Category Archives: Melbourne

Escaped prisoner who fled brother’s funeral believed to be in Melbourne, police say

Posted on by

Orijol Rukaj was on pallbearer duties when he evaded corrections staff – and has been on the run for the six weeks since

Police say it was a busy funeral – with about 300 people gathering at a Melbourne cemetery on Anzac Day to farewell the brother of Orijol Rukaj.

Before assuming his duties as a pallbearer, Rukaj was escorted to the Keilor East service by corrections staff. But corrections staff didn’t bring him back to prison.

Continue reading...

Multiple teens arrested over alleged machete brawl in Melbourne as government says crime laws working

Posted on by

Commuters were forced to run for cover after a group of youths allegedly fought with knives at Flinders Street station on Saturday night

The Victorian government has defended the effectiveness of its machete ban after multiple teens were arrested over an alleged machete brawl in the heart of Melbourne.

Shocked commuters ran for cover after a group of youths – some armed with machetes – brawled at Melbourne’s Flinders Street station concourse on Saturday night.

Continue reading...

Australian woman linked to Islamic State lived with teenage slave who was repeatedly raped, court told

Posted on by

Allegations made in Melbourne magistrates court on Thursday as Zeinab Ahmad, 31, applied for bail, a month after she was charged with slavery offences

A woman accused of marrying Islamic State fighters allegedly lived with a teenage slave who was repeatedly assaulted and raped by the woman’s father.

The allegations were detailed in Melbourne magistrates court on Thursday as Zeinab Ahmad, 31, applied for bail, a month after she was charged with slavery offences.

Continue reading...

Teenager Isla Bell’s body was found in a Melbourne tip 18 months ago. Today friends and family demanded ‘justice’

Posted on by

Supporters at the Victorian state library protested against prosecutors dropping a manslaughter charge against the man accused of killing her

Isla Bell, the 19-year-old whose body was found in a Melbourne tip 18 months ago, has been remembered as a loving, courageous and open-hearted young woman with a green thumb and an “exquisitely beautiful soul”.

Friends, family and supporters gathered outside the Victorian state library on Saturday to honour the teenager and protest against prosecutors dropping a manslaughter charge against the man who had been accused of killing her.

Continue reading...

Police blocked people connected to anti-immigration group from Perth dawn service after Anzac Day booing in eastern states

Posted on by

Footage posted online shows police telling people they were being removed due to suspicion they would interrupt ceremony

Western Australian police say they proactively blocked 15 members of “issue motivated groups” from attending Anzac Day commemorations, following disruptions that marred earlier ceremonies in the eastern states.

One man was arrested at the Sydney dawn service at Martin Place, where there was a small but noisy interjection of booing during the Indigenous acknowledgment of country. Booing also marred ceremonies in Melbourne and Perth.

Continue reading...

‘Racism is a cancer’: Indigenous leaders condemn orchestrated booing at Anzac Day ceremonies

Posted on by

Uncle Jack Pearson, an army captain, says heckling ‘not in the Anzac spirit’ after welcome to country booed in Sydney, Melbourne and Perth

Indigenous leaders have condemned people who booed welcome to country speeches at Anzac Day dawn services across the country, with an army captain stating “racism is a cancer”.

Elders who spoke at services in Sydney, Melbourne and Perth on Saturday morning were booed following a campaign by Fight for Australia, the group formerly known as March for Australia, which has previously staged major anti-immigration rallies.

Continue reading...

Indigenous speakers booed at Anzac Day services while Ben Roberts-Smith attends separate Gold Coast event

Posted on by

Roberts-Smith, who has denied five charges of war crime murder, says he was always going to attend: ‘I never thought about not coming’

Booing has marred Anzac Day commemorations in Sydney, Melbourne and Perth, while on the Gold Coast, the Victoria Cross recipient Ben Roberts-Smith attended the dawn service at Currumbin beach.

One man was arrested at the Sydney dawn service at Martin Place, where there was a small but noisy interjection of booing during the Indigenous acknowledgment of country.

Continue reading...

‘One of the dumbest crimes ever’: car-share firms remove fuel cards from Melbourne vehicles after spate of thefts

Posted on by

Users of share cars will need to pay for fuel themselves before seeking reimbursement, leaving them temporarily out of pocket

Australia’s two biggest car-share companies, GoGet and Flexicar, have removed fuel cards from their Melbourne vehicles after a spate of break-ins and thefts that a senior GoGet executive described as “one of the dumbest crimes ever”.

The change will force users of share cars to pay for fuel themselves before seeking reimbursement, leaving them temporarily out of pocket amid record-high fuel prices caused by the US-Israel war on Iran.

Continue reading...

Traffic falls on major Sydney and Melbourne roads as fuel crisis sees Australians cut back on driving

Posted on by

Exclusive: Trips on Sydney’s key thoroughfares have fallen by thousands per day, according to government data

Road traffic is falling on Australia’s east coast as fuel prices bite, with most key Sydney highways recording 20% fewer weekend trips.

The number of trips recorded on Sydney’s key thoroughfares has fallen by thousands of trips a day, according to New South Wales government data shared exclusively with Guardian Australia.

Continue reading...

Man arrested attempting to board international flight at Melbourne airport charged with murdering woman

Posted on by

Murder charge laid after missing woman’s body discovered in Victorian town of Little River, near Melbourne

A man has faced court accused of murder after he was arrested while trying to board an overseas flight.

Allan Keys, 67, was arrested at Melbourne International Airport on Friday afternoon before he stepped onto the overseas-bound plane, Victoria police said.

