Boy arrested and police searching for at least two more suspects
A 17-year-old boy has been arrested after a fight between two groups of teenagers which ended with the fatal stabbing of a 16-year-old boy in Melbourne’s west.
Homicide squad detectives arrested the 17-year-old boy at Braybrook on Friday after the 16-year-old died on Station Place, Sunshine, on Thursday afternoon.
Continue reading...Daniel Andrews says it is important to see if rules around wearing of restraints need to change
Daniel Andrews says the Victorian government will consider mandating the wearing of seatbelts on school buses after a catastrophic crash in Melbourne’s western fringe that left several children severely injured.
A bus carrying 46 students from Exford primary school was struck from behind by a truck at the intersection of Exford Road and Murphys Road in Eynesbury about 3.55pm Tuesday.
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Quad still a priority, White House says
Despite the postponement of Joe Biden’s visit, the White House says that partnerships like the Quad remain a priority.
Revitalizing and reinvigorating our alliances and advancing partnerships like the Quad remains a key priority for the President. This is vital to our ability to advance our foreign policy goals and better promote global stability and prosperity. We look forward to finding other ways to engage with Australia, the Quad, Papua New Guinea and the leaders of the Pacific Islands Forum in the coming year.
I think he will obviously be working very hard for this not to happen. We’ve danced this dance before, as the phrase goes …
I think we’ll get to a good place and I think that’s why he’s wanting to stay there, to focus on just that.
Continue reading...Jamie Gleeson, 49, appeared in court after allegedly crashing into bus carrying Exford primary school children in Eynesbury
A truck driver charged after allegedly crashing into a school bus in Melbourne’s west on Tuesday, seriously injuring several children, told police flashes of sunlight may have altered his perception, a court has heard.
Jamie Gleeson, 49, appeared before Melbourne magistrates court via video link on Wednesday afternoon after he was charged with four counts of dangerous driving causing serious injury.
Continue reading...Maribyrnong city council says lack of enforcement of road train curfew has undermined its ability to protect residents
A “health emergency” has been declared by a Melbourne council, which claims residents are suffering above-average rates of hospitalisations for certain conditions partly due to a surge in road trains on its suburban streets.
Maribyrnong city council, which takes in Footscray in the city’s inner western suburbs, announced the declaration on Wednesday, claiming rates of illness in the municipality due to pollution “considerably exceed the Australian average”.
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Continue reading...Police use pepper spray on crowds outside Parliament House, where a group of masked men performed the Nazi salute
Neo-Nazi and anti-fascist groups have clashed in Melbourne, with police making several arrests and deploying capsicum spray in a bid to quell the violence.
A group led by the self-proclaimed neo-Nazi Thomas Sewell was expected to meet at state parliament at midday on Saturday for an anti-immigration protest, which an anti-fascist group planned to disrupt by rallying 30 minutes earlier, according to multiple posts on social media.
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Continue reading...Drag performer who had four IDAHOBIT events cancelled said councils felt they could not create a safe environment
Several councils across Victoria have quietly cancelled drag queen storytime and LGBTQ+ events after threats from far-right groups.
Last week Monash council cancelled a drag storytime event scheduled for International Day against Homophobia, Biphobia, and Transphobia (IDAHOBIT) after angry protesters derailed a council meeting.
Continue reading...Previously suspended for nine months, Deeming has been accused by colleagues of ‘bringing discredit’ to the party
The controversial MP Moira Deeming has been expelled from the Victorian Liberal party room.
Deeming’s colleagues voted 19 to 11 to expel her during a party room meeting on Friday morning, meaning she will have to serve the remaining three-and-a-half years of her term on the crossbench of the upper house of the Victorian parliament. She remains a member of the broader Liberal party.
Continue reading...MPs expected to proceed with a vote to determine if Deeming is expelled from the party on Friday
A vote on whether Moira Deeming will be expelled from the Victorian Liberal party room will go ahead on Friday, despite the suspended MP’s decision to serve the opposition leader, John Pesutto, with a legal letter warning he could face possible defamation action for doing so.
The Australian on Thursday reported Deeming’s lawyer sent Pesutto a defamation concerns notice, warning of possible federal court proceedings if he does not immediately seek the withdrawal of Friday’s expulsion motion, publish an apology to her on his website, and pay her compensation and legal costs.
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Continue reading...The Polwarth MP claimed Friday’s meeting could risk a ‘messy legal dispute’ due to an ‘invalid’ motion
Richard Riordan, a Victorian Liberal MP, has written to the party’s state leader, John Pesutto, calling for a delay to Friday’s vote to expel the suspended MP Moira Deeming or “risk a very messy legal dispute”.
The Polwarth MP also wrote on Tuesday to the five MPs who put their names to the expulsion motion – Roma Britnell, former leader Matthew Guy, Wayne Farnham, Cindy McLeish and James Newbury – saying it was invalid as they did not sign it or provide reasons.
Continue reading...Shane Patton acknowledges at Yoorrook commission the police uniform is a symbol of fear for some First Nations people
Victoria’s chief police commissioner has unreservedly apologised for past and present actions of the force that inflicted trauma on First Nations people.
Shane Patton appeared before the state’s Indigenous truth-telling inquiry on Monday morning.
