Category Archives: Victoria

Church v state: Daniel Andrews’ candid comments after George Pell’s death reflect a long-held stance

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Victorian MPs are adamant the premier’s views are based on principle, not political instincts

Responding to the death of George Pell – a staunch conservative found guilty and then acquitted of child sexual abuse – is inevitably a political minefield. But Daniel Andrews and the Victorian government chose to go where others didn’t.

Mere minutes after the Vatican confirmed the cardinal’s death at the age of 81, the government minister Steve Dimopoulos acknowledged the news could be triggering for survivors of child sexual abuse.

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Doctor temporarily banned over thousands of potentially ‘incomplete’ colonoscopies in Albury-Wodonga

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Almost 2,000 patients of surgeon told by health authorities they may need to have procedures repeated to ensure they do not have cancer after an investigation by regulators

A surgeon who performed hundreds of potentially “incomplete” colonoscopies in the Albury-Wodonga region has been temporarily banned from practising medicine.

Dr Liu-Ming Schmidt will remain registered as a GP and specialist surgeon in Australia, but cannot perform any medical procedures or treat patients according to conditions imposed on Friday.

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Flood-hit Murray River caravan parks miss out on vital holiday tourism as clean-up continues

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Piles of rubbish fill the space normally taken by summer visitors, with businesses facing the loss of a season’s earnings

Caravan parks and more than 100 national parks remain closed across New South Wales and Victoria after widespread flooding damaged infrastructure, filled waterholes with debris and made some areas unsafe for swimming.

The summer holidays would usually be the busiest time of year for the McLean Beach holiday park in Deniliquin, in the NSW Riverina region.

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Carp spawning event fills Murray-Darling flood waters with masses of flailing fish

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Experts say while boom in invasive species is not good news for some native fish, there will be winners – including water birds

In creeks, rivers and flood waters across the Murray-Darling Basin, an uncountable and unfathomable number of invasive carp are turning waters into bubbling masses of flapping and flailing fish.

“It’s quite a sight,” said Dr Matt Herring, an environment consultant. “I walked through one of the schools of carp a few days ago and it’s the first time I’ve trodden on fish with every step.”

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Daniel Andrews ‘couldn’t think of anything more distressing’ for victims than a state funeral for George Pell

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Victorian premier says those abused ‘at the hands of the Catholic church’ are foremost in his thoughts

Two Australian state governments will not offer taxpayer-funded public funerals for Cardinal George Pell, with the Victorian premier, Daniel Andrews, saying his decision was made out of respect for victims of institutional child sexual abuse.

The nation’s most senior Catholic, who was a former archbishop of both Melbourne and Sydney, died on Wednesday morning (AEDT) from heart complications arising from hip replacement surgery in Rome. He was 81.

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Myki cards to make way for phones on Victoria’s public transport system, Daniel Andrews says

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Premier says he believes best practice allows for passengers to use their own ‘handheld devices’

Victorians will be able to use their phones to touch on to Melbourne’s trains, trams and buses when the state’s public transport ticketing system is replaced later this year, the premier has confirmed.

Daniel Andrews told reporters in Epping, in Melbourne’s north, on Tuesday that the tender process was currently under way for an operator that would ensure public transport users benefited from the latest technology.

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Concerns over use of ‘cheap and easy’ offsets – as it happened

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More than 80% of council areas declared disasters in the past four years, Watt says

Murray Watt was hesitant to attribute the individual disaster in the Kimberley to climate change, unlike his colleague Chris Bowen. But he said the overall pattern of increasing disasters was “undoubtedly climate change”:

I don’t think that you can point to one particular event and say it’s due to climate change, but there is no doubt that we are seeing before our eyes is climate change happening. We know from all the scientists that we’re going to be facing more of these intense events more frequently.

I was actually advised yesterday by our agency that just in the last 12 months we’ve seen 316 of Australia’s 537 council areas disaster-declared: that’s about 60% of the council areas in the country. And if you go back four years to the black summer, 438 council areas in Australia have been disaster-declared, which is over 80%.

