Kate Callingham, 39, died when the light aircraft crashed north of Falls Creek in Victoria
A Melbourne woman has been named as one of two people killed after a powered glider crashed near an airport in Victoria’s alpine region.
Kate Callingham, 39, died when the light aircraft crashed on Saturday afternoon, her family confirmed in a statement.
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As we reported, X has provided an update on its legal challenge against Australia’s eSafety commissioner, stating it had complied with a direction to remove content from the Wakeley church stabbing.
However, underneath the post from the platform’s global government affairs team (which we quoted in our previous post), the video is available to watch in a reply to the post, as of 7.45am AEST.
The eSafety Commissioner required X to remove posts containing a video of the attack on Bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel, filmed by an innocent bystander. [The bishop] has expressed his desire for the video to remain online.
X believes it has complied with the notice issued by eSafety, and with Australian law, by restricting all the posts at issue in Australia.
Continue reading...Sexual assault, intentionally causing injury and unlawful assault among most common charges against police
Dozens of police officers in Victoria are facing criminal charges, including sexual assault and intentionally causing injury.
A total of 78 officers and public transport police, known as Protective Services Officers, were facing charges for criminal or traffic offences as of 16 April.
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Hundreds gather in Sydney for Anzac Day dawn service
AAP has the details on Sydney’s dawn service where hundreds of people – including veterans – gathered under a full moon and clear skies for a solemn service in the CBD.
You who have loved will remember the glow of their glad young years, as you stand today to salute them in silence, with pride and with tears.
The best thing about the ceremony this morning is to see the number of people that come early in the morning.
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Inspired by similar protests in the United States, students from Sydney University established a protest on the quad in support of Palestine last night, stating they will remain until the uni cuts ties “with Israeli universities and weapons manufacturers”.
In the US, dozens of students have been arrested at pro-Palestine demonstrations at Yale University and New York University amid similar protests:
For six months now, we have watched bombs rain down on Gaza. These bombs hit their civilian targets because of the research carried out by universities like Sydney University... Students have a responsibility to stand up and refuse to be complicit in genocide.
Continue reading...A 39-year-old man has been charged with intentionally and recklessly causing injury over the death of a 49-year-old woman
A man has been charged by police investigating the death of a woman whose body was discovered in Victoria’s north.
A 39-year-old man from Cobram was charged on Wednesday evening with intentionally causing injury, recklessly causing injury, common law assault, aggravated assault of a female and unlawful assault.
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Anglicare says government spending eight times more on private investors than building housing itself
The Anglicare Australia executive director, Kasy Chambers, says the government must step up and intervene, instead of leaving housing to the private sector:
We found that the government spends eight times as much propping up private investors as it does on building housing itself. This approach is wrong, and it’s supercharging rents and house prices.
Housing cannot be left to hobby landlords and private developers. Only our government can ensure that rentals are affordable by building homes itself, and by fixing Australia’s unfair tax system.
289 rentals (0.6%) were affordable for a person earning a full-time minimum wage.
89 rentals (0.2%) were affordable for a person on the age pension.
31 rentals (0.1%) were affordable for a person on the disability support pension.
3 rentals (0%) were affordable for a person on jobseeker.
0 rentals (0%) were affordable for a person on youth allowance.
This is not hyperbole. It is Australia’s new normal.
Continue reading...Government claims no appropriate location could be found for long-mooted second facility
A proposed safe injecting room in Melbourne’s CBD has been rejected by the Victorian government, with addiction experts warning the decision will “cost lives”.
The government on Tuesday announced that a trial facility, recommended by a former police commissioner and which would complement the existing service in North Richmond – will not proceed, after concluding there was no site that could balance the needs of drug users with the broader community.
Continue reading...The Yalmy galaxias is ‘on the verge of disappearing for ever’ and Labor on the brink of failing to meet its zero extinctions target
Even on its best days, the Yalmy galaxias is hard to find. The small, native freshwater fish is only known to live in a couple of tributaries of the Snowy River in remote and mountainous East Gippsland.
It was last seen in March 2023, when a government survey found 20 survivors. Since then? Nobody knows.
Continue reading...Trish Faranda claims she felt ‘humiliated’ when asked by the comedian to leave but fellow audience member says child was disrupting performance
Comedian Arj Barker’s interaction with a mother who brought a seven-month-old baby to his comedy show in Melbourne on Saturday night has sparked outrage, sympathy and debate about the woman’s decision to bring her infant to the gig and his decision to ask her to leave.
The account of the incident is contested, with the mother Trish Faranda saying the baby was just “gurgling” during the show and that she felt “humiliated” when asked by the comedian to leave the theatre in front of 700 people.
Continue reading...Victorian woman faces three counts of murder and five counts of attempted murder after hosting a lunch at her Leongatha house
Erin Patterson, the woman accused of murdering and attempting to murder her relatives by serving them a meal laced with deadly mushrooms, is expected to face court again on Monday.
Patterson, 49, was charged with three counts of murder and five counts of attempted murder in November after hosting the fatal lunch at her house in regional Victoria.
Continue reading...Vcat suspends Bendigo doctor’s supervision order over ‘significant financial imposition’ on one of region’s last bulk-billing clinics
A Victorian doctor who allegedly made racist and homophobic comments to patients has had restrictions imposed by the medical regulator paused, due to their “significant financial imposition” on one of the last bulk-billing clinics in his local region.
The Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal has suspended the requirement that Dr Tom Crawford be subject to 10 months of supervision at his Bendigo practice, which was imposed by the Medical Board of Australia last month.
Continue reading...Reports of explosions in Iranian city of Isfahan prompt sell-off of stocks in Australia – and in other markets such as Japan. Follow the day’s news live
The NSW police commissioner, Karen Webb, is speaking to the media after a 16-year-old was charged with a “terrorist act” for allegedly stabbing a bishop on Monday and is expected to appear at a bedside hearing today.
She said members of the joint counter-terrorism team interviewed the alleged offender at a medical facility last night, and he was subsequently charged with a commonwealth offence for terrorism and refused bail.
We expect he will be attending a bedside court hearing today to determine bail. This relates to the stabbing of the Bishop [Mar Mari Emmanuel, who] we allege on Monday night [was] stabbed up to six times.
We also allege that the boy had travelled for 90 minutes to attend that location from his home address.
We’ve got a crisis of male violence in Australia. We know that it’s a scourge in our society, we know it must end and I think it’s really clear women can’t be expected to solve violence against women although it is time for men to step up.
I don’t think debating definitions is the way to go … We need to act, we need to educate ourselves, men need to step up, we need to talk to our sons, to our colleagues, to our friends. We need to work together to a solution. And I think going down some kind of almost a wrong path to say let’s redefine – it’s not about definitions. This is about action. We need to shift the way in which we think about this …
Continue reading...Exclusive: Housing advocacy group says amenity-rich eastern suburbs must be rezoned to accommodate thousands of new homes
They’re close to the city, public transport, schools and parks – and Melbourne’s leafy eastern suburbs should be shouldering the burden when it comes to new housing, according to a new report.
The report, by housing advocacy group Yimby Melbourne and published on Thursday, recommends introducing enforceable housing targets for the 19 local governments in inner Melbourne, as well as an overhaul of restrictive zoning rules.
Continue reading...Rachael Dixon, 53, identified as person police believe died after ingesting a drink at Soul Barn in Clunes, near Ballarat
Family members have paid tribute to a Melbourne woman who died after allegedly ingesting a drink at a Victorian health retreat on the weekend, with police investigating whether it contained mushrooms.
Rachael Dixon, 53, became ill after consuming a drink at the Soul Barn retreat in the town of Clunes, north of Ballarat, at around midnight Sunday. She died at the scene.
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Albanese on Bondi attacker’s motive: ‘The gender breakdown is of course concerning’
I just wanted to go back to the PM’s appearance on ABC radio earlier, where he was asked what he thought of the motive behind the attack.
NSW police have said they’re looking at that as part of the investigation.
The gender breakdown is of course concerning.
We’re working with Westfield. As I said, we handed back the crime scene last night. But it spread over seven floors at Westfield. It will take some time to prepare the stores for reopening. No doubt there’s some work to be done with stakeholders inside the Westfield, in terms of their own reaction and trauma to what has happened. So, that will be done very carefully, no doubt.
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The opposition leader, Peter Dutton, has defended his comments comparing a pro-Palestinian protest at the Sydney Opera House to the 1996 Port Arthur massacre, AAP reports.
Speaking on the Today show, Dutton stood by his remark and said the comparison was a commentary on the prime minister’s leadership:
The point I was making – which is absolutely a legitimate one – is that I thought this was a time for the prime minister to show leadership and to step up. Instead, we’ve had crickets.
You’ve got a contrast, I think, with John Howard, who stood up at a point of national importance for our country, demonstrated leadership and changed the course of history for the better.
That’s the parallel that I’m making – to the absolute absence of leadership from the prime minister at the moment, which has given rise to those in the Jewish community talking about feeling unsafe in our country.
I don’t resile from that at all.
Continue reading...Tasmanian Liberal MP labels comments ‘wholly inappropriate’ after PM says he was ‘taken aback’ by opposition leader’s speech
Peter Dutton has drawn widespread criticism, including from one of his own MPs, for comparing the 1996 mass murder of 35 people at Port Arthur to a pro-Palestine protest at the Sydney Opera House.
The Tasmanian Liberal backbencher Bridget Archer labelled Dutton’s comments “incredibly disrespectful” and “wholly inappropriate”.
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A search will resume this morning for a woman who went missing while bushwalking at Belmore Falls in New South Wales.
Just after 1pm on Sunday, emergency services were called to Belmore Falls near Robertson after reports a woman had slipped and fallen down a cliff. An extensive search was initiated, but the 20-year-old was not located and the search was suspended at dusk.
We’ve got large multinationals in the supermarket ring who aren’t captured. So I’d like to see this expanded over time.
Woolworths, I think, makes a good point, and that is the code to be extended should be expanded to cover rivals Amazon, Costco and even Chemist Warehouse.
We’ll have more to say on that in coming weeks and months.
Continue reading...PA Burns Reserve and the Altona Coastal Park the latest sites to have ‘small amounts of asbestos’ discovered
Victoria’s environment watchdog and a Melbourne council have confirmed traces of asbestos at seven parks and reserves across Melbourne, as the regulator probes the sources of the contamination.
In a statement on Tuesday evening, the Environment Protection Authority confirmed small amounts of asbestos-contaminated material had been discovered at PA Burns Reserve in Altona, in Melbourne’s west. The EPA said its inspection over the weekend found “good quality mulch laid over industrial waste”.
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