Federal government in discussion with states after cost of Marinus Link nearly doubles, putting decarbonisation and energy goals at risk
Tasmania is optimistic the Albanese government will lift funding for a key new transmission link to the mainland after projected costs blew out by at least $2bn.
The Marinus Link was originally priced at $3bn in 2021 for its two-stage construction of separate cables across the Bass Strait, each with 750 megawatt capacity.
Continue reading...As police investigate what looks like a fatal case of food poisoning in Leongatha in rural Victoria, locals recall the victims as kind and community-spirited
In the quiet town of Leongatha in eastern Victoria, a group of family and friends sat down to a Saturday lunch at one of their homes.
Within hours of the meal four of the guests began feeling very unwell and eventually sought treatment at local hospitals.
Continue reading...Driver and a rail worker were killed when the XPT train derailed in February 2020 at Wallan, Victoria on its way from Melbourne to Sydney
A passenger train was travelling at more than 100km/h over the speed limit when it derailed north of Melbourne, killing its driver and a rail worker.
The NSW Trainlink XPT passenger train was on its way to Melbourne from Sydney on 20 February 2020, when it came off the tracks at Wallan.
Continue reading...Melbourne archdiocese challenges legal ruling that would allow father of a choirboy to sue for damages
The Catholic church is seeking to challenge a legal ruling in Victoria that would allow the father of a choirboy to sue for damages over allegations of child sexual abuse by Cardinal George Pell.
The father, who cannot be named for legal reasons, filed a claim against the Catholic archdiocese of Melbourne and Pell. He claims to have suffered nervous shock after learning of allegations that Pell sexually abused his now deceased son in the mid-1990s.
Continue reading...ACT director of public prosecutions steps down after agreeing with ACT attorney-general Shane Rattenbury his position was ‘no longer tenable’. Follow live news updates today
PM urges people to look at the yes and no pamphlets
Albanese is asked about the word “Makarrata”, which has been subject to attack by the no campaign.
Why would someone disagree with the idea of Makarrata, with which is a Yolngu word for coming together after conflict - what that is about is just advancing reconciliation.
What the no campaign insists on doing is talking about anything but what is in the question before the Australian people. I would say to your listeners, have a look at what the question is, have a look at the yesand the no pamphlets. The yes pamphlet with its optimistic appeal for hope and a vision for the future, and the no campaign quoting people, misquoting people who are not actually supporting it.
Continue reading...Man, 53, died in hospital after being shot multiple times while walking down Almeida Crescent, off Chapel Street
A man who police say had organised crime associations was fatally shot on Friday night in what appears to be a targeted attack near a nightlife hotspot in Melbourne’s south.
Emergency services were alerted on Friday night at about 11.40pm that multiple shots had been fired at a man walking down Almeida Crescent, a side street off South Yarra’s Chapel Street.
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Continue reading...Andrews government unveils plan for 20-bed Collingwood facility as public drunkenness is decriminalised
Victoria’s first permanent sobering up centre will be set up in the inner-Melbourne suburb of Collingwood ahead of the decriminalisation of public drunkenness in the state.
The 20-bed facility has been announced as the Andrews government shifts away from treating public drunkenness as a crime and towards making it a health issue.
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Continue reading...Yarra Ranges council employee tells supreme court of ‘chaotic’ scenes after a January meeting
A Victorian council’s bid to stop conspiracists disrupting its work has been challenged in the state’s supreme court, which heard a “chaotic” meeting led to a planning official being accused of trying to “lock people up”.
Yarra Ranges council, in Melbourne’s outer eastern suburbs, announced in April it would close its public gallery for council meetings citing verbal abuse and intimidation from some of those attending them, including members of the conspiracist group My Place. It reopened its meetings to the public last month.
Continue reading...Regional mayors say they expect the state government to provide details on infrastructure projects in coming months
The Victorian government has yet to commit to deadlines for new and upgraded sports facilities and $1bn in social and affordable housing promised to regional centres that were set to host the Commonwealth Games.
Weeks after Daniel Andrews announced the 2026 event in Victoria would be cancelled, regional mayors expect it could be at least two months before the government outlines its timeline to deliver promised facilities and housing. It comes after Victoria’s upper house on Wednesday voted to establish a select committee to investigate the cancellation of the major sporting event. This is separate to the Senate inquiry in federal parliament that will also examine the axing of the Games.
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Continue reading...Proposed 800km VNI West will be costlier than alternatives and won’t solve grid bottlenecks holding back new solar and wind, thinktank says
Victorians face a more than doubling of transmission charges on electricity bills if the state government proceeds with plans for what is likely to be the most costly and longest single power line in Australia’s history, a thinktank says in a new report.
The report by the Victoria Energy Policy Centre (VEPC) argues the proposed 500 kilovolt VNI West transmission line linking Melbourne’s outskirts with Wagga Wagga on an 800km path will be far costlier than alternatives and faces extensive landholder opposition. It also will not solve grid bottlenecks holding back new solar and windfarms in the state.
