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The Albanese Government continues to invest in Victoria’s future with a new investment of $3.8 billion towards the transformational Suburban Rail Loop (SRL) East project. 

Delivered as part of the 2026 Federal Budget, this investment brings the total Albanese Government spend for the project to $6 billion. 

SRL East will deliver a 26-kilometre underground orbital rail line through Melbourne’s eastern and south-eastern suburbs.

It will create interchanges with four of Melbourne’s established radial rail lines at Cheltenham, Glen Waverley, Box Hill and Clayton, while connecting rail lines in four directions, including regional V/Line services on the Gippsland Line. 

The project will support economic productivity by improving public transport connectivity between major employment, education and health precincts including Monash, Box Hill, Clayton and Burwood. 

Businesses in Melbourne’s eastern and south-eastern middle corridor will benefit from more visitors coming by public transport and by having their staff able to cross suburbs quicker and more easily. 

Precincts to be connected by SRL East will support the delivery of 70,000 additional homes and more housing choice, as well as reducing urban sprawl.

The project will support 3,000 jobs through construction, and will create up to 8,000 local jobs in the long term.

This latest investment builds on the Albanese Government’s previous $2.2 billion toward land acquisition and early works for the project.

Tunnelling for the project will commence by the end of this year, with Tunnel Boring Machines currently being assembled on site. This project is expected to be completed in 2035.

Anthony Albanese

“This project is a game changer for the city of Melbourne and the state of Victoria. 

“Ensuring Victorians can get into Greater Melbourne and across suburbs, rather than having to go into the CBD then back out, helps speed up travel times, get cars off the road and increases opportunities for businesses in Melbourne’s east. 

“My Government is proud to partner with the Allan Government in delivering a better future for commuters across Victoria.”

Premier of Victoria Jacinta Allan

“In the Albanese Labor Government we have a partner in Canberra who gets what our growing state needs.

“The Suburban Rail Loop will slash travel times and cut congestion for busy families.” 

Minister for Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Local Government Catherine King

“This investment by the Albanese Government in nationally significant infrastructure such as SRL boosts productivity and accessibility for Victoria. This is why we are getting on with delivering vital projects such as SRL East, Melbourne Airport Rail and the North East Link.

“SRL East will better integrate different transport modes, delivering a seamless and future-ready transit network for the fastest-growing areas of Melbourne.”

Victorian Minister for the Suburban Rail Loop Nick Staikos

“By the 2050s, Melbourne will be the size of London – Melbourne needs an orbital rail connection that will cater for this growth and better connect people to jobs, education and healthcare.

“Only Labor will deliver the Suburban Rail Loop. Jess Wilson’s Liberals will cut it – sacking thousands of workers and leaving tunnel boring machines sunk in the ground.” 

Labor’s adoption of the Australian Energy Producers-supported gas reservation policy as Australian government policy is yet another capitulation to the gas lobby.

National momentum for a 25% tax on gas exports is surging, with rallies planned around the country this Friday to tax gas not beer.

Evidence presented to the select committee investigating a 25% gas export tax, including evidence from the Department of Treasury, comprehensively refuted the gas lobby’s claim that an export tax would threaten trade relationships.

Greens chair of the Gas Select Committee, Senator Steph Hodgins-May

“This policy was written to protect gas corporate profits and Labor has just adopted it as government policy. It will raise no revenue and prolong the great Australian rip off,” said Senator Steph Hodgins-May on Thursday.

“The gas corporations get to keep their obscene wartime profits while Australians will see services like the NDIS slashed in the budget when the government cries poor.

“Announcing this policy just before the gas export tax committee report is released, as if people aren’t smart enough to know a distraction tactic when they see one, proves Labor is running a protection racket for gas corporations.

“The campaign for a 25% tax on gas exports is just getting started, as support for this policy continues to grow. More than 60% of Australians support a tax on gas exports. The Prime Minister’s prevarication has nothing to do with protecting trade relationships and everything to do with protecting his fossil fuel donors’ profit margins.

“While Australians are getting smashed by interest rate rises and cuts to services in the budget, the Albanese government has made it clear that their priority is protecting corporate profits, not people. And they’ll have to explain that decision next week.

As the illegal war in the Middle East fuels inflation and economic inequality, Labor’s budget must choose a side: deliver for people, or deliver for corporate profits and the wealthiest few.

This budget represents a tipping point for Labor. In the UK and the USA, we’ve seen what happens when people’s trust in Parliament is eroded by successive decisions that prioritise the profits of big corporations and the wealth of the 1% over the urgent needs of ordinary people. 

Labor’s decision to cut the NDIS, the largest cut to a government program this century, while continually refusing to tax the profits of gas corporations who are anticipating eye-watering profits in this fuel crisis, undermines the government’s narrative that they are looking to tackle inequality in this budget.

A 25% tax on gas exports would raise $17bn, and would also have the deflationary impact of incentivising the domestic sale of gas and pushing domestic gas prices down, rather than exporting it offshore and incurring the export levy.

