Category Archives: Melbourne

Wild weather: severe winds, snow, surf and rain lash Victoria, South Australia and NSW

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Delays at Melbourne and Sydney airports, Frankston pier ripped from its moorings and snow at the AFL as polar blast strikes

Icy winds up to 120km/h, snow, wild surf and rain continued to lash South Australia, Victoria and parts of New South Waleson Friday, and snow fell at the AFL in Canberra.

The “strongest weather system this winter” to hit south-east Australia has continued its path of carnage across the country, grounding flights in Sydney and Melbourne, and leading to hundreds of calls to the State Emergency Service across all three states.

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Roberta Williams allegedly threatened to kill TV producer making show about her life

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Melbourne gangland widow freed on bail after being charged with kidnapping and death threat

Gangland widow Roberta Williams has been given bail by a Melbourne court after allegedly kidnapping and threatening to kill a television producer making a show about her life.

The 50-year-old widow of convicted killer Carl Williams, who was killed in prison in 2010, is one of four people charged with assaulting and threatening to kill producer Ryan Naumenko at Collingwood on 9 July.

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Jeff Kennett accuses Victorian Labor MP who kicked in hotel door of playing mental health card

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Former premier says he objected to Will Fowles ‘using the coverall of a mental health illness’ when explaining his confrontation

Former Victorian premier Jeff Kennett has accused a state Labor backbencher who kicked in a door at a Canberra hotel of wrongly playing the mental health card.

Will Fowles smashed a door at the Abode hotel during a confrontation with staff over his luggage on Thursday morning. Police have questioned the MP for the Melbourne seat of Burwood but he has not been charged over the incident.

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Faruk Orman released after gangland murder conviction quashed over Lawyer X scandal

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Court of appeal orders former getaway driver be immediately released due to miscarriage of justice caused by his lawyer Nicola Gobbo

Melbourne gangland getaway driver Faruk Orman will be immediately released from jail because of a “substantial miscarriage of justice” caused by his double-agent lawyer Nicola Gobbo, also known as Lawyer X.

Victoria’s court of appeal ordered Orman be released without delay after a hearing in Melbourne on Friday found he should be acquitted due to Gobbo’s actions while she was representing him.

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Two Australians arrested in Bali reportedly linked to cocaine trafficking

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Charges yet to be laid against former Melbourne nightclub promoters William Cabantog and David Van Iersel

Two former Melbourne nightclub promoters are being held in Bali amid reported links to a cocaine-trafficking operation.

The men have been named in media outlets as William Cabantog, 35, and David Van Iersel, 38.

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Airports across Australia hit with delays due to security outage

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Sydney and other airports have experienced delays caused by problems with the electronic smart-gate passport processing

A nationwide security outage believed to be linked to Australian Border Force terminals is causing delays at airports across Australia.

The outage caused delays of between 15 and 30 minutes at airports including Sydney and Brisbane on Monday morning.

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Former Victorian police officer convicted after misusing database to find woman’s address

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Steven John McGillivray pleaded guilty to misconduct in public office and inappropriately accessing woman’s details

A former Victorian police officer has avoided jail after repeatedly misusing the force’s database to look up a woman’s details and then turning up at her house.

Steven John McGillivray, 50, was convicted in Melbourne magistrates court on Friday after pleading guilty to misconduct in public office and inappropriately accessing the woman’s details four times between 2014 and 2017.

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Melbourne girl, 13, dies from the flu as national death toll nears 300

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Crystal-lee Wightley dies at her family’s home three days after getting sick

A Melbourne family say they are heartbroken after a 13-year-old girl died from the flu late last week, as the national death toll nears 300.

Crystal-lee Wightley had the flu for three days before she died at her family’s home.

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George Pell appeal: prosecutor struggles to answer judges’ questions

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Christopher Boyce accidentally says victim’s name, which is suppressed, during Thursday’s hearing

Prosecutor Christopher Boyce struggled through questions from three judges presiding over the appeal of Cardinal George Pell, finding it difficult to answer their inquiries about the victim’s evidence and the case.

Pell, 77, is appealing his conviction on four charges of an indecent act on a child under the age of 16, and one charge of sexual penetration of a child under 16. On Wednesday his legal team, led by Bret Walker SC, argued it was improbable that Pell assaulted two 13-year-old boys after presiding as archbishop of Sunday solemn mass at Melbourne’s St Patrick’s Cathedral in 1996, and then a few weeks later assaulted one of the boys again.

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Quietly and confidently, George Pell’s barrister tried to unravel the prosecution’s case | David Marr

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The appeal court judges listened intently as Bret Walker SC ransacked the English language to try to prove his point

Rule number two on these occasions is not to trust the look in their eyes. Judges are masters of disguise. Baleful can be applause. Smiles can be the kiss of death.

