s a quirky one to leave you with: Saturn’s rings have disappeared from view! Goodnight everyone.

An update out of Melbourne to a sad story from last year.

The driver of the truck involved in a fatal collision in which a sports journalist died has been fined $1500 and had his licence suspended for 30 months after pleading guilty to refusing to do a blood test.

A doctor yelled at Herald Sun reporter Sam Landsberger to stop walking as a heavy truck was moving through a Richmond intersection on August 20, 2024, a court was told on Friday.

Landsberger was on the phone when he walked into the wheels of the truck as it turned on a green arrow at the intersection of Bridge Road and Church Street, Melbourne Magistrates’ Court was told.

The truck driver, James Latchford, stopped to help Landsberger, who was seriously injured and died in hospital.

Read more at the link above.

Update 6.45pm: Sydney Trains has confirmed the T4 Line is also experiencing delays - it was the only line not affected at one stage earlier today.

Australian Financial Review journalist Zoe Samios just sent in this snap from Martin Place just after 6pm.

Passengers at Martin Place on the T4 Line to Bondi Junction wait for delayed trains.Credit: Zoe Samios

A spokesperson confirmed the T4 delays began in the past half hour, with services running 15 to 25 minutes late due to a lack of staff being available to man the trains. This shortage is due to delays on other lines making it hard for them to get to Martin Place.

There remains no ETA on when the fault will be ameliorated and services on other lines will be restored.

Earlier: It’s not just commuters returning from the working day feeling the pain – there are also NRL fans travelling this evening from all over Sydney to CommBank Stadium in Parramatta for the big Panthers v Roosters clash.

That game kicks off at 8pm, and you can follow the action here.

Here’s the latest for train lines covering Parramatta (T5 functioning normally).

Earlier, Sydney Trains was advertising trains as the best way to make it to the A-League Women’s match in Gosford between the Central Coast Mariners and Perth Glory, but I can’t find that tweet any more.

Anthony Albanese is talking down polling showing improvements in his standing among voters, despite Labor consolidating its lead over the opposition.

The latest YouGov polling, published this morning, showed Labor had maintained its lead over the Coalition, ahead 51 per cent to 49 two-party preferred.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese in Perth this morning.Credit: AFR

Following the response to ex-tropical cyclone Alfred, the prime minister has drawn level with Opposition Leader Peter Dutton for voter satisfaction for the first time in a year.

The polling revealed voter satisfaction with Anthony Albanese has increased from minus 12 in February to minus six.

Dutton’s standing among the electorate has slipped, falling from minus two at the end of February to minus six in the latest poll. He was criticised for attending a fundraising event at the Sydney home of billionaire Justin Hemmes as the cyclone was nearing his home city of Brisbane.

While the government is leading in the YouGov poll, Albanese said the poll on election day was the only one that counted.

AAP

A quick update to our last post, commuters are now complaining that the replacement “Shuttle trains” running on the T8 and T7 lines are not working:

In the words of Bob Dylan, “It takes a lot to laugh, it takes a train to cry”.

Sydney commuters are not happy about today’s train delays.

The disruption – blamed on signal failure – comes after months of chaos caused by an ongoing industrial dispute between the state government and unions.

Here’s a small taste of the discontent in the city today:

Passengers on every major metropolitan train line except the T4, T5 and T6 in Sydney continue to experience extensive delays, following a signal failure in the inner-west suburb of Ashfield this morning.

Here are the latest updates from Sydney Trains.

• T1 Line: (Western Line) two shuttle trains are running backwards and forwards between Blacktown and Richmond, stopping at all stations. Shuttle trains are also now beginning to run between Penrith and North Sydney, stopping at Penrith, all stops to Granville, Lidcombe, Strathfield, Redfern and all stops to North Sydney (and return).
• T2, T3 and T9 Lines: Services are running less frequently, journey times will be longer and service gaps will be experienced. Consider local bus routes or other transport where possible.
• T7 Line: Buses are replacing trains in both directions between Lidcombe and Olympic Park due to an operational issue at Lidcombe. You can also consider using local bus routes 526 from Strathfield and 525 from Parramatta to travel.
• T8 Line: Shuttle trains running back and forward between Campbelltown all stops to Revesby, Sydenham and all stops to the City will being running soon.

And here is the message for people who use services to the Central Coast and Hunter.

The NSW Premier Chris Minns sought to explain the situation earlier this afternoon.

The local bourse has finished the week higher after a three-day losing streak, propped up by mining and utilities stocks.

The benchmark S&P/ASX200 was up 40.6 points, or 0.52 per cent, to 7789.7 at the closing bell on Friday, while the broader All Ordinaries was up 46.7 points, or 0.59 per cent, to 8013.3.

The Australian dollar was buying 62.95 US cents, down from 63.06 US cents at the close on Thursday.

Read our latest coverage here.

With AAP

Australia is keeping company with Russia and Saudi Arabia through mass exports of fossil fuels, climate advocates argue, as they call on the government to embrace decarbonised energy projects.

A new report published by the Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty Initiative details how Australia has quadrupled exports of emissions-heavy fuel sources since 1990.

The since-decommissioned coal-fired thermal power station at Liddell in the NSW Hunter Valley.Credit: Jonathan Carroll

“It’s absolutely irresponsible,” initiative president Kumi Naidoo said.

“It basically places Australia in the category of a petro-state, a term that’s used talking about Azerbaijian and countries in the [Persian] Gulf.

The report finds Australia exports 48 per cent of the world’s traded metallurgical coal, 19 per cent of the world’s thermal coal and 20 per cent of the world’s liquefied natural gas.

Overall, Naidoo said only Russia, and perhaps Saudi Arabia, sent a larger quantity of fossil fuels offshore.

Under the Paris Agreement, signatories are responsible for their in-country emissions only.

Naidoo, a South African former head of Greenpeace and Amnesty International, says if countries such as Australia profit by selling fossil fuels abroad, they are duty-bound to accept responsibility for the heating it causes.

The fossil fuel treaty is a collection of governments – including 16 countries and more than 120 sub-national organisations such as cities – that aims to phase out fossil-fuel use.

The Australian government does not support the initiative, though the ACT and the cities of Sydney, Melbourne and Hobart, among others, do.

Naidoo is in Australia this week as part of Climate Action Week Sydney, which is staging events and rallies in the shadow of ex-tropical cyclone Alfred.

AAP

In case you missed it, a US influencer has left Australia after apologising for a social media post in which she allegedly took a baby wombat away from its mother, saying she has received death threats over the incident.

Hunting influencer Sam Jones (also known as Samantha Strable) has since deleted the viral video posted to her 92,000 followers on account @samstrays_somewhere, but it was too late to stop footage of her picking up and running away with a wombat joey from causing a public outcry.

The PM, opposition leader and wildlife experts have all condemned the video, with the latter group saying the behaviour was illegal.

Read more here.