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Continue reading...One of the main factors contributing to the unusually high temperatures is the warm ocean conditions, a BoM meteorologist says
Unseasonably warm weather swept across the eastern states this weekend, with Sydney hitting 25.2C on Sunday, with high temperatures set to continue.
Parts of the country were expected to reach temperatures about 8C above normal for July on Sunday, according to the Bureau of Meteorology.
Continue reading...Many cash purchases were made in regional areas of NSW, Victoria and Queensland as buyers downsized to less expensive housing
More than one in four transactions for dwellings or land is settled with cash in Australia’s three most-populous states, with buyers largely unaffected by higher interest rates, data group Pexa said.
Many of the cash purchases (those paid for in full without a loan) were made in regional parts of New South Wales, Queensland and Victoria, often by retirees or others downsizing to less expensive properties. Cash purchases for foreign students or recent migrants also make up a sizeable share of sales in inner-city areas.
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Continue reading...This blog is now closed
Housing bill squabble to bring back possibility of double dissolution election
Parliament resumes next week after a five-week hiatus over winter, which means all the squabbles and fights we left in June are starting to whirl up again – chief among them housing. As Daniel Hurst reported this morning, Labor is going to bring back its housing bill to the house in October, where it will pass. Once it hits the Senate, things get a little more dicey. If it’s rejected by the Greens, who so far aren’t seeing what they want from the government, then the government has a double dissolution trigger.
The early indications are that there was a 50m exclusion zone around the deceased.
All efforts had been made to cover the body but at certain stages of the forensic examination, that body did need to be uncovered so the forensic police could do their work for the coroner and unfortunately, those children did walk past.
Continue reading...Government services minister says royal commission ‘is gripping reading’. Follow live news updates today
Cash says department was responsible for contracts amid reports of money paid to Pacific politicians over detention processing
Cash has also brushed off the Coalition government’s role in media reports of the taxpayer money for detention processing that went to Pacific politicians.
There is no suggestion that Peter Dutton himself played a part in signing the contracts. These contracts are signed by the Department of Home Affairs.
What Mr. Burke seems to want to do now is to reintroduce the uncertainty that existed prior to a legislation the Coalition government introduced.
… What this gets down to is one thing. These changes are part of the Albanese government’s ongoing campaign to attack and undermine those who choose to undertake casual work, despite the fact that it works for millions of Australians.
Continue reading...Police extend search for Andrew Findlay after body of art dealer Tim Klingender was found. This blog is now closed
A man and woman will face court today in Melbourne accused of murder after the body of a man in his 40s was found in a city street, AAP reports.
Police say the charges follow an alleged incident at a home near Glen Waverley train line in Binalong Avenue, Chadstone on Tuesday, where a man in his 40s was fatally assaulted.
It can be a sensitive and confronting topic for many people so it is important that any future legislation is done through intensive and thorough consultation with all Territorians.
This is an imperative step forward for the Territory and I am honoured to play my part in this important consultation process.
Continue reading...Victorian premier says it is possible a $5bn budget allocation was proposed earlier this year, prior to Games being cancelled
Daniel Andrews says he has been aware for months that the cost of Victoria hosting the 2026 Commonwealth Games had increased beyond the original $2.6bn budget, but would not confirm if state Treasury officials rejected a bid to increase it to $5bn.
The premier said there may have been a proposal by the agency responsible for delivering the Games for an increased funding allocation ahead of the state budget in May, as reported by the Age.
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Continue reading...Anthony Albanese among political figures, unionists and family members to pay tribute to former leader
Simon Crean has been remembered as a “beloved son of the Labor party” at a heartfelt state funeral in Melbourne.
Political figures from both major parties, including Anthony Albanese and Daniel Andrews, attended St Paul’s Cathedral on Thursday, where the former federal Labor leader was laid to rest at a state funeral.
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Continue reading...Grattan Institute analyst says ‘the supply and cost inflation can’t fully account for this massive increase in costs’
An infrastructure expert says inflation and labour can’t account for the $7bn cost estimate used by the Victorian government to call off the state’s Commonwealth Games, as the Greens call for an integrity crackdown on the use of consultants.
The state opposition has also referred the government’s scrapping of the event to the auditor general, saying it needed to be determined why the costs of hosting the Games escalated and how much Victorian taxpayers would pay for their cancellation.
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Minister for education Jason Clare said increasing access to a Commonwealth-supported place at university will cost $34m over the next four years – “That’s a pretty good investment”.
He said on ABC RN this morning:
If you’re a young Indigenous person today, you’re more likely to go to jail than you are to university.
The cost of having somebody in jail every year is about $120,000. The cost of a university place is $11,000.
Tuna sushi.
Continue reading...The 2026 Games, which Daniel Andrews announced would be cancelled, was set to be held across Geelong, Bendigo, Ballarat, Gippsland and Shepparton
Regional areas have been left “shocked and disappointed” after the Victorian government decided to cancel the 2026 Commonwealth Games.
On Tuesday the government announced it would cancel the 12-day event after the cost blew out from $2.6bn and could have reached $7bn, with the premier, Daniel Andrews, saying he did not want to take money from other areas of the budget to pay for the Games.
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