Category Archives: Victoria

Spiritual healer who served magic mushrooms at Victorian retreat where woman died escapes drug trafficking conviction

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Deanne Mathews fined $3000 after pleading guilty to trafficking psilocybin at Clunes wellness retreat where Rachael Dixon fell ill and died

A woman has admitted serving up magic mushrooms at a spiritual retreat where a participant died, leaving court without a conviction recorded for drug trafficking.

Spiritual healer Deanne Mathews, 53, was fined $3000 after she pleaded guilty to the single charge at Bacchus Marsh magistrates court on Wednesday.

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Labor’s ‘devastating’ bail laws overhaul sparks outrage from legal, human rights and First Nations groups in Victoria

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Proposed changes, which include scrapping principle of remand as ‘last resort’ for youth, condemned as ‘backwards step’

Legal, human rights and First Nations groups have condemned the Victorian government’s overhaul of the state’s bail laws, which will force the courts to treat children accused of serious crimes like adults when deciding whether to remand them or release them into the community.

The premier, Jacinta Allan, on Wednesday announced proposed changes to the Bail Act that would result in more unsentenced people who have not been convicted of a crime being remanded in custody.

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Australia’s smaller airports rife with vulnerabilities, former Qantas security head says, after alleged gunman boarded Jetstar flight

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Much of the security is on the passenger side of the terminal, Geoff Askew says, not on the tarmac

Australia’s smaller and regional airports are rife with security vulnerabilities, industry insiders have warned, after the dramatic citizen’s arrest of a teenager who allegedly boarded a Jetstar flight with a shotgun and ammunition.

Police charged a 17-year-old Victorian boy with a range of offences, including unlawfully taking control of an aircraft, orchestrating a bomb hoax and possessing a firearm.

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Teenager charged after allegedly boarding Jetstar flight with ‘large gun’ at Avalon airport

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Police charged 17-year-old with unlawfully taking control of an aircraft, orchestrating a bomb hoax and possessing a firearm

A teenager who allegedly tried to force his way on to a commercial flight at a Victorian airport before being dramatically overpowered by passengers was due to face court on Friday charged with a string of offences.

Police were called to Avalon airport near Geelong, in Victoria, on Thursday afternoon after reports a male wielding a firearm had attempted to board the Jetstar flight.

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‘You just hope for the best’: rarely seen froglets – the length of a grain of rice – released into small patch of Victorian wilds

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Exclusive: More than 3,000 critically endangered Baw Baw frogs set free in a high-altitude forest to bolster dwindling population

More than 3,000 critically endangered Baw Baw frogs have been released in Victoria’s east as part of a record-breaking conservation breeding program.

Zoos Victoria’s reintroduction of 3,000 tiny froglets and 40 adult frogs into the high-altitude forests of the Baw Baw plateau, about 120km east of Melbourne, was the largest in its breeding program for the species.

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Crisafulli urges residents to prepare as storm approaches – as it happened

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This blog is now closed. Read the latest Cyclone Alfred news update here

Sandbag queues ‘about an hour’ in Brisbane – Wells

The federal sports minister, Anika Wells, also spoke on the Today Show this morning from Brisbane and said it was the “calm before the storm”.

At the moment that’s the shortest it’s been in 24 hours. It’s a big couple of days ahead for south-east Queensland. We’re more than up to the task, but everybody’s doing their bit.

So everyone’s doing their bit and we thank them for it.

We know that there’s going to be damaging winds, there is going to be powerful surf, coastal erosion, and it will be followed by significant rain that can last a couple of days. So we’re really urging people to be alert, to be prepared, just like the SES is.

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Affluent suburbs targeted in Victorian government move to seize planning controls to build more homes

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South Yarra and Windsor among 25 new ‘activity centres’ identified by Labor for higher-density housing

The Victorian government has announced affluent suburbs such as Prahran, South Yarra and Windsor are among the final 25 areas where it will seize planning controls in an effort to increase housing density.

Two local government areas – Melbourne and Yarra – have also been named “city-wide activity centres” to allow for the rezoning of under-utilised areas.

