Category Archives: Victoria

Victorian minister criticises electricity supplier’s delay over power outage payments

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Lily D’Ambrosio says it’s ‘unacceptable’ that AusNet’s website cannot take applications from those still without power

Victorians cut off from the power grid for seven days after destructive storms are still waiting to apply for compensation, with the state government criticising one supplier for its delays.

The state government previously announced prolonged power outage payments of $1,920 a week for households, and $2,927 a week for businesses, after the storms on 13 February.

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Bob Brown arrested at Tasmania logging protest – as it happened

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Birmingham backs Dutton’s asylum boat comments

The shadow foreign minister, Simon Birmingham, was on ABC RN earlier this morning.

It is our responsibility to hold the government to account and if there are cuts to the Border Force budget, if there are reductions in terms of any aspects of maritime surveillance, if the Border Police Commissioner is saying that his resources are being stretched, then these are the things for us to absolutely call the government out on.

Vegetation clearing and repairs to damaged powerlines and poles continue. However, given the extent of the widespread damage, it may still take some days in extreme circumstances to restore electricity to all of those impacted.

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Mornington Peninsula hotel owner forced to sell business after gambling watchdog finds payout error cover-up by staff

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Owner of Rye hotel hit with $80,000 fine and required to sell business after staff falsified records to cover up an erroneous cash payout

The owner of a Victorian hotel has been fined $80,000 and will be forced to sell the business after staff tried to cover up an illegal gambling payout.

Senior staff at the Rye hotel on the Mornington Peninsula falsified records to cover up an erroneous cash payment of $2,039 to a patron, Victoria’s gambling watchdog has said.

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Australia news live: Dutton says reports of WA boat arrival ‘disturbing’; Barnaby Joyce denies drinking problem

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Opposition leader calls on home affairs minister Clare O’Neil to provide explanation on whether government has ‘lost control’ of borders. Follow the day’s news live

About 400 requests for assistance remaining in Victoria, SES says

The Victorian state emergency service says there are about 400 active requests for assistance remaining, after the extreme weather earlier this week.

We’re making good progress restoring services following the severe storms in Victoria, with more than 90% of our mobile sites now back online.

Many of our network sites have back up power that kept services running after the storms hit, but that back-up power may not last during extended power outages.

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Victoria fires and storms destroy at least 60 homes as prolonged power outage payments announced

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Number of homes lost set to rise as premier Jacinta Allan announces payments for thousands expected to be without power for more than a week

Victoria’s premier says storms and bushfires have claimed at least 60 properties and has announced payments for thousands of people expected to be without power for more than a week.

Speaking in Miraboo North in South Gippsland on Friday afternoon, Jacinta Allan said 16 homes in the area had been left “uninhabitable” after Tuesday’s storms.

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Oldest platypus found in the wild is ‘beyond all our expectations’, say researchers

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Australian Platypus Conservancy says ‘it’s remarkable this animal is still doing as well as he is’

The biologist who first tagged a one-year-old platypus back in 2000 was astonished when it was recaptured last year, aged about 24, making it the oldest platypus found in the wild.

The director of the Australian Platypus Conservancy, Geoff Williams, has been researching the egg-laying mammals for decades, but said long-term research into the species can be expensive and rare.

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Victoria’s largest public health service faces criminal charge over Indigenous woman’s hospital death

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WorkSafe Victoria has charged Monash Health for allegedly exposing a patient to health and safety risks while in its care

Victoria’s largest public health service is facing a criminal charge over the death of an Indigenous woman who took her own life while receiving mental health treatment at Dandenong hospital in 2022.

WorkSafe Victoria on Thursday announced it had charged Monash Health for allegedly exposing a patient to health and safety risks while in its care.

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BoM issues cyclone alert for NT and Queensland; NSW Health warns of high-dose MDMA tabs in circulation – as it happend

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Heavy rainfall is expected to hit the Gulf of Carpentaria coast with a risk of a possible tropical cyclone from Thursday. This blog is now closed

Not everyone voted to bring Julian Assange back to Australia

Looking at the Hansard, it seems there were 11 MPs who abstained from voting on the Assange motion:

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Push to weatherproof Australia’s electricity grid after storm leads to mass power outages in Victoria

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State’s energy minister calls for national approach to energy system resilience as climate change causes more extreme weather events

Victoria’s energy minister will push for a national approach to weatherproof the electricity grid after a deadly storm left hundreds of thousands across the state without power.

Lily D’Ambrosio said the storm, which swept through the state on Tuesday afternoon and resulted in the death of a dairy farmer in South Gippsland, has caused “one of the largest outage events in the state’s history”.

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Rebuilding of Melbourne heritage house on cards as police investigate fire at the property

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Boroondara council moves to order the rebuilding of ‘Shenley Croft’ as condition for any bid to develop the property

The Edwardian-style house boasts a private ballroom and cellar. Located in Melbourne’s affluent, leafy south-eastern suburbs, the heritage-listed Canterbury house was last sold in 2019. A real estate advertisement at the time touted its potential for renovation as one of the 1,320sqm-property’s many selling points.