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Continue reading...Victorian capital’s CBD recorded most fatal heroin overdoses in country between 2020 and 2022, with 12,000 syringe kits now handed out each month
Stronger heroin on the streets of Melbourne is resulting in a spike in overdoses in the CBD, with community health organisations saying they are buckling under the increased strain.
The most recent data from the Victorian coroner’s court shows between July 2020 and June 2022 Melbourne’s city centre had the highest amount of fatal heroin overdoses of any local government area. There were 29 deaths, followed by 28 in Brimbank and 23 in the City of Yarra.
Continue reading...Widespread areas of frost and temperatures of near or below zero expected for ranges and further west with BoM forecasting ‘cooler days’
Canberra residents have described Sunday as the “first proper day of winter” after snow and hail fell on parts of the city, as a cold front brought cooler temperatures to parts of south-eastern Australia.
Rain, hail and snow fell across parts of New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory, and though temperature lows are not breaking records just yet, Bureau of Meteorology forecaster Gabrielle Woodhause said “we are entering some of the cooler days seen so far this year”.
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Continue reading...Five MPs have given John Pesutto a notice of motion seeking her expulsion, which will go to the party room on Friday
In the latest instalment of a saga engulfing the Victorian Liberal party, the suspended MP Moira Deeming has put out a statement declaring that she “never once considered suing the Liberal party”.
That claim comes days after she emailed MPs saying she had advised her lawyers to prepare a legal challenge to her suspension.
Continue reading...Advocates say cancellations may embolden anti-LGBTQ+ groups to target other events and state needs stronger anti-vilification laws
LGBTQ+ advocates are urging the Victorian government to do more to protect the queer community after threats from far-right groups led to five Melbourne drag events being cancelled in the past six months.
They say that while cancellations may protect people at an individual event, calling them off may embolden anti-LGBTQ+ groups to target other events.
Continue reading...Peter Dutton tells state colleagues ‘I want this mess sorted out’ after MP threatened to sue
Suspended Victorian Liberal MP Moira Deeming will face a new challenge to expel her from the party as early as next week after she threatened the party’s leader, John Pesutto, with legal action.
Amid warnings from the federal opposition leader, Peter Dutton, of an intervention into the Victorian party, seven state Liberal MPs told Guardian Australia they are willing to put forward the motion to expel Deeming.
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Continue reading...Internal warfare has spiralled into threats of legal action and accusations of ‘terrorists’ holding the state opposition party ‘hostage’
Returning from a break, this week’s sitting of parliament was meant to signal a fresh start for the Victorian Liberal leader, John Pesutto.
The dust from his aborted plan to expel controversial MP Moira Deeming from the parliamentary party six weeks earlier – exposing his vulnerability in the top job – seemed like it was starting to clear.
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Asked whether he would swear allegiance, Albanese replied he “will do what is entirely appropriate as the representative of Australia” promising to “engage in that spirit” by swearing the oath – as he has done 10 times when sworn in to parliament and as a minister.
Albanese noted that Australians had voted at the 1999 referendum to remain a monarchy, but acknowledged that Australians have a “wide range of views” on whether to become a republic.
I think that Australia should have an Australian as our head of state, I don’t shy away from that. I haven’t changed my views.
But my priority is constitutional recognition – I can’t imagine going forward, for example, going forward as was suggested by some legitimately that we should be having another referendum on the republic before that occurs.
All Australians wish King Charles well regardless of the different views of people will have about our constitutional arrangements.
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Chalmers promises ‘substantial cost-of-living relief’ for most vulnerable
Asked if the age of 55 is the distinction Jim Chalmers thinks should be made on jobseeker, the treasurer says:
The reason I’m using 55 is because the reports that we received women’s economic equality taskforce and the economic inclusion advisory committee, which has been, in welcome ways, discussed quite a lot on your program, say that women over 55 are the most vulnerable group amongst unemployed Australians.
We’ve indicated before that we want to do something to help them in particular, but again, without pre-empting what’s in the budget in a week’s time, there will be a number of elements to our cost-of-living relief. Not all of them will be determined by age. For example, our energy bill relief plan, which will be in the budget in a week’s time, is for people on pensions and payments right across the board, not limited by age.
Will you increase jobseeker for people aged over 55?
There will be responsible cost-of-living relief in the budget, and it will focus on the most vulnerable people. There will be a number of elements to it. It won’t all be limited to one cohort or another. But it will all be made clear in the budget.
First of all, the jobseeker payment already makes a distinction between workers closer to the age pension, older workers, it already pays a different rate at the moment for people over 60. And that’s in recognition that it is harder to find a new job at that end of your working life. That’s the first point.
The second point is related. All of the expert advice a lot of the analysis I’ve heard it on your show, and it’s been right, says that the group that’s most likely to be long-term unemployed – people over 55 – that that group is dominated by women that the most vulnerable part of the unemployed population in Australia is at the moment women over 55. And so that’s another issue that people need to factor in.
Continue reading...Submissions to inquiry described hunting as generational tradition, while animal activists displayed dead ducks outside parliament building
Dozens of recreational duck hunters have urged a Victorian parliamentary inquiry not to bow to “political correctness” by outlawing the activity, warning that the banning of meat and other animal products could be next.
Hunters and activists suspect that this year’s duck-hunting season could be the last after the Andrews government in February announced a shortened season and a parliamentary inquiry to examine its future.
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