Category Archives: Victoria

Bushfires force evacuations in Victoria’s west as wild weather menaces Australia’s south-east

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Firefighters battle two out-of-control blazes as other communities brace for winds, storms and possible flash flooding

Two out-of-control bushfires in Victoria have forced townships to evacuate and destroyed at least one home as parts of Australia’s east remain on alert for fires while being hit with wild winds and storms.

Firefighters were on Sunday working to contain the fires in Victoria’s west, with flash flooding and heavy rainfall possible in the state’s north-east, south-east New South Wales and north-east Tasmania.

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Marles announces closer military ties with Japan and US

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Warning for heavy rainfall, damaging winds and potential flash flooding in north-east Victoria

The Bureau of Meteorology has issued a severe weather warning for the north-east of Victoria, with forecasts of heavy rainfall and “damaging to locally destructive wind gusts”:

Heavy rainfall that may lead to flash flooding is forecast with areas of rain and thunderstorms for the northeast of Victoria from Sunday morning.

Six-hourly rainfall totals of 30 to 60mm are likely, with isolated totals up to 80mm possible. 24-hourly rainfall totals of 60 to 80mm are likely, with isolated falls of 100mm possible.

He’s Australia’s appointment. It says something about the importance of the United States that we have appointed a former prime minister.

That’s a sign of how seriously we take this relationship, which is a relationship between our peoples, based upon our common values.

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Bushfire evacuations in Victoria’s west as conditions prompt catastrophic danger warnings

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Gellibrand, Dereel and Kadnook residents told to leave as total fire bans declared across parts of South Australia and Victoria

Several communities in Victoria’s west have been urged to evacuate as firefighters work to control a number of bushfires.

A short-lived heatwave has brought hot, dry and windy conditions to much of southern Australia, with total fire bans in place and some areas experiencing catastrophic fire danger.

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Melbourne warehouse fire leads to evacuation of 150 nearby residents in middle of night

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Victoria police believe building on Spencer Street was empty at the time of the blaze

Police are investigating a warehouse fire in West Melbourne which led to 150 people being evacuated from an apartment complex in the middle of the night.

Fire Rescue Victoria found the warehouse “fully involved with fire” after being called to the incident on Spencer Street early on Saturday.

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Man charged over Melbourne carjacking and siege involving father and toddler

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Man charged with assaulting police, false imprisonment, threats to kill and other offences following a carjacking and siege

A man has been charged over carjacking and a siege involving an innocent father and his toddler, who were held inside their own home for hours.

The ordeal stared on Tuesday when a police helicopter followed a car in Melbourne’s west that was believed to have been stolen in a carjacking in Snake Valley earlier in the day, Victoria police said.

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Coles and Woolworths face class actions over claims misleading promotions deceived customers – as it happened

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Watt says issue of reconciliation not closed in Australia despite voice referendum

Wrapping up the interview, Murray Watt was also asked about the haka performed in New Zealand parliament yesterday over a controversial bill that proposes to radically alter the way New Zealand’s treaty between Māori and the crown is interpreted.

I think there are many Australians who care very deeply about the rights of our First Peoples. Of course, Australians had their say on the voice to parliament in the recent referendum but I don’t think that means the issue of reconciliation is closed in Australia. That is something that our government remains committed to working on with our First Peoples and I think a lot of Australians support that as well.

I probably won’t comment on what’s happening in New Zealand because it’s their own affairs, but it shows these issues still really matter to people.

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Police make arrest and seize water pistol after incident outside NSW parliament – as it happened

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Could Donald Trump really fire Kevin Rudd?

The former prime minister’s criticism of Donald Trump has drawn the ire of those in the president elect’s inner circle, and prompted renewed debate about whether the incoming administration could seek retribution.

I’d be very much opposed to that.

You’ve got the world’s richest man, and you’ve given him this position of incredible influence in the American government. I think jobs for mates is a very bad idea. I don’t think that politicians should be putting their friends, their dear friends into positions of great influence in this country.

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Australia’s first public vending machines offering free pads and tampons launch in Melbourne

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Libraries, Tafes and hospitals among first 30 locations to have period product dispensers installed in Victorian government initiative

Vending machines offering free pads and tampons will begin operating at the State Library of Victoria, Melbourne Museum and the Royal Exhibition Building, as well as hospitals, libraries and Tafes, as part of an Australian-first government initiative aimed at ending period poverty.

The Victorian premier, Jacinta Allan, will on Thursday announce the first 30 locations where 50 vending machines will be installed as part of the pilot program, which also includes the Melbourne Immigration Museum, three Northern Health campuses, the Royal Women’s hospital in Parkville and the Sidney Myer Music Bowl.

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News live: Birmingham says Australia could learn lessons from ‘disrupter’ Trump in making government more efficient

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The treasurer, Jim Chalmers will today announce funding of $900m for states and territories through a new national productivity fund to boost competition and productivity across the economy.

Launching the plan in a speech to the Australian Business Economists in Sydney, Chalmers is hoping the plan will will incentivise states to achieve productivity gains through pro-competitive policies such as streamlining commercial planning and zoning, and removing barriers to the uptake of modern construction methods.

In March this year, on behalf of the Council on Federal Financial Relations, I asked the Productivity Commission to model the potential impacts of a revitalised NCP.

Its final report landed this month and the benefits on offer are substantial, if not staggering. The PC found a revitalised NCP could boost GDP by up to $45bn a year and reduce prices by 1.45 percentage points. That GDP boost represents about $5,000 per household, per year.

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Police ‘should have done more’ to save Melbourne woman stabbed to death by ex-partner in front of children

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Family violence unit officers missed opportunities to protect Noeline Dalzell before James Fairhall murdered her, Victoria’s coroner says

Police missed an opportunity to protect a woman who was stabbed to death by her ex-partner in front of their three children, Victoria’s state coroner has found.

