Portfolio — 31 May 2026

Minister Catherine King made two substantial infrastructure announcements on 31 May, covering major transport investment in Queensland and Western Australia. On the Sunshine Coast, design and pre-construction contracts for Stage 1 of The Wave rail project have been awarded to the Beerwah Coast Connect and CoastalTraX consortia, with Alstom and UGL contracted to deliver the European Train Control System signalling solution [TA-260531-infras-dbb4cace0dfe].

The Australian Government's committed contribution to Stage 1 stands at $2.75 billion, with King framing the investment around job creation, economic growth and improved connectivity for Sunshine Coast communities [TA-260531-infras-dbb4cace0dfe]. The contract awards mark a concrete procurement milestone for a project that has been a centrepiece of the government's Queensland transport agenda.

In Western Australia, King launched tenders for new ferry terminals at Applecross and Matilda Bay under the $107 million METRONET on Swan expansion, accompanied by a further $10 million federal commitment for future network extensions [TA-260531-infras-e580a2905b99:m00AMR]. The terminal designs include fixed jetties, sheltered waiting areas, gangways, ferry berths, and — notably — electric-charging infrastructure at Matilda Bay, linking the University of Western Australia, the QEII Medical Centre and surrounding precincts [TA-260531-infras-e580a2905b99:m00AMR].

The inclusion of electric-charging infrastructure at the design stage signals an emissions-reduction dimension to the project that sits across both transport and clean-energy policy domains.

Taken together, the two announcements reflect a deliberate multimodal strategy: large-scale rail on the Sunshine Coast and urban ferry expansion on the Swan River, both framed as connectivity investments linking growing communities to employment, education and health services. The geographic spread — Queensland rail and Western Australian ferry — in a single day's ministerial output underscores the national scope King's office is projecting for the infrastructure portfolio.

No parliamentary activity was recorded for this period; the comms record stands alone.