Category Archives: Melbourne

Melbourne best friends on ‘dream getaway’ before feared methanol poisoning in Laos left them fighting for life

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Teenagers Bianca Jones and Holly Bowles in hospitals in neighbouring Thailand after incident last week

Two Australian teenagers are fighting for their lives in Thailand after a suspected methanol poisoning in neighbouring Laos, with the family of one them saying they were struggling to comprehend what had happened.

Friends Bianca Jones and Holly Bowles from Melbourne had been staying at a hostel in Vang Vieng, north of the Laos capital, Vientiane, when they fell critically ill last week, 3AW reported.

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Melbourne warehouse fire leads to evacuation of 150 nearby residents in middle of night

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Victoria police believe building on Spencer Street was empty at the time of the blaze

Police are investigating a warehouse fire in West Melbourne which led to 150 people being evacuated from an apartment complex in the middle of the night.

Fire Rescue Victoria found the warehouse “fully involved with fire” after being called to the incident on Spencer Street early on Saturday.

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Man charged over Melbourne carjacking and siege involving father and toddler

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Man charged with assaulting police, false imprisonment, threats to kill and other offences following a carjacking and siege

A man has been charged over carjacking and a siege involving an innocent father and his toddler, who were held inside their own home for hours.

The ordeal stared on Tuesday when a police helicopter followed a car in Melbourne’s west that was believed to have been stolen in a carjacking in Snake Valley earlier in the day, Victoria police said.

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Alexis Wright wins $60,000 Melbourne literature prize

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The Waanyi writer, who won the Miles Franklin award and Stella prize this year for her novel Praiseworthy, has been recognised for her body of work and contribution to Australian culture

Alexis Wright has been awarded the $60,000 Melbourne prize for literature, capping off an extraordinary year in which she has won more than $200,000 in prize money after the publication of her epic novel, Praiseworthy.

The Melbourne prize for literature, awarded every three years, recognises a Victorian writer whose “body of published work has made an outstanding contribution to Australian literature and to cultural and intellectual life”. Past winners include Christos Tsiolkas, Alison Lester and Helen Garner.

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Police to charge man who allegedly carjacked 70-year-old and held father and toddler in Melbourne siege

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The 26-year-old Snake Valley man remains in hospital with police expecting to charge him on Wednesday afternoon

A man will be charged after allegedly carjacking a 70-year-old woman before breaking into a Melbourne home and holding a father and his toddler inside in an hours-long siege.

A 26-year-old Snake Valley man, known to police, allegedly carjacked the woman in the western Victorian town about 2.30pm on Tuesday.

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‘Tragic death’ of toddler at Melbourne hotel pool while mother used phone prompts coroner’s call for better supervision

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The boy, known as Master K for inquest, floated to surface and was undiscovered for more than nine minutes

A two-year-old who drowned in a pool while his mother looked at her mobile phone and cared for another infant two metres away highlights the need for close supervision around water, a Victorian inquest has heard.

The boy had been playing in a toddlers’ pool adjoined to an adult pool at Crown Towers, a luxury hotel in central Melbourne, in 2021 when he slipped and fell into the deeper pool.

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Blockbuster: will Victoria’s tough housing market push The Block into the red?

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Some predict the TV show will lose money this season as investors exit property and contestants face ‘a buyer’s market’ at auction

Channel Nine’s hit series The Block could be caught in the firing line of Victoria’s flat housing market and investor woes, with one expert predicting the show will make a loss this year.

The properties in the seaside township of Cowes, on Phillip Island, are set to go under the hammer on Saturday.

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Community mourns ‘passionate’ young rapper killed in Melbourne as alleged shooter remains on the run

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Friends warned against seeking retribution after man in his 20s dies of gunshot wounds in North Melbourne

Family and friends are grieving the loss of a “talented and sociable” young rapper who died after he was allegedly shot by a man who remains on the run.

The man in his 20s was found with gunshot wounds on Langford Street in North Melbourne about 3.15am on Saturday and died at the scene.

