It's no secret that getting around Australia can be a pain in the backside. Driving interstate takes half your life (not to mention a lot of petrol) and flying will cost you an arm and a leg.
Well that could soon be a thing of the past if Labor wins the election next week as they're promising to spend $1 billion to build a bullet train that could connect Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane.
Impressively, the train would be able to travel at up to 350km/h, taking only take three hours to get from Queensland's capital to Victoria's
Shadow Minister for Infrastructure Anthony Albanese said: "Labor's investment would end nearly six years of Coalition inaction.
"[Labor will] finally deliver progress on a project that will revolutionise interstate travel and regional development in Australia."
The opposition said while it'll be a boom for people in the three capital cities, it will be even better for smaller places like Grafton, Coffs Harbour, Port Macquarie, Newcastle, the Central Coast, Southern Highlands, Canberra, Wagga Wagga and Shepparton.
A statement from Mr Albanese's office said: "It would bring these communities closer to capital cities, allowing for increased commuting while also strengthening the case for regional business investment.
"As Australia's strong population growth continues in coming years, the already established case for High Speed Rail will become more compelling.
"If we start to acquire the corridor now, we will protect it from development and thereby minimise costs."
This project has been decades in the making, according to the ABC, who said the head of the CSIRO proposed a similar service back in the 1980s after he saw its success in Japan.
While $1 billion sounds like a hell of a lot of money, it's miniscule compared to the figure the Rudd Labor government came up with when they devised a high-speed train system.
Costings suggested a project of this magnitude will cost around $114 billion - which is around $5,000 for every Australian. Now that is a hell of a lot of money.
Judging from the budget handed down this year, it didn't sound like there was a casual $114 billion sitting around and the rail network would likely take years, if not decades to complete.
But Labor's pledge would be the biggest financial pledge to the project ever. Every waterfall starts with the first drop.
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