Category Archives: Victoria

This elusive possum was thought to be extinct outside Victoria. Now ecologists have made an ‘amazing’ discovery

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Leadbeater’s possum spotted in NSW at Kosciuszko national park, at least 250km away from the nearest sighting in Victoria

A critically endangered possum species thought to be isolated to Victoria has been found in a New South Wales alpine national park.

Previously thought to be extinct in the state, a leadbeater’s possum has been found in Kosciuszko national park, at least 250km away from the nearest sighting in Victoria.

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Lead detective denies police errors in mushroom lunch investigation as Erin Patterson trial continues

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Defence argues photos taken by police inside Patterson’s home appear to show computers and a phone that were not seized during search

The detective in charge of the investigation into the deadly beef wellington lunch served by Erin Patterson has denied police made several errors in the case, including failing to seize electronic items during a search of her house and wrongly identifying her son on CCTV footage, a court has heard.

Patterson, 50, faces three charges of murder and one charge of attempted murder relating to poisoning her four lunch guests – relatives of her estranged husband, Simon Patterson – with a beef wellington served at her house in Leongatha, Victoria on 29 July 2023.

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Erin Patterson murder trial live: police informant to continue evidence on day 21 of mushroom case

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Australian woman, 50, has pleaded not guilty to three charges of murder and one charge of attempted murder after a mushroom lunch at her house in regional Victoria in 2023. Follow live updates

Defendent’s daughter remembers visiting Asian grocer after rewatching video evidence

Prosecutor Jane Warren asks Eppingstall about evidence by Patterson’s daughter given during a pre-recorded police interview that was played to the court earlier in the trial.

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Geelong overtakes Sunshine Coast as top tree- and sea-change destination

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Rate of people moving to Australia’s regions increases by more than 10% in March quarter

While the Geelong Cats are fifth on the AFL ladder, their home city is the reigning champion.

The Victorian region has become the most popular place for people escaping capital cities to settle, with its picturesque coastline and thriving industry making it an ideal sea-change destination.

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Victoria fast-tracks machete ban as more arrests made over Northland shopping centre fight

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Police say further arrests ‘imminent’ after Sunday’s clash between alleged ‘rival youth gangs’

The sale of machetes will be banned in Victoria from Wednesday, after an alleged clash involving the weapon forced Northland shopping centre into lockdown at the weekend.

It comes as Victoria police made further arrests and said more were “imminent”, after the alleged fight between “rival youth gangs” on Sunday.

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Zoe Daniel requests recount in seat of Goldstein after Liberal Tim Wilson wins by 260 votes

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AEC says it is considering recount request while opponent Wilson says he hopes Daniel ‘finds peace’

Zoe Daniel has requested the Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) conduct a recount in the seat of Goldstein after Liberal Tim Wilson emerged 260 votes ahead after the final distribution of preferences.

The AEC automatically recounts votes if the margin is less than 100, but candidates can also request one if they believe they have sufficient grounds to do so.

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‘Sick of this’: Erin Patterson told friends she wanted ‘nothing to do’ with in-laws, mushroom lunch trial hears

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Victorian supreme court shown Facebook messages in which murder accused vents frustration at estranged husband’s parents

Erin Patterson told a Facebook group chat “this family I swear to fucking god” and said she wanted “nothing to do” with her parents-in-law, according to messages shown in a Victorian court.

Messages written by the user Erin ErinErin, which the court has previously heard was one of three Facebook names used by Patterson, also included saying she was ““sick of this shit” and “fuck em” about the parents of her estranged husband, Simon.

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Health to get $11.1bn boost in Victorian budget, with pharmacist prescribing powers made permanent

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Cash injection includes $9.3bn for public hospitals and nearly $50m to expand trial prescribing program

Victoria’s health system will receive an $11.1bn cash injection in the state budget, with hospitals to receive more funding and pharmacists given greater powers to prescribe medications without the need for a GP visit.

The budget, which will be handed down by the state’s treasurer, Jaclyn Symes, on Tuesday, includes a $9.3bn boost for public hospitals.

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Erin Patterson murder trial live: mobile data shows Patterson’s device could have been in area where death cap mushrooms reportedly sighted

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Australian woman, 50, faces three murder charges and one charge of attempted murder over lethal mushroom lunch. Follow live updates

Patterson’s defence lawyer, Sophie Stafford, is cross-examining McKenzie.

She agrees she removed and disposed of every death cap mushroom she could find when she spotted the mushrooms.

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Albanese to meet von der Leyen in Rome amid hopes EU free-trade deal can be revived – as it happened

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Liberals must ‘build from the bottom up’ after election disaster – Ruston

Asked why the Liberals were now reviewing their embrace of the Paris climate agreement under the former government of Scott Morrison, Ruston says the walloping voters handed the party meant “absolutely everything” was up for review.

To be quite frank, we have to build from the bottom up again because that election result was quite disastrous for the Liberal party and we need to be open and honest with ourselves about what we need to take forward so that we are meeting Australia where they are and not talking about where we are.

