Victoria’s Landcare groups have 60,000 volunteers – but will there be funds to support them?

The volunteer environment network says lack of money is stifling the growth of local groups despite an increase in interest on the ground

Lyn Heenan’s involvement with Landcare began almost 40 years ago, when her late father, Paul, joined the new movement in the 1980s to get rid of rabbits that had been eating their way through the Pyrenees region in western Victoria.

It was shortly after then conservation minister Joan Kirner had launched the initiative alongside the Victorian Farmers Federation at the tiny locality of Winjallock in 1986.

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Coldest start to winter in decades in some areas with polar air mass predicted across Australia next week

Many parts of Victoria, NSW and Queensland have shivered through temperatures between 2C and 5C below average, the BoM says

It has been the coldest start to winter in decades for parts of Queensland, New South Wales and Victoria, and temperatures are expected to remain cooler with a polar air mass predicted to sweep through the entire country in the coming week.

Dean Narramore, a senior meteorologist at the Bureau of Meteorology, said many parts of south-eastern Australia experienced temperatures in the past week between 2C and 5C below average for winter.

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Shadow energy minister says system in ‘dire trouble’ – as it happened

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Australia needs more gas supply on east coast, Albanese says

Anthony Albanese is speaking to the ABC from Devonport.

We’ll work those issues through with Aemo.

We need more gas supply. We announced our future gas strategy a short while ago because we understand that we need more supply. Gas has an important role to play in manufacturing in particular. But also in providing firming capacity for the renewables rollout.

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Victoria signed MoU with Israeli defence ministry to share ‘opportunities’ from ‘global tensions’

The 2022 agreement intended to foster trade relations and ‘support greater collaboration on defence industry objectives’, documents reveal

The Victorian government quietly signed an agreement with Israel’s defence ministry to capitalise on “global tensions” and countries wanting to “protect their national interests” militarily, internal documents reveal.

The 2022 Memorandum of Understanding, signed before the Israel-Gaza war, was intended to foster trade relations and “support greater collaboration on defence industry objectives”, according to Victorian government documents released under freedom of information laws.

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Australia news live: Indigenous leader Rev Dr D Gondarra dies; mass cull ordered to stop NSW bird flu outbreak

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Albanese calls Coalition nuclear policy a ‘fantasy’

The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, has slammed the Coalition’s nuclear power policy, calling it a “fantasy” and saying it was “Peter Dutton and the Seven nuclear reactors.”

What you have here is something that I’ve never seen before. I mean, this is just a fantasy, instead of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs this is Peter Dutton and the seven nuclear reactors.

This is just absurd, to have a big buildup for an announcement and then say we won’t give you the details. I’ll make this prediction. All the details won’t be out there before the election. It will be just “trust me”, just the same as Peter Dutton said that [for the] 2030 target when it comes to emissions reduction, “I will let you know all of that after the election.”

Well, our energy policy will and is absolutely focused on driving down prices as we did in government at … this is the important point. And that is because of a range of technologies, not one, nuclear needs to be part of that mix. You need to have every horse in this race. This is a hard race to win. And we want to have every horse in the race. Nuclear is an important one, gas is an important one.

Everyone wants to sort of say there’s one technology this the answer to everything. No. I’m just wondering. It’s a balance of technologies and right now, what is clear is Chris Bowen’s strategy is not getting us to where we need to go.

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Australia news live: Dutton announces Coalition’s nuclear policy and proposed sites, but no costs

Sites named at Collie, Mt Piper, Callide, Tarong, Liddell, Northern energy in South Australia and Loy Yang. Follow the day’s news live

Sussan Ley says Coalition nuclear policy will be a ‘sensible proposition’

I just wanted to return to Sussan Ley’s appearance on Sky News this morning, where she was asked how a potential future Coalition nuclear policy would circumvent nuclear bans:

We’ll work through all that. We have a sensible proposition to put to the Australian people and I know that when we talk about nuclear people are starting to tune in, understanding that if 19 of the 20 biggest economies in the world are using nuclear, if it makes sense for cleaner baseload power, because it’s zero emissions, if it helps us get to 2050 net zero, if it does all of the things that we want it to do in terms of emissions, and in terms of securing affordable cheaper power for Australians … why would people not consider it? And I believe they will.

Now, the government says it’s renewables only. We can see that that’s actually not going to happen. The government talks about hydrogen, it’s not at scale. It’s not even something they can demonstrate works in that short timeframe and they talk about batteries that aren’t going to provide the storage for their renewables.

