Category Archives: Melbourne

Brisbane e-scooter operator Beam loses licence over alleged breach of daily cap

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City council alleges cap on scooter numbers ‘systematically exceeded’ by 500 a day but company ‘disagrees’ with claims, saying it is ‘reviewing options’

Brisbane has become the first Australian city to kick out an e-scooter operator, after the council cancelled the licence for Beam to operate over allegations it regularly breached its caps.

The Brisbane city council said it would now seek a replacement e-scooter operator for the city, after an investigation found Beam had “systematically exceeded” its cap on numbers by about 500 a day. The company has denied “assertions” made by council.

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New peregrine in town: female falcon becomes latest to nest atop Melbourne skyscraper

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The cameras that made the falcons a social media phenomenon are rolling again for a new breeding season

For more than three decades, Melbourne’s famed Collins Street peregrine falcons have treated a CBD skyscraper ledge as home.

Now, the cameras that made them a social media phenomenon are again rolling for a new breeding season, with the first egg laid this week.

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Carlton coach Michael Voss makes citizen’s arrest after alleged thief flees Melbourne car crash

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‘It was a bit of action,’ AFL coach says after detaining 16-year-old in Hawthorn who allegedly ran from Mercedes that had flipped on to side

Carlton coach Michael Voss has made a citizen’s arrest after seeing an alleged car thief try and flee after they allegedly crashed a stolen car in the Melbourne suburb of Hawthorn.

The AFL coach was at a cafe on Tuesday morning when the Mercedes flipped on its side on a footpath after crashing.

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Man found dead in Melbourne park last seen by sister seven hours before

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The 28-year-old was last seen by his sister in the Derrimut area of the city’s west with four other men about 9pm on Friday

Police are trying to piece together what happened during the seven hours leading up to the death of a man found in a Melbourne park with apparent stab wounds.

The 28-year-old was last seen by his sister in the Derrimut area of the city’s west with four other men about 9pm on Friday.

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Melbourne zoo welcomes rare southern white rhino calf to the world

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New male baby of near-threatened species born at Werribee open range zoo to be named in public competition in coming weeks

A very large bundle of joy was quietly delivered to a Melbourne zoo last Sunday as a southern white rhino gave birth to a male calf.

Mother Kipenzi, 11, and father Kifaru, 15, welcomed their 60kg baby into the world in the early hours of 18 August, Werribee open range zoo announced.

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Melbourne’s e-scooter wars escalate as neighbouring councils unite in support after city centre ban

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Merri-Bek, Darebin and Moonee Valley mayors back e-scooter hire schemes after Melbourne city council ejects the vehicles from the CBD

Victoria’s e-scooters wars have ramped up, with mayors in Melbourne’s north uniting to back e-scooter hire schemes after the mayor banned them from operating in the inner city.

The mayor, Nicholas Reece, succeeded in banning the rentals in the city council area, arguing the e-scooters presented an unacceptable safety risk and that Melbourne’s city needed a reset.

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Driver charged after cyclist killed in alleged hit-and-run in Melbourne

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Southbank man, understood to be a food delivery rider, died at scene of crash on Plummer Street in Port Melbourne

A driver has been charged after a cyclist, understood to be a delivery rider, died in an alleged hit-and-run in Port Melbourne.

A car struck the cyclist on Plummer Street just after 8pm on Tuesday night, Victoria police said in a statement.

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Melbourne Symphony Orchestra board promises independent review after musicians revolt over Gaza comments controversy

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Announcement comes after musicians passed vote of no confidence in senior management over cancellation of Jayson Gillham’s performance

The Melbourne Symphony Orchestra’s policies will undergo an independent review after the decision to cancel a performance by acclaimed pianist Jayson Gillham shortly after he made comments on the killing of journalists in Gaza.

It comes after the orchestra’s musicians passed a vote of no confidence in their senior management on Friday over the cancellation of Gillham’s performance, according to a letter sent by staff to the board seen by Guardian Australia.

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Melbourne lord mayor floats plan to slash power bills by bulk buying renewable energy

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‘MPower’ would be Australia’s largest scheme of its kind – with neighbouring councils invited to join in

Melbourne residents and business owners could have their electricity bills slashed by hundreds of dollars each year in a radical plan proposed by the city’s lord mayor.

Nick Reece has pledged to facilitate Australia’s largest community-led bulk purchasing scheme for renewable energy if he is re-elected.

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‘She looked lifeless’: teen tells court father used axe to kill Nelomie Perera in Melbourne home

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Son of Dinush Kurera, who has pleaded not guilty to wife’s murder, gives evidence in supreme court trial

A teen has told a Melbourne court that his father allegedly repeatedly slashed his mother with an axe “in a rage” and then turned the weapon on him when he tried to run for help.

Dinush Kurera’s 19-year-old son gave evidence to the Victorian supreme court on Thursday about the evening his father allegedly murdered his mother in their family home.