The Greens have called for reform to the tax breaks for wealthy property investors in successive parliaments. Reforming negative gearing and the CGT discount was a Greens demand during the 2023 debate over Labor’s HAFF Bill. Former Greens Leader Adam Bandt delivered two NPC addresses on the topic, first in 2023 and again during the 2025 election campaign. In this parliament, Senator Nick McKim led a Senate inquiry that found the capital gains discount skews home ownership towards investors. This is a critical piece of reform and the test will be whether Labor’s plans are enough to stop the housing crisis getting worse.

The Greens are calling on Labor to:

• Stop the NDIS cuts
• Tax the exports of gas corporations, and reinvest the $17 billion in cost of living support we all need
• Rein in the massive tax handouts for wealthy property investors
• Stop the billions of dollars going to AUKUS for submarines that Australia may never receive
• Dedicate new money to electrification, with a focus on renters and people who live in apartments

Senator Larissa Waters, Leader of the Australian Greens:

“This budget will determine this Labor government’s legacy: will they continue to deliver for the corporations driving inflation and ripping us all off?

“Will they continue to let gas exporters and big corporations pay no tax, to funnel billions into defence, while cutting services for disabled people, hurting renters and abandoning people who need it most?

“If the government works with the Greens to tax corporations making obscene windfall profits, and then invests in the things we all need to live a good life, it will show millions of people that Parliament can improve their lives.

“But if Labor continues their moral failure of kicking people off the NDIS to balance the budget, saying there’s no money for essential services while committing $53 billion for war and weapons to appease Trump, it will just fuel people’s anger at a system that doesn’t work for them.

“This will be the defining budget of Anthony Albanese and Jim Chalmer’s careers. The moment calls for courage, not cowardice, and for Labor to stand up to their corporate donors.

“The Greens would work with Labor to tax the corporations making obscene windfall profits and use that money to pay for the things we all need to live a good life.”

Senator Nick McKim, Greens spokesperson for Economic Justice:

“The Greens have consistently called for  property investor tax breaks to be reined in, and Labor now has a once in a generation opportunity for genuine progressive tax reform.”

“Labor should have reformed negative gearing and the CGT discount years ago, but thanks to their refusal to listen to sense, we’ve seen runaway house prices continue during both terms of the Albanese government.

“Everyday people are not responsible for the war, but Labor supported it, and now people are footing the bill with higher prices and successive interest rate rises.

“The 1% aren’t paying more because they don’t have mortgages, but they are certainly enjoying the extra interest on their investments.”

Senator Barbara Pocock, Greens spokesperson for Finance, Housing & Homelessness:

“Renters and mortgage holders are on the front line to fight inflation while Labor delivers massive profits to the banks,” said Senator Pocock.

“People know when the system is working for the 1% and big corporations and not for the rest of us.

“For decades the major banks have made enormous profits price-gouging on people’s mortgages, contributing to the pain of inflation. Labor needs to tax the banks, not hardworking people.

“Labor needs to deliver bold, ambitious tax reform that puts home buyers and renters first. It must do away with tax incentives for those who need it least and build more public housing.”

The Greens-led Select Committee into the taxation of Australia’s gas resources has tabled its final report, agreeing that the gas export tax regime should be revisited in light of recent global instability following conflict in the Middle East.

However, the committee did not reach agreement on whether changes to the current regime are required, including the proposed introduction of a 25 per cent export tax. Any such recommendation required the support of Labor or Liberal members to be included in the final report.

As a result, the report does not include a majority position on reform to the gas tax system.

Despite this, evidence to the inquiry directly contradicts claims from the gas industry and the Prime Minister that an export tax would increase prices for overseas buyers. Submissions and testimony from Treasury, economists, and gas companies themselves indicate that the cost of such a tax would largely be borne by Australian producers rather than overseas customers, given the structure of long-term contracts and global pricing arrangements.

The committee report omits these key findings as well as any detail of evidence provided by witnesses and submissions. This material has instead been set out in the Chair’s additional comments, which highlight the significant body of expert and community evidence supporting a minimum 25 per cent export tax.

The report is tabled just days ahead of the May Budget. 

Chair of the select committee, Senator Steph Hodgins-May: 

“This inquiry shows Labor knows this issue isn’t going away, but still refuses to address the problem that Australians are not getting a fair share of our resources.

“Labor is desperate to kick the can down the road, but the massive national momentum for a gas tax is clearly making them nervous.

“Labor has a choice in this budget: tax the gas corporations to pay for things we all rely on like the NDIS, or forge ahead with brutal cuts while the gas corporations get Australian gas for free and make obscene war time profits.

“If Labor fails to tax the gas corporations in this budget, it will be clear who they’re really working for.

“Labor clearly knows something needs to change, but they’re not brave enough to do it now, and not in a way that challenges gas company profits.

“The cowards in Labor will not even agree that we need a way to get our fair share back from these gas companies. That tells you everything about the grip the gas lobby has over this government.

“The Prime Minister is out of step with his own backbench, Labor’s own members, he is out of step with the public, and repeating arguments that come straight from the gas industry playbook. 