Continue reading...

From car parks to piers: the 2026 Australian Urban Design awards recognise a gentler approach to pragmatic projects

Posted on by

The Australian Institute of Architects’ judges sought to highlight a gentler approach to urban transformation,’ chair of the awards steering committee says

Sydney’s Campbelltown has paved paradise and put up a parking lot. And the brave jury at the Australian Urban Design awards has declared it heavenly.

The winners of the 2026 awards, announced on Tuesday at Parliament House in Canberra, suggest the era of the star architect’s singular, sculptural spectacle is being traded, at least this year, for something more pragmatic: an unassuming revolution where the most significant breakthroughs are found in natural, open-mesh ventilation, a splash of colour and a heart of soothing greenery.

Continue reading...

Sports writer and photographer win Quill awards for work for Guardian Australia

Posted on by

Jonathan Horn scooped best sports feature prize for a series on AFL, while Chris Hopkins won for pictures of a cancer sufferer caring for her son

Sports writer Jonathan Horn and photographer Chris Hopkins have won Melbourne Press Club awards for their work for Guardian Australia.

Guardian Australia was recognised with eight nominations in a range of categories in the 31st annual Quill awards, which were presented in Melbourne on Friday night.

Continue reading...

Melbourne to finally get Myki-less public transport on Monday – but only on four train lines

Posted on by

Commuters on Craigieburn, Upfield, Ballarat and Seymour lines will be first to test tap-and-go technology

Melbourne is finally poised to join other Australian cities in the tap-and-go era, with the state government confirming public trials for contactless credit and debit card payments will launch for suburban rail commuters on Monday.

Commuters on the Craigieburn, Upfield, Ballarat and Seymour lines will be the first to test the technology, allowing them to bypass the physical Myki card in favour of paying via a debit or credit card, smartphone or smartwatch.

Continue reading...

Three Australians jailed for more than a decade over Melbourne man’s shooting death in Bali

Posted on by

Sentences of 16 and 12 years handed down over 2025 death of 32-year-old Zivan Radmanovic

A court on Indonesia’s resort island of Bali has sentenced three Australian citizens over the fatal shooting of a fellow Australian national, after they claimed to have been paid by a man they will not identify.

Mevlut Coskun, Paea I Middlemore Tupou and Darcy Jenson were convicted of the shooting death of Zivan Radmanovic, a 32-year-old from Melbourne.

Continue reading...

Three teenagers charged with murder after man stabbed while trying to intervene in Melbourne train station fight

Posted on by

Police arrest 16-year-old, 17-year-old and 18-year-old over ‘savage’ attack on 22-year-old man

Three teenagers have been charged with murder after a man who tried to intervene and help a 14-year-old schoolboy was killed in a “savage” stabbing attack.

Emergency crews were called to the Mernda train station in Melbourne’s north-east on Friday evening after reports of a fight among teenagers.

Continue reading...

Australia news live: grounded Jetstar flights resume; foreign couple arrested over alleged $1m Sydney casino fraud

Posted on by

Follow all the day’s news live

Welcome to Guardian Australia’s Sunday live blog.

The Jetstar Airbus A320 planes that were recalled yesterday (leading to more than 90 domestic flights being cancelled) have all received the necessary software update and services have resumed as normal this morning.

Continue reading...

State Library of Victoria faces job cuts as staff accuse management of pursuing ‘digital vanity projects’

Posted on by

Under the plan, 39 jobs would be lost and the public-facing workforce of reference librarians would be cut from 25 staff to 10

State Library of Victoria staff have accused management of undermining the 171-year-old institution’s core purposes in favour of flashy tourist-oriented “digital vanity projects” in a proposed restructure.

Under the plan, 39 jobs would be lost and the public-facing workforce of reference librarians would be cut from 25 staff to 10, while many publicly accessible computers would be removed.

Continue reading...

Severe thunderstorm risk for northern and eastern Australia including Sydney, Brisbane and Canberra

Posted on by

BoM forecasts possible storms from tropical north and WA to central and eastern parts, with potential for strong winds and heavy rainfall

Much of northern and eastern Australia faces a risk of severe thunderstorms on Saturday afternoon and evening, with millions of people potentially in the firing line.

“It’s another severe thunderstorm outbreak for eastern parts of the country. It could be an active one,” said Angus Hines, senior meteorologist at the Bureau of Meteorology on Saturday.

Continue reading...

Neo-Nazi leader Thomas Sewell abused by protesters after getting bail over alleged Camp Sovereignty attack

Posted on by

Sewell, 32, must not be in Melbourne’s CBD or talk to alleged camp attack co-accused as part of bail conditions

A neo-Nazi who allegedly led a violent group attack on a First Nations protest camp in Melbourne has been greeted by protesters shouting “Nazi scum, off our streets” after being released on bail.

Thomas Sewell, 32, hired a top barrister to successfully argue in the supreme court that he should be released, after failing in a previous application for bail two months ago.

Continue reading...

Traditional owners file native title claim over Melbourne and surrounding areas

Posted on by

Wurundjeri Woi-wurrung elder says the claim would allow First Nations people to work with government to ‘look after that country’

Traditional owners have filed a native title claim over Melbourne and surrounding regions.

The claim by the Wurundjeri Woi-wurrung people covers thousands of square kilometres, from the mouth of the Werribee River north to its headwater in the Great Dividing Range, east to Mount Baw Baw, south through Bunyip and west to Mordialloc Creek.

Continue reading...