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Man allegedly behind Melbourne’s ‘Pam the Bird’ graffiti bailed to live with ‘no nonsense’ grandmother

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Jack Gibson-Burrell, 21, released after flagging he will fight more than 50 offences and being accused of painting on Melbourne landmarks

A Melbourne man alleged to be the creator of the prolific “Pam the Bird” graffiti has been released back into the community to live with his grandmother in Geelong, who has warned it is “my house, my rules”.

Jack Gibson-Burrell’s legal team successfully argued for their client to be granted bail under strict conditions including not possessing abseiling-related equipment or graffiti implements, a night-time curfew, $30,000 surety and residing with his grandmother.

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Australia news live: Woodside doubles profits thanks to record production of oil; funnel-web spider shortage threatens antivenom program

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Australia’s largest oil and gas producer has doubled its profits to $5.6bn. Follow today’s news live

Senate estimates will be back under way today, and AAP has flagged a little of what we can expect:

Creative Australia bosses, including the chief executive, Adrian Collette, will front an estimates hearing and it’s expected they’ll be questioned about the selection body’s shock decision to ditch the Venice Biennale team.

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Bold or a ‘capitulation’? Victoria’s premier claims Labor’s reworked building goals are still on target

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The final state housing targets have seen a reduction in numbers, but the overall goal of refocusing growth to Melbourne’s inner core remains

Reading the headlines, you’d be forgiven for thinking the Victorian government has capitulated again – this time on its bold housing targets.

But for the well-heeled residents of Brighton and Boorondara – some of whom who had sought to quash any changes amid cries of “shame, premier, shame” – it’s full steam ahead, at least in their suburbs.

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Australia news live: Jim Chalmers meeting with US Treasury to discuss Trump’s steel tariffs; one dead after police standoff in Tamworth

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The treasurer will continue to lobby US officials for an Australian exemption to steel and aluminium tariffs

Greens want Labor’s new Medicare plan implemented before election

The federal Greens have welcomed the Albanese government’s plan to significantly boost bulk-billing rates, as part of an $8.5bn policy, but claimed its campaigning influenced the decision.

Greens pressure works. In a wealthy country like ours everyone should be able to see a GP, psychologist, dentist or nurse with their Medicare card.

It’s good Labor has adopted part of our plan to help people see the GP for free. Now let’s make it law before the election.

Trade and tariffs will be part of the conversation, but not the whole conversation. That is an ongoing discussion that we’re having with our American counterparts. I don’t expect he will conclude those discussions on steel and aluminium while I’m in DC.

I am not going to pre-empt the outcome of those conversations, nor do I expect those discussions will necessarily be concluded this week, to be upfront with you.

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Australia news live: NSW health system ‘catastrophically let down’ toddler’s family, minister admits

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Two-year-old waited in emergency department for three hours before suffering a cardiac arrest and dying. Follow today’s news headlines live

Victoria to offer contactless public transport tickets from next year

Victorians will be able to use their phones, bank cards or smartwatches to pay for public transport travel from “early next year in a staged approach”, according to reports.

Following a successful start of a ticketless bus trial in Wangaratta, the Allan Labor Government will begin switching on tap-and-go technology across Victoria’s public transport network from early next year in a staged approach – meaning some passengers will soon be able to use their bank cards, phones and smart watches to travel on full fare tickets.

The new ticketing system will continue to be underpinned by extensive technical testing and will be carefully rolled out starting with rail from the beginning early next year – allowing full fare passengers more ways to pay for their travel.

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‘Wilful acts of bastardry’: former Treasury secretary says young Australian workers ‘robbed’ by tax system

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Ken Henry made comments at a tax summit in Melbourne, arguing fiscal drag is seeing taxes go up while real incomes fall

Recent governments have carried out “wilful acts of bastardry” and created intergenerational inequality and environmental destruction that will leave younger voters worse off, the former Treasury secretary Ken Henry has said, urging tweaks to Australia’s tax system to bridge the growing divide.