Within four years of its sale, the house – named Shenley Croft – mysteriously caught fire in December. There is an active police investigation but no charges have been laid.

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Australia news live: Victoria power outage, fires and storms; Bruce Lehrmann defamation trial – latest updates

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AGL says Loy Yang A units due to be ‘returned to service over the next 24 hours’. Follow the latest news and updates today

Bureau of Meteorology’s first look ruled out tornadoes in Victoria

Reports of 120km/hour gusts in Victoria gave an indication of the ferocity of the storms that brought down half a dozen power transmissions towers – and many local poles and wires.

The Bureau of Meteorology does not at this stage have direct evidence of tornados having occurred.

Many severe thunderstorms carry with them a slight chance of tornado development. Predicting tornadoes is difficult and specific warnings are only issued if signs consistent with tornadoes occurring are visible on radar or direct observations are received.

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Half a million Victorian homes without power and trains cancelled as storm causes outage at state’s largest coal-fired plant

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Authorities working to ‘get Victorians back online as quickly as possible’, state’s energy minister says


Half a million households in Victoria are without electricity and trains have been suspended across metropolitan Melbourne after a power station went down during storms.

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Psychics and amateur sleuths toss unfounded theories into search for missing Ballarat woman Samantha Murphy

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As the police investigation enters its second week, wild speculation and conspiracy theories spread on social media

A CCTV image of her moments before she left home for an early morning run and a ping on a mobile phone tower 11km south of Ballarat – these are among the few clues to Samantha Murphy’s disappearance.

Yet, from these two pieces of evidence, psychics, armchair detectives and online sleuths have created and fuelled theories about how the Ballarat woman vanished, as the investigation enters its second week.

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‘Absolute tragedy’: Murray River waterskiing race called off after death of sixth competitor in 18 years

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Man succumbs to serious injury suffered during fall while skiing, with paramedics declaring him dead at the scene

Police say the death of a man while waterskiing at an annual event on the Victoria-NSW border is a tragedy that will affect the community for months to come.

It was the sixth fatal accident at the Southern 80 waterski race since 2006.

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Man shot by officer in Melbourne CBD made threats with broken glass, police allege

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Shooting one of two separate incidents on Friday night after second man allegedly attacked four people with glass bottle

Police have alleged a man shot in the abdomen in the centre of Melbourne on Friday night had threatened and pursued protective services officers with broken glass.

It was one of two separate incidents in Melbourne’s CBD on Friday night after a 27-year-old man allegedly attacked four people with a glass bottle after a reported botched handbag robbery on a tram.

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Search for Ballarat woman Samantha Murphy turns to dashcam footage as police ‘scale back’ on-the-ground operation

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Mother-of-three, 51, was last seen leaving her Eureka Street home about 7am last Sunday to go for a run

Police have expanded an appeal for dashcam or CCTV footage as they investigate the disappearance of the Victorian woman Samantha Murphy.

Murphy, 51, was last seen leaving her Eureka Street home in Ballarat East about 7am last Sunday to go for a run.

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‘Someone must know’: family’s plea for answers 40 years after Melbourne woman was murdered in her home

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Victoria police launch fresh appeal for information on anniversary of death of Boronia woman Nanette Ellis

The family of a single mother murdered in her own home say their pain has been made worse by not knowing who killed her, as they launched a fresh plea for answers on the 40th anniversary of her death.

Melbourne woman Nanette Ellis was stabbed in her Boronia home by an unknown offender or group of offenders on the evening of 10 February 1984.

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Flinders Street incident: man shot and injured by protective services officer

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A man allegedly attacked people with broken glass before he was shot once by PSO working with police at the scene in Melbourne

A protective services officer has opened fire on a man who confronted them with broken glass after reportedly trying to rob people on a tram in the centre of Melbourne.

Police say the officers were responding to an incident on the Princes Street Bridge just after 5.30pm on Friday when they were approached by the man.

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Council debate on ‘cancel culture’ erupts over future of St Kilda’s vandalised Captain Cook statue

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The council narrowly voted against a community consultation on the ‘location and context’ of the explorer’s Port Phillip memorial

A Melbourne council has narrowly voted against asking local residents whether it should restore or permanently remove a Captain Cook statue that was sawn off at the ankles just before Australia Day.

There was heated debate at a Port Phillip council meeting on Wednesday night over a motion to consult the community on the statue’s future, before it was voted down five votes to four. Some councillors were reprimanded and a member of the packed public gallery was asked to leave after several interjections.

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Search continues for Ballarat woman Samantha Murphy, missing for five days

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Fifty-one-year-old was last seen leaving her home in Victoria early on Sunday morning to go for a run

Emergency crews continue to search for the missing Ballarat woman Samantha Murphy, who disappeared five days ago after going for a run.

The 51-year-old was last seen leaving her Eureka Street home at Ballarat East about 7am on Sunday.

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