So, they are in a complete mess over this, and they need to be put on the sticky paper and asked what they are going to do for families, households and manufacturing businesses.

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RBA governor says inflation still above target; Matt Kean to retire from politics – as it happened

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Liberals criticise treatment of journalist by Chinese officials at press conference

Opposition foreign affairs spokesman Simon Birmingham has condemned the treatment of journalist Cheng Lei at federal parliament yesterday.

This was an entirely counterproductive and inappropriate act by Chinese officials that should have been called out by our prime minister and government officials.

It is a reminder that we have two very different systems, the Chinese system and the Australian system, different systems of government, of course as a democracy, different respect when it comes to media, to freedom of speech, but this visit is taking place in Australia.

It is concerning, I think a lot of this comes from so many Australians genuinely doing a tough at the moment, having to make really tough decisions, from telling their kids that they can no longer play basketball or be part of the scouts group because they can’t afford the … 500 bucks a year that costs, to other Australians who are deciding between going to see the GP or fulfilling a script and putting food on the table.

People are doing it tough and so when they hear politicians talk about these targets in the future … I think Peter Dutton use this to whip up fear.

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An affair, a hunting trip and two people dead at a high country camp: how the Greg Lynn case unfolded – a timeline

The former Jetstar pilot pleaded not guilty to murdering Russell Hill and Carol Clay in the Wonnangatta Valley in 2020. Here’s everything you need to know in the lead-up to the verdict

Former pilot Gregory Stuart Lynn, 57, has faced a four-week trial after pleading not guilty to murdering campers Russell Hill, 74 and Carol Clay, 73 in Victoria’s high country in 2020.

As the jury considers a verdict, here’s everything to know about how the missing person investigation and trial unfolded:

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Climate 200 names nine new Coalition seats where it hopes to replicate teal wave at next election

Exclusive: After months of speculation the fundraising giant has identified more electorates where independent campaigns meet its criteria for support

Climate 200, the fundraising giant that bankrolled the teal independent wave at the last election, has thrown its support behind independent campaigns in nine more Coalition-held seats.

After months of speculation, the group said it would support independent campaigns in the Queensland electorates of McPherson, Moncrief, Fisher and Fairfax as well as the New South Wales electorates Cowper and Bradfield, and Casey, Monash and Wannon in Victoria.

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Victoria’s premier unveils new housing targets for construction of 2.5m new homes by 2051

Jacinta Allan reveals Geelong will be set highest target for new homes, with City of Melbourne and Melton second and third

Melbourne’s CBD, the outer suburbs and the regional city of Geelong will shoulder the burden of new housing in Victoria, according to draft council targets set to be released by the state government.

The premier, Jacinta Allan, and planning minister, Sonya Kilkenny, will on Sunday announce their proposed housing targets for local government areas (LGA), which they say could lead to the construction of 2.5m new homes by 2051.

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Police investigate after pro-Palestinian slogans graffitied on Canberra war memorial – as it happened

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The education minister, Jason Clare, has said stricter regulations on social media for teenagers had bipartisan support.

Speaking to Channel 7’s Sunrise, Clare called social media a “cesspit”, and added that Labor’s age verification trial would be the first step to protecting young people.

I think we all agree that social media’s a cesspit. We all agree we don’t want our kids on it. It’s about how do you do it?

This should be something where the Labor party and the Liberal party can work together.

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Police offer $1m reward to solve murder of Maria James inside Melbourne bookshop

Catholic priest Anthony Bongiorno and Peter Keogh, both dead, previously named as persons of interest

Almost 44 years after Maria James’s brutal murder in her Melbourne bookshop, her two sons hope a $1m reward will finally unmask her killer.

James, whose second-hand bookshop on High Street at Thornbury in Melbourne’s north also functioned as her home, was killed there on 17 June 1980 in what her son Mark described as a “ritualistic”, violent and frenzied attack. She was found dead after being stabbed 68 times.

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Australia news live: person ‘likely’ with dementia made call to police before 92-year-old allegedly assaulted by police, Karen Webb says

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Chalmers asked about findings that jobseekers unable to afford ‘basics of life’

The treasurer Jim Chalmers was up on ABC News Breakfast just earlier, asked about new Anglicare data showing Australians on income support are “structurally unable to afford the basics of life”.