Noeline Dalzell was murdered by James Fairhall at her home in Melbourne’s south-east in February 2020, three months after he was released from custody for breaching a family violence intervention order.

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Police to charge man who allegedly carjacked 70-year-old and held father and toddler in Melbourne siege

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The 26-year-old Snake Valley man remains in hospital with police expecting to charge him on Wednesday afternoon

A man will be charged after allegedly carjacking a 70-year-old woman before breaking into a Melbourne home and holding a father and his toddler inside in an hours-long siege.

A 26-year-old Snake Valley man, known to police, allegedly carjacked the woman in the western Victorian town about 2.30pm on Tuesday.

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Man charged with murder after woman’s body found in Penrith hotel – as it happened

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Meteorologists are forecasting that thunderstorms will develop over large swathes of the country every day this week, and likely into next.

Ben Domensino from Weatherzone has outlined the forecast as follows:

Early in the week, showers and thunderstorms will target central, eastern, southern and southeastern Australia on Monday and Tuesday. Severe thunderstorms are likely in parts of NSW and [Queensland] on both days and are also possible in other states.

Storms will become more focussed on a broad arc stretching across Australia’s eastern and northern states and down into the WA interior through the middle of the week. Sydney, Brisbane and Canberra will all be at risk of severe thunderstorm activity on Wednesday.

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Man who ‘discarded’ wife after tricking her into leaving Australia jailed for exit trafficking

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Victorian sentenced to more than four years in prison after leaving wife ‘grief-stricken and traumatised’ in Sudan

A Victorian man who tricked his wife into travelling to Sudan before taking her children and passport back to Australia has been sentenced to four and a half years in prison.

After a county court trial, the 52-year-old man in April became the first Victorian convicted of exit trafficking – where someone is coerced, threatened or tricked into leaving Australia against their will.

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If you or someone you know is a victim of human trafficking, contact the AFP on 131 237.

Information and confidential advice are also available from the Australian Red Cross, by calling 03 9345 1800 or visiting the Red Cross website.

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‘Tragic death’ of toddler at Melbourne hotel pool while mother used phone prompts coroner’s call for better supervision

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The boy, known as Master K for inquest, floated to surface and was undiscovered for more than nine minutes

A two-year-old who drowned in a pool while his mother looked at her mobile phone and cared for another infant two metres away highlights the need for close supervision around water, a Victorian inquest has heard.

The boy had been playing in a toddlers’ pool adjoined to an adult pool at Crown Towers, a luxury hotel in central Melbourne, in 2021 when he slipped and fell into the deeper pool.

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Australia news live: Antic claims misinformation bill is bid to stop young Australians being ‘red pilled’ on social media

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Matt Keogh on Aukus, second Trump presidency

Matt Keogh was also questioned on what he thinks the challenges will be for the Australian government amid a second Trump presidency?

We understand regardless of who is in charge of the White House or what is happening across the globe, what matters to Australians is being able to make ends meet themselves.

We expect that to continue even under a Trump Presidency.

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‘No stopping’ Suburban Rail Loop after Victorian government inks $1.7bn deal with global consortium

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Terra Verde’s contract demonstrates the ‘huge competitive interest’ from global construction companies, Jacinta Allan says

The Victorian government’s contentious Suburban Rail Loop “cannot be stopped” as a cloud hangs over the rollout of its new public transport ticket system.

Global consortium Terra Verde has been awarded a $1.7bn tunnelling contract for the $34.5bn eastern section of the rail line.

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Jacinta Allan warns against ‘American-style division’ as Indigenous treaty negotiations begin in Victoria

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Premier says ‘misinformation’ and ‘fake news’ should not interfere with efforts to improve society, after opposition MP suggests talks being held in ‘secret’

The Victorian premier, Jacinta Allan, has warned against “American-style division” surrounding the state’s nation-leading Indigenous treaty, ahead of negotiations beginning this month.

The First Peoples’ Assembly – Victoria’s democratically elected Indigenous body – will begin negotiating a statewide treaty with the Allan government in the coming weeks.

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Blockbuster: will Victoria’s tough housing market push The Block into the red?

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Some predict the TV show will lose money this season as investors exit property and contestants face ‘a buyer’s market’ at auction

Channel Nine’s hit series The Block could be caught in the firing line of Victoria’s flat housing market and investor woes, with one expert predicting the show will make a loss this year.

The properties in the seaside township of Cowes, on Phillip Island, are set to go under the hammer on Saturday.

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Sydney homes flooded after water pipeline bursts – as it happened

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Racism, colonialism ‘driving Indigenous self-harm’

Australia’s dark colonial past and ongoing racism are driving self-harm in Indigenous communities, according to a respected Aboriginal psychologist.

That whole process has left communities suffering from intergenerational trauma, disadvantage and ongoing racism, as well as the exclusion from the benefits of society and a lack of acknowledgment and respect for their different cultural values.

We still want clinical approaches but we want to see culture at the centre of that.

In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is 13 11 14. In the UK and Ireland, Samaritans can be contacted on freephone 116 123, or email jo@samaritans.org or jo@samaritans.ie. In the US, you can call or text the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline on 988, chat on 988lifeline.org, or text HOME to 741741 to connect with a crisis counselor. Other international helplines can be found at befrienders.org

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Neo-Nazi Jacob Hersant freed on bail as he appeals against one-month jail sentence for Hitler salute in Melbourne

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Twenty-five-year-old the first Victorian convicted of intentionally performing the gesture in public

An Australian far-right extremist has walked out of a Melbourne court on bail after being sentenced to one month in jail for performing an illegal Nazi salute.

Last month Jacob Hersant, 25, became the first Victorian convicted of intentionally performing the salute in public.

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