Jake Nelson

The 16-kilometre section of the M12, which will link Elizabeth Drive to The Northern Road via WSI, will officially open on 14 March after four years of construction. It comes as the airport prepares to open in late 2026.

Speaking to David Speers on ABC’s Insiders on Sunday morning, Foreign Minister Penny Wong said the Iran conflict has become a major consular crisis for Australia. It comes after the RAAF last week deployed two aircraft to the Middle East in case they are needed for evacuations.

As reported in the Australian Financial Review, a “government source” said a C-17A Globemaster and a KC-30A Multi-Role Tanker Transport have been deployed to the region as part of Operation Beech. It comes as limited commercial flights have recommenced from the Gulf.

QF-designated flights (Qantas and QantasLink) saw 77.9 per cent on-time arrivals and 78.8 per cent on-time departures in 2025, compared to 76 per cent and 77 per cent respectively for VA flights (Virgin Australia and VARA); however, Virgin beat Qantas on completion rates for the year.

The airline, one of China’s “big four”, will switch permanently from five weekly flights to seven from 15 June, creating an annual capacity of almost 100,000 seats per year between Brisbane and Shanghai. It comes as China Southern prepares to fly twice daily year-round from 30 March.

In its latest Airport Monitoring Report, the consumer and competition watchdog said infrastructure investment at Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Perth Airports had grown by more than 43 per cent in 2024-25 to $1.5 billion in spending on aeronautical facilities.