But the verdict at the end of the first day of George Pell’s appeal has to be that the bench is listening to the case being argued on his behalf by Bret Walker SC with a little more than respect.

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George Pell’s lawyer says timing of offence is ‘critical matter’ in appeal

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Cardinal George Pell has appeared in a Melbourne court to appeal his conviction on charges related to child sexual abuse

Cardinal George Pell’s lawyer Bret Walker SC has told three judges presiding over his client’s appeal that the timing of Pell’s offending was a “critical matter” in deciding whether his conviction should be overturned.

Walker is appealing Pell’s conviction on three grounds, the key one being that the jury came to an unreasonable verdict based on the evidence before them during the trial.

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Melbourne hit by coldest May day since 2000 as snow hits Ballarat

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The CBD reached just 10.6C while Ballarat also had its coldest May day in 19 years

Melbourne has shivered through its coldest May day in nearly 20 years, with snow falling in Ballarat and widespread icy roads making conditions slippery.

The CBD reached just 10.6C on Wednesday, making it Melbourne’s coldest May day since 2000.

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Homeless man charged with murder of Courtney Herron

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Twenty-seven-year-old to face court accused of ‘particularly horrendous attack’

A homeless man has been charged over the death of Courtney Herron, who was brutally murdered in a Melbourne park two days ago.

Victoria police said the man, 27, of no fixed address, had been arrested on Sunday and charged overnight with one count of murder, and would appear in Melbourne magistrates court on Monday.

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Courtney Herron: woman murdered in Melbourne park died from ‘horrendous bashing’

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Victoria police said Herron, who had no fixed address, was killed in Royal Park on Friday night

Courtney Herron, a 25-year-old woman of no fixed address, has been identified as the victim of “a horrendous bashing” on Friday night that occurred before she was found dead in Royal Park in Parkville, Melbourne, Victoria police say.

The latest victim of violence directed at a young woman alone on Melbourne’s streets at night, Herron’s death has horrified Melbourne.

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Woman found dead in Parkville, Melbourne in ‘horrendous crime’

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The body, yet to be identified, was discovered in the area between the Melbourne Zoo and Royal Children’s hospital

A woman’s body has been found in Melbourne between the Melbourne Zoo and the Royal Children’s hospital, in what police have described as a “horrendous crime”.

They have cordoned off a large section of the Royal park in Parkville, encompassing North Park Tennis Club and the Flemington Road Cricket Oval, as well as Elliott Avenue.

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Federal election 2019: Penny Wong and Kristina Keneally join Labor MPs backing Albanese for leadership – politics live

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ALP searches for a new leader to replace Bill Shorten as Palaszczuk seeks Adani approval timeline by Friday. All the day’s events, live

Prime Minister @ScottMorrisonMP & I met with Reserve Bank Governor Philip Lowe in Sydney this morning.

The independent @RBAInfo helps maintain stability of our currency as well as the employment, economic prosperity & welfare of the people of Australia. pic.twitter.com/moLeByzxbK

I'm not saying "economic anxiety" isn't often a euphemism for racism. But we prob should stop wondering why Townsville people are receptive to any hope of jobs pic.twitter.com/W4ir9Xa2Di

You’ll notice how often jobs comes up in this piece. Townsville is absolutely struggling. And minor parties did make all the difference.

Related: The story behind Herbert, the most marginal seat in the country – Australian politics live podcast

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Federal election 2019: Labor’s Belinda Hassan target of suspected arson attack – politics live

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The ALP’s candidate for Dawson confirms ‘scary incident’ where the fuel tank of her car was broken into. All the day’s events, live

And then it ends with this:

PK: Finally, you want to remove Josh Frydenberg, who fought hard for the National Energy Guarantee and for a compromise to move forward on climate change and energy. Is that a smart move?

Patricia Karvelas: One of the critiques of you is past involvement in Link Energy’s purchase of fossil fuel assets in 2010. Do you regret that?

Oliver Yates: I think the question is you need to see it was a company who bought them before I was even on the board. This is part of the Liberal dirt sheet. It’s round to everybody...

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‘Tinder rapist’ Glenn Hartland sentenced to at least 11 years in jail

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Hartland, 44, admitted raping three women and indecently assaulting a fourth woman

Glenn Hartland seduced women online, romanced them with grand gestures and, when they ended the relationship, he raped them.

The man known as Melbourne’s “Tinder rapist” was on Friday sentenced to 14 years and nine months in jail for attacks on four women he met on the popular dating app.

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