Category Archives: Victoria

‘Complete, unmitigated disaster’: inquest into Veronica Nelson’s death urges overhaul of ‘discriminatory’ Victorian bail laws

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Coroner refers prison health contractor to Director of Public Prosecutions over death in custody

A Victorian coroner has declared the state’s controversial bail laws discriminatory and a “complete, unmitigated disaster”, using landmark findings into the 2020 death in custody of First Nations woman Veronica Nelson to recommend urgent reforms.

Coroner Simon McGregor on Monday handed down the highly anticipated findings into the death of Nelson, a 37-year-old Gunditjmara, Dja Dja Wurrung, Wiradjuri and Yorta Yorta woman who was in prison after being arrested for shoplifting and refused bail.

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‘Holding cell’: Melbourne family with disabled son stuck in ‘transitional’ housing for a decade

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Rosalie Dow asked department for modifications to home but was told the policy was to transfer dwellings – which is yet to occur

When Rosalie Dow moved into transitional housing in Melbourne with her two young children in 2013, she thought it would only be for a few months.

Dow’s son, Mayer, was two, and showing signs of what would soon be diagnosed as Coffin-Lowry syndrome, a rare and often debilitating genetic condition with complications including intellectual disability, seizures, hearing impairment, sensory and behavioural issues, and an inability to walk.

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Australia Day 2023 honours for elder abuse law trailblazer, Indigenous activist and a fossil hunter

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Most of the 1,047 Australians honoured are not famous but many of them have changed lives, if not the country

Most of the 1,047 names on the 2023 Australia Day honours list are not as recognisable as Archie Roach, Norman Swan or David Wenham.

But many of them have changed lives, if not the country. Take the solicitor Rodney Lewis, appointed to the Order of Australia for his “life-long contribution to human rights and civil liberties both in Australia and more broadly across our region”.

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Senator may go against party room on voice – as it happened

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Should governments have acted sooner on alcohol restrictions in Alice Springs?

The Northern Territory chief minister Natasha Fyles and the minister for Indigenous affairs Linda Burney have appeared on ABC Radio after the announcements in Alice Springs yesterday.

It was the previous coalition government that walked away and left the Northern Territory with no measures.

I had expressed that there needs to be some very, very real thoughts put into our alcohol restrictions.

Do you think it took too long?

Look, I’m not going to get into whether they’ve taken too long, If you ask the people in Alice Springs, the answer might be yes.

I went to Stuart Park last night and met with local people living in town camps ... many of who had obviously experienced violence. And one of the things that really shocked me is, I was talking to the local member Marion Scrymgour who had visited the hospital and there are 16 beds in ICU, 14 of those were taken by Aboriginal women who had been beaten ... I think alcohol is one of the major contributors to some of the problems.

It’s about balance – but being able to drink is not more important than being safe, in my view.

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Former pilot Greg Lynn to stand trial for alleged murders of Victorian campers Russell Hill and Carol Clay

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Lynn has pleaded not guilty to murdering the pair, who went missing in 2020 while camping in the Wonnangatta Valley, north-east of Melbourne

The former airline pilot accused of the murder of two elderly campers in Victoria has been committed to stand trial.

Greg Lynn, 56, pleaded not guilty to murdering Russell Hill, 74, and Carol Clay, 73, who went missing in March 2020 while camping in the Wonnangatta Valley, north-east of Melbourne.

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Melbourne’s injecting room delay puts lives at risk as heroin overdoses spike in CBD

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Stalled progress on the city’s second safe-injecting facility is heaping pressure on community health professionals

The return to regular trading in Melbourne’s CBD has coincided with a spike in heroin-related overdoses, with drug experts warning that stalling the city’s second safe-injecting room is putting lives at risk.

Former police commissioner Ken Lay is still finalising a report, which was meant to be handed down in 2020, that will recommend the best site for the second safe-injecting room – believed to be the former Yooralla building on Flinders Street.

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Queensland public schools to join NSW in banning students from ChatGPT

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Exclusive: Artificial intelligence expert questions firewall strategy, as Victoria opts to wait and see

Queensland will join New South Wales in banning access to ChatGPT in state schools, though artificial intelligence experts have questioned how effective such a strategy is.

Nine newspapers revealed on Sunday morning the NSW Department of Education would ban the technology using a firewall, as concern mounts over the use of bots to cheat in assessments.

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Court to rule on release of ‘explosive’ evidence in accused Victoria campsite killer case

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Lawyers for Greg Lynn seek to suppress contents of all interviews and statements he gave to Victorian police

A man accused of murdering two campers in a remote part of alpine Victoria returns to court on Monday, with a decision set to be made on the release of “explosive” material and evidence likely from the detective in charge of the investigation.

Greg Lynn, a former airline pilot, is charged with murdering Russell Hill, 74, and Carol Clay, 73, who went missing in March 2020 while camping in the Wonnangatta Valley, east of Melbourne.

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Two NDIS providers banned after fraud claims – as it happened

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New Australian factory to make construction material from recycled goods

A company making construction products entirely from used drink cartons, soft plastics, disposable coffee cops and similar products will launch its first Australian manufacturing plant at Warragamba next month.

It’s basically like making a big cheese toasty. You heat it up and cool it down a couple of times and the plastic melts between the gaps in the fibre.

It’s a straightforward process, but it’s focused on reducing problematic waste ... materials which, until we came along, had been completely un-recyclable and collected by container deposit schemes.

In Australia alone, we could unlock a massive $2tn worth of potential savings across two decades.

Those potential savings could come, for example, through reusing valuable resources currently going to waste in landfill, such as plastics, glass, masonry and metals.

For far too long healthcare in western Sydney has been an afterthought.