Clearly we need to be doing something different. I think, you know, keeping an open mind, making sure we’re honest and open with that analysis of what went wrong, and actually come out with a policy proposal and a modern Liberal party, still maintaining all of the values that we hold so dearly.

Oh God, no, no, anything but, please. We have been there before many times over the past 20 years or so and to reopen the climate wars, as you aptly describe them, is like reopening an old wound.

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Victoria announces free public transport for under-18s, as state’s debt projected to rise

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The Jacinta Allan government says more than 1 million children and their families will benefit from the $318m program

Every Victorian child will get free public transport from 1 January next year, the state government has pledged.

A new youth Myki, valid across the state, will save families up to $755 a year (the cost of a yearly student pass) under the scheme. Anyone under 18 in non-Myki areas will also be eligible to travel for free.

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Glossy black cockatoos could be pushed towards extinction in Victoria if burns go ahead, experts warn

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Fire in black sheoak forest of East Gippsland would destroy the birds’ food supply, conservationist says

Glossy black cockatoos could be pushed towards extinction in Victoria if planned burns of 13,000 hectares of forest go ahead, ecologists and conservationists warn.

The Victorian government is being urged to abandon the burn, which is intended to reduce bushfire risk.

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Push to save John Pesutto from bankruptcy after $2.3m Moira Deeming defamation costs order

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Online fundraiser launched as former Victorian Liberal leader hopes to avoid being forced to resign from parliament if he is unable to pay the sum

Friends of the former Victorian opposition leader John Pesutto have launched an online fundraiser in a bid to help him “avoid the possibility of bankruptcy” after he was ordered to pay more than $2.3m in costs following his loss in a defamation case brought by the Liberal MP Moira Deeming.

The federal court registrar Alison Legge handed down the decision during a short hearing on Friday in which she ordered Pesutto pay $2,308,873.11 in legal costs.

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Juror discharged from mushroom lunch trial as child protection worker reveals what Erin Patterson told her

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Victorian supreme court judge says he received information the juror had been discussing Patterson’s case with family and friends

A juror has been discharged from the triple murder trial of Erin Patterson, after Justice Christopher Beale said he had received information the person had been discussing the case with family and friends.

Beale told the jury he had received information the juror had been discussing the case with family and friends contrary to his directions.

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Erin Patterson showed no sign of liver damage experienced by other mushroom lunch attenders, trial hears

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Victorian jury also sees images appearing to show accused disposing of food dehydrator at tip, and hears from expert who examined lunch leftovers

An expert in emergency medicine who reviewed Erin Patterson’s medical records says her condition was consistent with someone who had a diarrhoeal illness, but there was no biochemical evidence of liver injury.

Patterson, 50, has pleaded not guilty to three charges of murder and one charge of attempted murder relating to the lunch she served at her house in Leongatha, Victoria on 29 July 2023.

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Five vice-chancellors in Victoria paid more than $1m in 2024, prompting claims of ‘largesse’

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Union says universities blaming budget deficits for job cuts while pushing executive salaries ‘into the stratosphere’

Just three of Victoria’s vice-chancellors took pay cuts last year despite growing outside pressure to address “broken” university governance and accusations of “executive largesse”.

The universities’ latest annual reports, tabled in state parliament on Tuesday, showed six of Victoria’s nine vice-chancellors increased their pay or left it unchanged last year compared with 2023.

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Koalas face death, attacks and starvation as blue gums chopped down in Victoria

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The state government is aware of koala welfare problems but says it has ‘no cost-effective’ solutions

Thousands of koalas are being displaced each year as blue gum plantations are cut down in Victoria, worsening overcrowding in nearby forests and exacerbating the risk of injury and death during bushfires.

An estimated 42,500 koalas live in blue gum plantations in south-west Victoria, data shows. Between 8,000 and 10,000 hectares of plantation are harvested each year, making thousands of koalas homeless.

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Helmeted honeyeaters return to Cardinia in Victoria for first time since 1983’s Ash Wednesday bushfires

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Healesville sanctuary releases 21 critically endangered birds in hopes a new wild population will thrive

For the first time in 42 years, critically endangered helmeted honeyeaters have returned to Cardinia in south-east Victoria, where they were found until the Ash Wednesday bushfires in 1983.

Helmeted honeyeaters are charismatic, energetic and curious, according to Dr Kim Miller, the manager of threatened species at Healesville sanctuary.

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Sarah Witty v Adam Bandt: how an unlikely Labor champion took down a Greens giant

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Melbourne was barely on the ALP’s radar as a seat it could win – but a sparsely funded campaign proved powerful

Labor could hardly be considered a metaphorical David in most federal election contests. But in the progressive seat of Melbourne, where the now-beaten Greens leader Adam Bandt had reigned for 15 years, there are similarities to the oft-told biblical story.

On 28 March, when Anthony Albanese called an election date for May, Melbourne appeared on no one’s list as a battle to watch.

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