This is the primary motivation for the substantial cost of living relief that we’re providing in the budget. Whether it is the tax cuts for every Australian taxpayer, energy bill relief for every household, help with student debt and cheaper medicines, plus the increases to jobseeker – which were in the budget before last – all of these are important ways that we can not just understand and acknowledge the pressures that people are under, but actually respond to them.

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Judge in Greg Lynn murder trial says jury can’t find him guilty of manslaughter as an alternate verdict

Justice Michael Croucher summarises case to jurors after ex-Jetstar pilot pleaded not guilty to murdering campers Russell Hill and Carol Clay

The jury in the trial of a former Jetstar pilot accused of murdering two elderly campers in the Victorian high country will not be able to consider an alternative charge of manslaughter, the state’s supreme court has heard.

Gregory Stuart Lynn, 57, has pleaded not guilty to murdering Russell Hill, 74, and Carol Clay, 73, at a remote camping site in the Wonnangatta Valley in March 2020.

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Bacchus Marsh Grammar: Victorian premier blasts ‘disgraceful’ conduct after AI fake nude photo allegations

Jacinta Allan says no place for ‘misogynistic conduct’ as police investigate allegations fake nude images of students circulated online

Victoria’s premier has said there is no place for “misogynistic conduct” in the state following allegations deepfakes depicting about 50 female students from a private school in regional Victoria were circulated online.

Police are investigating the “incredibly graphic” nude images which appeared to have been created using artificial intelligence and photos of the girls’ faces taken from social media sites, and then circulated online.

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‘He was selfish’: Greg Lynn covered up deaths because he believed he would be blamed, murder trial told

Victorian supreme court hears closing arguments in trial of ex-Jetstar pilot who has pleaded not guilty to murdering Russell Hill and Carol Clay

A former Jetstar pilot accused of murdering two elderly campers in the Victorian high country covered up the deaths because he believed he would be blamed after he incorrectly stored his guns, his defence barrister has told the state’s supreme court.

Gregory Stuart Lynn, 57, has pleaded not guilty to murdering Russell Hill, 74, and Carol Clay, 73, at a remote camping site in the Wonnangatta Valley in March 2020.

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Australia news live: Dutton suggests Coalition won’t provide 2030 emissions target before election5; Qld state budget announcement today

Opposition leader says Coalition will ‘make our announcements in relation to our targets in due course’. Follow today’s news headlines live

Murray Watt says the opposition has “started the new climate wars” after Barnaby Joyce and Keith Pitt, two senior Nationals, called for Australia to pull out of the Paris agreement. You can read more on this from Karen Middleton below:

Speaking to ABC News Breakfast, Watt said:

We’re back to the same old climate wars in the Coalition. I saw overnight that [Joyce and Pitt] openly called for the Coalition to pull out of the Paris agreement. They’ve spent the last couple of days trying to paper over the cracks in the Coalition, saying that they can withdraw the target without withdrawing from the agreement. Now it’s out there in the open for everyone to see. And you can set your clock by Barnaby Joyce causing new climate wars within the Coalition. It’s seem like we’re back to the bad old days.

We’re on track to get to 42%, which is only 1% short of the 43% target.

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‘He knew he had murdered them’: Greg Lynn covered up campers’ deaths to conceal his crimes, court hears

Closing arguments begin in trial of former pilot, who has pleaded not guilty to murdering Russell Hill and Carol Clay

The only reasonable explanation for a former Jetstar pilot to cover up the deaths of two elderly campers in the Victorian high country was because “he knew he had murdered them”, the state’s supreme court has heard.

Gregory Stuart Lynn, 57, has pleaded not guilty to murdering Russell Hill, 74, and Carol Clay, 73, at a remote camping site in the Wonnangatta Valley in March 2020.

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Queensland premier says ‘no update’ on anti-discrimination reforms – as it happened

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Brisbane Christian school issues apology two years after gender contracts

A Pentecostal Christian school has expressed regret for introducing a controversial student gender and sexuality contract two years ago.

We regret any distress or concern which was caused to students, parents and guardians of students or prospective students of the college.

We are working closely with all of our suppliers to ensure eggs remain available for our customers and we are providing support to the industry in responding to the Avian Flu cases in Victoria.

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Statue of King George V beheaded in Melbourne on King’s birthday holiday

Police called to Kings Domain Monday morning to find head removed and paint thrown at monument

A statue of King George V has been beheaded and covered in red paint in the latest attack on colonial monuments in Victoria.

Police were called to the statue in Melbourne’s Kings Domain on Linlithgow Avenue just after 9am on Monday.

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