The thousands of people moving into the area every year deserve world class healthcare.

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Two Victoria police officers charged with assault after allegedly injuring man during arrest

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The 58-year-old man was treated in hospital after the incident, which took place on 4 February last year

Two Victorian police officers have been charged with assault after they allegedly injured a man during an arrest.

The 58-year-old man was treated in hospital after the incident in Narre Warren South, in Melbourne’s south-east, on 4 February last year.

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Lawyers of accused campsite killer push to suppress details of ‘explosive’ police interview

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Greg Lynn’s lawyer, Dermot Dann KC, says reporting on interview contents could prejudice future proceedings against his client

Lawyers for a man accused of murdering two campers want details of “explosive” interviews he gave to police suppressed.

Greg Lynn, a former airline pilot, is charged with murdering Russell Hill, 74, and Carol Clay, 73, who went missing in March 2020 while camping in the Wonnangatta Valley, north-east of Melbourne.

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‘People before profits’: Victoria to ditch private health providers in women’s prisons

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Corrections minister Enver Erdogan to confirm transition to public services, in move welcomed by Indigenous advocates

The Victorian government will take over health care across women’s prisons across the state, in a move described as “a prioritisation of people before profits” by a respected Aboriginal leader.

The state’s corrections minister, Enver Erdogan, will on Friday confirm the contract for providing primary health services at Tarrengower Prison and the Dame Phyllis Frost Centre will transition from private firm Correct Care Australasia (CCA) to Dhelkaya (Castlemaine) Health and Western Health, respectively, on 1 July.

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Activists call for immediate halt to duck and kangaroo hunting after Murray Darling floods

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Victoria, New South Wales and South Australia have increased kangaroo harvest quotas for 2023 but impact from floods yet to be assessed

Animal welfare advocates are calling for a moratorium on commercial and recreational shooting of wildlife affected by the devastating Murray-Darling floods.

Wildlife Victoria has called for the “immediate cessation” of the Victorian government’s kangaroo harvesting program and a moratorium on the annual duck hunting season, which usually begins in March.

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Australia news live updates: Queensland flood waters rising; tributes roll after death of Jim Molan

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Rising flood waters have cut north Queensland’s main transport corridor, the Bruce Highway, with more rain on the way. Follow the day’s news live

Dreyfus opens discussion about judicial watchdog

Today the attorney-general, Mark Dreyfus, will open consultation for the creation of a federal judicial commission, to police what he described as the “relatively rare” instances of “problematic conduct by judges”.

The three diseases that we’re focusing on on this trip – malaria, HIV and tuberculosis – three diseases that Australia has a good control over or good management over.

HIV cases are on the rise for a range of different reasons. Tuberculosis is just devastating and any young child with tuberculosis is an extremely confronting and devastating thing to see it’s a horrible disease. And malaria is an ongoing killer.

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Victoria rejects police calls for offence to replace public drunkenness

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Indigenous representatives celebrate decision not to replace law with police move-on powers

The daughter of Tanya Day, who died in custody after being arrested for being drunk on a train, has welcomed a decision by the Victorian government not to replace the state’s public intoxication laws with new move-on powers, despite opposition from the police union.

The government on Tuesday confirmed it would not give police any new powers to arrest people for being drunk in public once the existing offence is decriminalised in November 2023.

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Russell Hill seen ‘grumpy’ at Victorian campsite days before he and Carol Clay allegedly murdered, court told

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Witness also tells committal hearing for Greg Lynn, the man charged with their murders, that he saw a drone flying over site

A “grumpy old bugger” believed to be Russell Hill was seen speeding into a campsite in remote bushland in Victoria’s high country hours before he was allegedly murdered, a court has heard.

Hill, 74, and Carol Clay, 73, went missing in March 2020 while camping in the Wonnangatta Valley, east of Melbourne.

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NSW MP to contest election despite husband’s death – as it happened

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Australian Open CEO reflects on ‘very difficult journey’

Australian Open 2023 kicks off at Melbourne Park this morning.

A Balmain pub crawl

Craft breweries around Marrickville

The Corinthian restaurant for Greek food in Marrickville

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Not cool: push for insulation in all Australian rental homes as study shows dangerous heat levels

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People in social housing often face hottest conditions and struggle to pay for air conditioning, advocates say

Advocates are calling for insulation to be regulated in all Australian rental properties as research shows some people swelter through temperatures above 30C in their homes for extended periods in summer.

Many of the hottest homes are those of people living in social housing, with some residents forced to go into debt to buy air conditioners, or hose down their houses to stay cool.

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‘I don’t want this to end’: runner hits Melbourne after covering length of Australia in 150 consecutive marathons

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Erchana Murray-Bartlett reaches end of epic journey from ‘tip to toe’ of Australia – smashing women’s record for consecutive daily marathons

Months after starting out from the tip of Cape York, Erchana Murray-Bartlett is set to complete her 150th consecutive daily marathon in Melbourne on Monday, finishing a record-breaking journey through Australia’s eastern states.

Murray-Bartlett set out in August to run more than 6,200km, raising money for the Wilderness Society and awareness of Australia’s extinction crisis – just days before Ned Brockmann began his 4,000km run from the west to east coast.

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Victorian mayor calls on councils to follow lead after banning gambling ads at local sports games

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Tina Samardzija faces opposition from clubs and gaming venues but says children should not be ‘exposed to a message that gambling is normal’

A local mayor in Victoria has encouraged councils across Australia to follow her lead and ban all gambling advertisements at local sport matches rather than waiting for state or federal action.

The City of Monash’s anti-gambling policy, believed to be the first of its kind in Australia, is facing coordinated opposition from local sports clubs that warn they could be forced to close, and from gaming venues that feel unfairly targeted.

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