A lot of people aren’t aware but the wet season in northern Western Australia … generally doesn’t begin until later this month. So their wettest months actually tend to be February and March rather than starting as early as January. So to have this amount of water come through the system this early in the wet season is a concern.

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Veronica Nelson’s partner launches lawsuit against Victorian government over death in custody

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Percy Lovett alleges a breach of human rights in a civil claim filed in state’s supreme court

Veronica Nelson’s long-term partner has launched a wrongful death lawsuit against the state of Victoria and four others, alleging her death in custody breached human rights.

The Indigenous woman, 37, was found dead in her cell at Dame Phyllis Frost Centre in January 2020 after making repeated calls for help, an inquest has heard.

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Australia live news update: fifth child airlifted to hospital with irukandji jellyfish sting; Albanese and Dutton trade insults over Indigenous voice

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Federal opposition leader wants Labor to legislate its preferred model before referendum is held this year. This blog is now closed

‘I’m genuinely interested in advancing the cause of reconciliation’

Peter Dutton is asked about whether the prime minister has been given a copy of his letter – Anthony Albanese has said he has not received it – and Dutton says a copy has been provided to the prime minister’s office and he expects “he will respond in due course”.

I don’t think that’s unreasonable. Certainly not racist. It’s not being opposed to reconciliation. It’s all about, frankly, just being informed about what it is they’re being asked to vote on. I don’t think that is unreasonable to ask the prime minister to provide that.

I’ve met with the prime minister and I’m grateful for the meetings that we’ve had and he knows that I’m genuinely interested in advancing the cause of reconciliation.

I’m speaking of millions of Australians, we’re asking you the reasonable questions.

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Internal fight over poker machine revenue threatens future of RSL Victoria, president warns

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Exclusive: RSL Victoria is locked in a dispute with sub-branches refusing to sign up to plan designed to rescue state branch’s finances

The president of RSL Victoria has warned an internal fight over poker machine revenue represents an “ominous” threat to the future of the organisation, leaked documents show.

The RSL is locked in a dispute with 10 sub-branches that have refused to sign up to a new funding model designed to rescue the state branch’s finances, which are described as at “a tipping point” with no cash reserves.

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Lifesavers rescue 1,200 over holiday period in Australia – as it happened

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‘Challenging night’ for WA fire crews in south-west

Earlier today, Western Australian Department of Fire and Emergency Services incident controller Peter Thomas said it had been a “challenging night” for fire crews in the south-west, as bushfires threaten the region.

So our volunteers from the Donnybrook area across the south-west [who have] come to deal with this incident.

We’ve had some strong winds that have been coming consistently from the east, but been fairly strong and making it challenging for our crews.

When we allow sportspeople from Russia to participate in the Australian Open, we do exactly what Putin wants.

It doesn’t matter what flag Russian Federation players compete under. It has Ukrainian blood on it.

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‘Almost beyond comprehension’: police investigate crash that killed four people in central Victoria

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Two drivers in hospital after alleged ‘high-speed accident’ at four-way intersection near Shepparton

Police are investigating whether some passengers of a car were wearing seatbelts at the time of an alleged high-speed crash between two vehicles that resulted in the deaths of four people in central Victoria.

Those killed were passengers in a Peugeot that collided with a Toyota Hilux ute at an intersection at Pine Lodge, near Shepparton, on Wednesday afternoon.

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Victorian court allows abused altar boy’s children and wife to sue Catholic church

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Unique case may set precedent as family alleges church’s failings caused man’s violence in later life

A Victorian court has paved the way for the children and wife of an abused altar boy to sue the Catholic church, alleging the church’s failings caused their father and husband to become a violent alcoholic and drug addict who beat them later in life.

The abuse victim, now dead, was an altar boy in north-west Victoria in the mid-1970s when he was allegedly raped by Father Bryan Coffey, a parish priest who allegedly used his role as the supervisor of the local school’s cross-country team to prey on children.

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Melbourne shrank while Queensland grew: what the pandemic did to Australia’s population

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The Victorian capital is still on track to outpace Sydney as the biggest city in Australia but Covid lockdowns slowed that growth

Melbourne’s population growth turned negative during the pandemic as people fled prolonged Covid lockdowns, while Queensland welcomed a steady stream of people moving from other states, new population data shows.