“Pointing to conflict overseas is a convenient excuse to delay action while billions in gas profits continue to flow offshore, but we heard from Treasury, economists and even gas companies: the cost of an export tax would come out of gas company profits, not from our trading partners.

“The experience in high-taxing jurisdictions like Norway is not that gas companies and trading partners flee.  Those companies stay, but the public actually gets a fair share for their resources.

“The Prime Minister is echoing the gas industry’s scare campaign on trade and stability, despite the evidence saying otherwise.

“Gas companies talk about protecting investment but what they mean is protecting their profits. A gas export tax would do exactly what they fear, cut into those profits and deliver a fair return to the public.

“While households and businesses are under huge pressure, gas companies and their U.S shareholders are laughing all the way to the bank and cashing in on free gas that should be owned by all Australians. 

“The longer this government delays, the longer Australians miss out. Australians expect and deserve a fair return and this fight is far from over.”

Links: 

Australian Greens Additional Comments 

Committee report

Excerpts from Hansard and answers to Questions on Notice:  

Dr Ken Henry: overwhelmingly the incidence falls on those who are the shareholders, really, of multinational companies. That’s where the incidence would fall. Australia is a major gas exporter but is not a big influencer of the world price of gas.

Origin Energy: In general, we would have to absorb those costs, and our customers, both domestic customers and international customers, purchase the gas under long-term arrangements 

INPEX: INPEX’s long-term LNG sale and purchase agreements do not allow us to renegotiate due to a tax or royalty change. 

Treasury: I think a lot of the exports are underpinned by either long term contracts where prices are relatively well established or spot sales to markets where essentially it’s a global market price which has been set so both of those factors would seem to suggest that the economic burden of any tax change would be more likely to fall on the producers. 

The Greens have welcomed the government finally moving to “consult” on a national early childhood education and care commission, but say families will be let down yet again if next week’s budget fails to deliver meaningful investment to establish it. 

Australian Greens spokesperson for early childhood education and care, Senator Steph Hodgins-May, announced a plan for an early childhood commission more than a year ago ahead of the 2025 federal election, backed by experts across the sector. The proposal was again recommended by the Greens in their dissenting report to the Senate inquiry into the quality and safety of ECEC.

Labor has now announced it will begin “consultation” on a commission, but has not committed funding in next week’s budget to establish it. Reporting also suggests the Treasurer has poured cold water on progress toward universal childcare.

Senator Steph Hodgins-May:

“Once again, Labor is all talk and no action. The Prime Minister cannot keep calling early learning his legacy while offering crumbs when families are crying out for real reform.

“Consultation is fine, but families and educators already know what’s needed. The Greens have put forward a serious plan for an independent national regulator with teeth to crack down on unsafe centres, lift standards, and drive the transition to universal early education. 

“Families are struggling right now with skyrocketing childcare fees, concerns about quality, and an increasingly privatised system that treats children like profit margins, and this is if they can even find a place in a centre at all.

“I’ve spent more than a year pushing the Minister to act on a national commission, only to hear the same excuses over and over: not now, maybe later.

“Now we’ve got another vague, non-committal announcement that kicks the can further down the road.

“When is the right time? Parents are at breaking point. They cannot wait any longer for a properly funded, affordable, high-quality universal early learning system that works just like primary and secondary school.

“If Labor was willing to stand up to the gas cartel and introduce a minimum 25 per cent tax on gas exports, we’d have the revenue not just to consult on reform, but to actually build the universal early learning system families deserve.

“If next week’s budget fails to deliver that investment, Labor will have let families down once again.” 

“The Reserve Bank was forced to increase interest rates again today because the Treasurer keeps pouring debt petrol on the inflation fire”, said Shadow Treasurer, Tim Wilson.

Mr Wilson’s comments follow the Reserve Bank’s decision today to increase interest rates by a quarter of a per cent from 4.1% to 4.35%, and inflation data last week that showed persistent underlying domestic inflation compounded by the Iran conflict.

In its decision, the RBA noted “Inflation picked up materially in the second half of 2025, and information since the beginning of this year confirms that some of this increase reflected greater capacity pressures”.

“The Treasurer said this time last year that Australia had turned the corner on inflation and interest rates – and he is right that it was upward, again. This is now the highest interest rates have been under this Labor government”, Mr Wilson said.

“The Treasurer hasn’t taken inflation seriously, and that’s why Mums and Dads are paying higher interest rates”.

“This is the 15^th interest rate rise under Labor. A family with an average mortgage is now paying $29,000 a year more in interest than when Labor was elected”.

“Yesterday the Opposition released data showing an average couple with an average mortgage had $30,000 less in purchasing power under the Albanese government, and the pressure keeps mounting”.

“While Australian households are being told to pull their belt in, the Albanese government seems disinterested and unwilling, and now they’re introducing a new suite of family savings taxes on homes, rentals and trusts to feed it”.

“The Treasurer’s idea you need to break trust, to build trust, to target trusts is absurd”.

“Mums and Dads will be able to sniff out the Treasurer’s family savings tax agenda, and they should tell us their stories at www.notthetax.com.au”, Mr Wilson said.