Henry, who worked under both the Howard and Rudd governments, used a speech at the Per Capita tax summit in Melbourne on Thursday morning to argue the country’s tax settings since the Howard government have fuelled inequality and left further generations and young workers “to pick up the tab”.

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Victoria to axe thousands of public service jobs as treasurer warns of ‘difficult decisions’

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Independent review asked to recommend cuts to public service to reduce workforce by 5%-6%

Thousands of public service jobs in Victoria are to be slashed after a review ordered by the state’s new treasurer, who has warned “difficult decisions” need to be made to bring the budget under control.

Jaclyn Symes and the premier, Jacinta Allan, on Thursday announced an independent review into the Victorian public service (VPS), to be headed by Helen Silver, a banking executive and former head of the Department of Premier and Cabinet under John Brumby and Ted Baillieu.

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Melbourne woman charged over two alleged Islamophobic attacks at shopping centre

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Charges laid after two Muslim women were allegedly attacked at an Epping shopping centre on Thursday

A woman will face court charged over allegedly Islamophobic attacks on two women at a shopping centre, as one of the victims says she remains terrified.

The 31-year-old Pascoe Vale woman is accused of assaulting a pregnant 30-year-old Muslim woman inside an Epping shopping complex in Melbourne’s north on Thursday, before allegedly attacking 26-year-old Ealaf Al-Easawi about 10 minutes later.

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Albanese says RBA rate cut ‘won’t have an impact’ on timing of federal election – as it happened

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The prime minister was also asked to weigh in on the ongoing dispute between the NSW government and rail unions – and whether the federal government plans to intervene.

But Anthony Albanese shot this suggestion down, saying this was “a state dispute of a state branch of a union over pay with a state government”.

I support very much the efforts of the Minns government to bring this dispute to an end, common sense has to apply here, and I think that the union needs to acknowledge that it is alienating people through these actions of not turning up to work. And there was hope on the weekend that it would be settled, [and] it should have been …

We’re getting to the point where the union needs to see common sense, settle this dispute with the Minns government. [The NSW premier] Chris Minns is working very hard to get an end to this dispute.

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Arson attack that killed innocent Melbourne woman linked to tobacco wars, police say

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Katie Tangey, 27, died after arsonists hit the wrong address while she was house-sitting her brother’s home in Truganina in January

A house fire which killed a “completely innocent” woman is a case of mistaken identity linked to Melbourne’s tobacco wars, police say.

Katie Tangey, 27, died after arsonists hit the wrong address while she was house-sitting her brother’s home in Truganina, in the city’s west, in the early hours of 16 January.

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Australia news live: embattled casino operator Star offered $650m lifeline; name of next cyclone changed from Anthony to avoid using PM’s name

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Hume rules out working with teals if Coalition wins 70-72 seats

Jane Hume was asked whether the Coalition was in a position to form any alliances with the crossbench, amid new polling from YouGov showing neither party looks to be coming out with a clear majority.

That would cause chaos, and would cause chaos politically and economically as well.

On average, the teals have voted with the Greens around 78% of the time, with Labor around 75% of the time, and with the Coalition around 18% of the time.

I think it’s really important to look at what people do rather than what people say. We’re planning on going to this election to win the election, because Australians deserve better than what they’ve had for the last three years.

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Police investigate potential Islamophobic assaults at Melbourne shopping centre

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Two women in hijabs allegedly attacked in Epping last week while racist graffiti reported in western Sydney

Police are investigating if two alleged assaults in Melbourne were Islamophobic incidents after women in hijabs were attacked during the day.

Victoria police said two women, a 30-year-old from Lalor and a 26-year-old from Wollert, were allegedly attacked by the same assailant at Epping shopping centre on High Street between 1.10pm and 1.20pm on Thursday.

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Labor gifts duck hunters longer shooting season in Victoria and ups daily kill limit

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Allan government announces extended 2025 duck hunting season with hunters allowed to bag nine ducks a day

Wetland bird hunters in Victoria will have a longer duck shooting season and can take home more birds under new rules.

The Victorian duck hunting season will begin on 19 March and run for 83 days until 9 June, up from 56 days in 2024.

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