The data from the Centre for Population showed Melbourne’s rate of population growth dropped from 1.8% in 2018-19 to -1.6% in 2020-21. Both international and interstate migration to Victoria fell, with annual population growth going backwards at -0.9%.

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Covid testing for China travellers ‘not an especially onerous requirement’, Chalmers says – as it happened

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Opposition calls on government to explain decision to implement restrictions on travellers arriving from China. This blog is now closed

China travel situation the ‘first test of the Albanese government’, Liberal MP says

The shadow assistant minister for mental health, Melissa McIntosh, is among those from the Coalition criticising Labor’s decision not to follow health advice on imposing conditions on travel from China.

The Coalition always supports the best interests of Australians and the safety of Australians ... Now I think this is really the first test of the Albanese government when it comes to pandemic management.

And it’s quite perplexing that on New Year’s Eve, the chief medical officer, Paul Kelly, sent a letter to the health minister, Mark Butler, stating he did not feel these restrictions on Chinese travellers were really required. And then a day later, the health minister has gone against the health advice, of the chief medical officer of this country, and imposed those restrictions. I think Australians very much deserve answers when it comes to the government’s decision, why did the government go against the chief medical officer’s advice and what’s the plan now they’ve implemented these restrictions?

One of the reasons why Australia got through the pandemic as one of the best countries in the world to do so was because we followed Australia’s medical advice. Australia’s medical advice. Not following other countries.

I think it’s really important we’re consistent in what we do as a nation ... when it comes to following the advice. And as I said, this is really a first test of the Albanese government. It’s leading people to be confused. Why would you have the chief medical officer say one thing, and the government ignore that, and do another?

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Daniel Andrews and Dominic Perrottet call for reforms to Australia’s ‘broken’ primary care system

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Victorian premier says state-run hospitals should not be acting as safety nets because people ‘cannot find a bulk-billing doctor’

Victorian and New South Wales have banded together to ramp up pressure on the federal government to overhaul Australia’s ailing primary care network through national cabinet this year.

Visiting a newly opened urgent primary care clinic in Melbourne, the Victorian premier, Daniel Andrews, said state-run hospitals were too often acting as a safety net amid an ongoing shortage of bulk-billing general practitioners.

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‘This is a tragedy’: off-duty NSW police officer rescued teenage son before drowning

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Man, 45, was caught in a rip after getting his 14-year-old son to safety at a beach on the state’s south coast

An off-duty police officer who drowned at a beach on the New South Wales south coast had swum out to rescue his own son from a “substantial” rip, police say.

The man, who has not been named, had entered the water at a beach south of Narooma after his 14-year-old son was caught in a rip on Sunday.

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Investigation to begin into ‘terrifying’ New Year’s Eve crowd crush in Melbourne

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More than 100 people were reportedly caught in a pedestrian underpass just before midnight

Authorities will investigate a “terrifying” crowd crush that occurred in a pedestrian tunnel in the centre of Melbourne on New Year’s Eve, with revellers saying they felt “totally wedged” and “couldn’t move in any direction”.

A City of Melbourne spokesperson said the council was aware of the safety concerns raised about the incident at the Elizabeth Street pedestrian underpass shortly before the midnight fireworks on Saturday.

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Police charge 32 people over Melbourne A-League pitch invasion and search for 11 more

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One man believed to have been involved in the clash left Australia shortly after the match, Victoria police say

The number of people charged after an A-League pitch invasion has grown to 32 and police are searching for 11 others they believe to be responsible for serious offences.

About 150 spectators stormed the AAMI Park derby between Melbourne Victory and Melbourne City earlier in December, injuring the goalkeeper Tom Glover, referee Alex King, a TV cameraman and two security guards.

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Victoria’s myki public transport card could be scrapped by end of 2023

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Victorian treasurer says plagued myki payment system will be reviewed with current contract due to expire late next year

Victoria’s myki tap and pay system could be scrapped by the end of next year, with the state treasurer acknowledging the public transport cards are not up to global standards.

Myki was first rolled out more than a decade ago and has since been plagued with million-dollar cost blowouts and system issues.

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