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Melbourne learner driver fined $600 after unintentionally driving off as sister clung to door in fatal accident

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Asyai Luk fined without conviction after judge found she was unaware her sibling was at car door before she accelerated forward

A woman has walked free from court with a $600 fine after unintentionally driving off while her sister held on to a car door following an argument in a Melbourne street.

Her sister later died in hospital.

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Victoria records 71 legionnaires’ disease cases and outbreak’s first death as search for source narrows

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Chief health officer Clare Looker says woman in her 90s died after becoming ill on Tuesday as others in intensive care battle severe pneumonia

Victoria has recorded 71 confirmed cases of legionnaires’ disease and one person has died from the disease in an outbreak that authorities say they have narrowed down to two suburbs in Melbourne’s west.

Victoria’s chief health officer, Dr Clare Looker, on Friday confirmed the death of a woman aged in her 90s. She said the woman became ill on Tuesday evening and presented to hospital, where she died shortly after.

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Jury hears Nelomie Perera’s screams before alleged murder in front of children

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Dinush Kurera has pleaded not guilty to murder and assaulting his son after wife’s 2022 death in Melbourne home

The screams of a mother’s final moments alive while her estranged husband allegedly hacked her to death in front of their children have been played to a Victorian jury.

“Help me, help me,” Nelomie Perera yelled in a recording captured on her watch, which was played to Melbourne’s supreme court.

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Victorian opposition leader vows to slash cultural heritage ‘red tape’ on residential projects

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In 2023 John Pesutto was booed at the Victorian Liberal state council. This year, most rose to give him a standing ovation

The Victorian Liberals have ramped up their rhetoric on housing, promising to slash planning approval delays to build homes quicker and cheaper if they return from the electoral wilderness in 2026.

The state’s opposition leader, John Pesutto, unveiled a plan to cut “red tape” connected to cultural heritage and what he referred to as Melbourne Water processes at the Victorian Liberal state council on Sunday.

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Brett Whiteley and Sidney Nolan works among former Melbourne lord mayor’s acollection to be sold at auction

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Twenty artworks from Ron Walker’s deceased estate to go under the hammer, along with seven Arthur Boyd paintings

The former Lord mayor of Melbourne Ron Walker was known for his billion dollar property deals, casino developments and a knack for snaring major sporting events such as the Grand Prix and Commonwealth Games. But tonight a very private passion of the businessman, who amassed an estimated personal fortune of A$978m before his death in 2018, will be on show.

Twenty artworks from Walker’s deceased estate, along with seven Arthur Boyd paintings and one sculpture from the personal collection of the retired Sydney veteran art dealer Denis Savill, will be auctioned off by Smith & Singer (formerly Sotheby’s Australia) in Melbourne. Works by Brett Whiteley, Sidney Nolan, Charles Blackman and Albert Tucker are also among the trove.

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Chemical fire in Melbourne’s west forces evacuations and closes roads

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More than 80 firefighters attended an early morning blaze at the Orica factory, a short distance from the scene of last week’s fire at a chemical factory

Dozens of firefighters and emergency services have rushed to contain a major chemical factory fire in Melbourne’s west on Saturday morning, with five people evacuated and smoke causing local road closures.

It comes just a week after a major Derrimut factory fire, which forced thousands of people to stay indoors due to potentially toxic smoke.

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Let there be night: digital billboards to be turned off to curb light pollution under Melbourne city proposal

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Illuminated signs have increased nocturnal artificial light and are detrimental to the city’s liveability and sustainability, a review has found

Large digital billboards could be turned off late at night under a proposal by Melbourne city council to crack down on light pollution and reduce its health and environmental impacts.

A review, commissioned by the council, recommended the introduction of a curfew for illuminated signs above ground level.

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Melbourne public housing towers demolition to go ahead despite residents’ class action

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Exclusive: Lawyer says move by state government shows residents being treated ‘as an afterthought’

The Victorian government is forging ahead with plans to demolish three public housing towers subject to a class action seeking to stop the redevelopment.

The move was described by a lawyer for residents as an example of them being “treated as an afterthought”, after the supreme court ordered the class action could proceed to a two-day trial earlier this month.

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Woman charged with murder after body found in Melbourne river

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Police say 49-year-old was arrested alongside a teen, who was released without charge, after woman’s body discovered in Maribyrnong River

A woman has been charged with murder after another woman’s body was found in a river in inner Melbourne.

The body was discovered by a passerby in the Maribyrnong River, near Smithfield Road in Flemington, on Sunday.

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Two people found dead after Melbourne house fire

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Firefighters called to Donvale home at about 3.46am Saturday found the house fully engulfed in flames

Two people have been killed after a home in Melbourne’s eastern suburbs went up in flames.

Fire crews were called to a Donvale home, about 20km east of Melbourne’s CBD, at about 3.46am on Saturday, after reports that a house was on fire.

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