Category Archives: Victoria

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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Shrinkflation a ‘difficult decision’ for manufacturers, inquiry told – as it happened

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Former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull, who had some colourful moments in his relationship with Donald Trump in his first presidency, is up now being colourful on the ABC. He says the Australian prime minister “has to stand up for Australia and not follow the conventional approach, which is being urged on everyone, which is to suck up to Trump and be utterly deferential:

I had a very successful relationship with Trump because I stood up to him, stood my ground, incurred his wrath, won his respect, and then got very good outcomes for Australia.

He did sort of encourage a mob to try to overthrow the peaceful transfer of power in 2021, on January 6.

The deal that Morrison instigated and Albanese signed up to is a very, very asymmetrical deal. All of the risk was on Australia. We have no agency and no leverage over this, and that’s why I think the most likely outcome is we’ll end up with no submarines, and that will be entirely our own fault because we signed up to a dud deal.

We have been clear, in terms of the Liberal party leadership, that Peter Dutton and the Liberal party have no plans, no intentions, to see any changes to abortion laws, that we respect the states’ rights in that regard, and I am very clear in terms of my respect for women’s reproductive rights.

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Heatwave sweeps across large parts of Australia as bushfire threatens Queensland border town

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Weather warnings across multiple states on Wednesday as Dirranbandi residents told to evacuate

A heat warning is in place for large parts of Queensland on Wednesday with temperatures hitting 40C in parts of the state.

The Bureau of Meteorology issued a heatwave warning for much of the state, forecasting severe conditions around north-west and inland areas.

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Morrison and Abbott praise Trump – as it happened

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There was some seriously colourful language in Senate estimates yesterday, but in this case the media regulator found radio hosts’ words were a step too far. Sarah Martin reports on what the Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young described as “revolting, sexist, racist, misogynistic, divisive stuff”:

A “dangerous anti-abortion bill” before the Senate should be withdrawn, if the opposition leader, Peter Dutton, wants credibility on women’s healthcare, the minister for women, Katy Gallagher, says.

It is typical of Peter Dutton to view this purely as a matter of winning or losing votes, rather than any genuine commitment to women’s healthcare.

If Peter Dutton wants any credibility on women’s healthcare, he must immediately ensure Senators [Matt] Canavan and [Alex] Antic withdraw their dangerous anti-abortion bill currently before the Senate.

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Community mourns ‘passionate’ young rapper killed in Melbourne as alleged shooter remains on the run

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Friends warned against seeking retribution after man in his 20s dies of gunshot wounds in North Melbourne

Family and friends are grieving the loss of a “talented and sociable” young rapper who died after he was allegedly shot by a man who remains on the run.

The man in his 20s was found with gunshot wounds on Langford Street in North Melbourne about 3.15am on Saturday and died at the scene.

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‘Will haunt me for life’: nurse suspended over Covid lockdown baby shower in Melbourne aged care home before deadly outbreak

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Father-to-be was unaware of planned party at Epping Gardens aged care facility and stayed only five minutes, tribunal hears

An aged care nurse who attended a baby shower at a nursing home during a Covid lockdown has been suspended, telling a tribunal the mistake “will haunt me for the rest of my life”.

Staff at the Epping Gardens aged care held a surprise baby shower in July 2020 for registered nurse Denis Baniqued and his wife, who also worked at the facility.

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Police search for attacker after man shot dead in busy nightlife area in Melbourne

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Victoria police say a man was found with fatal gunshot wound on Langford Street in North Melbourne at about 3.15am

A large-scale homicide investigation is under way after a man was fatally shot, triggering “horribly emotional” scenes in a busy nightlife area in inner Melbourne on Saturday morning.

Victoria police said emergency services were called to Langford Street in North Melbourne at about 3.15am after a man was found with a gunshot wound.

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Australia news live: PwC reveals it sacked eight staff over data breaches; Perth man dies after being taken to police watch house

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Court to rule in Pauline Hanson-Mehreen Faruqi case

A federal court judge is ready to rule on whether Pauline Hanson made a racial slur when she told Greens senator Mehreen Faruqi to go back to Pakistan.

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Ellie Price murder: anguished mother blasts sentence that could see ‘vicious’ killer Ricardo Barbaro released in 17 years

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Barbaro, 38, killed Ellie Price, 26, in her South Melbourne home in a stabbing attack a judge described as senseless and cruel

A killer who stabbed his defenceless girlfriend to death in a vicious and senseless attack should have been jailed for life, his victim’s mother says.

Ricardo Barbaro, 38, will instead be eligible for parole in 17 years. A judge sentenced him on Friday after he was found guilty of murdering Ellie Price at her South Melbourne home.

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