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‘Will haunt me for life’: nurse suspended over Covid lockdown baby shower in Melbourne aged care home before deadly outbreak

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Father-to-be was unaware of planned party at Epping Gardens aged care facility and stayed only five minutes, tribunal hears

An aged care nurse who attended a baby shower at a nursing home during a Covid lockdown has been suspended, telling a tribunal the mistake “will haunt me for the rest of my life”.

Staff at the Epping Gardens aged care held a surprise baby shower in July 2020 for registered nurse Denis Baniqued and his wife, who also worked at the facility.

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Police search for attacker after man shot dead in busy nightlife area in Melbourne

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Victoria police say a man was found with fatal gunshot wound on Langford Street in North Melbourne at about 3.15am

A large-scale homicide investigation is under way after a man was fatally shot, triggering “horribly emotional” scenes in a busy nightlife area in inner Melbourne on Saturday morning.

Victoria police said emergency services were called to Langford Street in North Melbourne at about 3.15am after a man was found with a gunshot wound.

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Ellie Price murder: anguished mother blasts sentence that could see ‘vicious’ killer Ricardo Barbaro released in 17 years

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Barbaro, 38, killed Ellie Price, 26, in her South Melbourne home in a stabbing attack a judge described as senseless and cruel

A killer who stabbed his defenceless girlfriend to death in a vicious and senseless attack should have been jailed for life, his victim’s mother says.

Ricardo Barbaro, 38, will instead be eligible for parole in 17 years. A judge sentenced him on Friday after he was found guilty of murdering Ellie Price at her South Melbourne home.

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‘Alive in our hearts’: grieving family pays tribute to 11-year-old Jack Davey after Melbourne school crash tragedy

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‘Beloved son and brother’ mourned, as three children injured in Auburn South primary school car crash remain in hospital with one discharged

Michael and Jayde Davey are clinging to the memories of the positive influence their son Jack had on the community in his 11 years of life after he was killed in a school crash.

Grade 5 student Jack Davey died after a car ploughed through a fence and into a school yard on Tuesday afternoon, hitting a group of Auburn South primary school students sitting at a table.

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Victoria to cut more than 130 bushfire forest service jobs – As it happened

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Young man dies in multi-vehicle crash in Queensland’s Bundaberg Region

A fatal multi-vehicle traffic crash last night at Elliot in Queensland’s Bundaberg Region last night is being investigated by the police forensic crash Unit.

All travel has been appropriately declared and is a matter of public record.

The only people that need to look at the rules are [shadow transport minister] Bridget McKenzie and Peter Dutton. They’ve got some serious explaining to do.

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‘Hold your little ones really tight’: how an ordinary Melbourne primary school pick-up turned to tragedy

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Auburn South primary school community mourns car crash victim Jack Davey, 11, as four students remain in hospital

It was an afternoon recess on what should have been an ordinary, sunny spring Tuesday at Auburn South primary school.

Within the grounds of the Melbourne school, five primary school students were seated around an outdoor table overlooking a soccer pitch. Moments later, the scene turned to one of horror.

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Shock and grief as boy, 11, dies and four children injured after car crashes through Melbourne school fence

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Victorian premier says ‘dark shadow’ has been cast over city after collision at Auburn South primary school in Hawthorn East

A child has died and four others remain in hospital with serious injuries after a car crashed into a school in Melbourne’s inner east.

Emergency services rushed to the collision that occurred just after 2.30pm on Tuesday afternoon at Auburn South primary school in Hawthorn East.

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Police find vapes worth $8m after being called to Melbourne warehouse robbery

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About 200,000 e-cigarettes found in Box Hill South after officers were told of reported burglary on Thursday

Victorian police called to an early morning break-in this week found something unexpected: about 200,000 illegal vapes worth $8m.

The vapes were found in a warehouse in Melbourne’s outer east after officers responded to reports of a commercial robbery, police said in a statement on Saturday.

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Developers to directly fund schools, parks and public transport under Victorian trial

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Program that ties new infrastructure to housing projects will start in 2027 in 10 Melbourne ‘activity centres’, premier says

The Victorian premier, Jacinta Allan, says an overhaul of the state’s infrastructure contribution scheme will ensure communities that build more homes will receive funding for key amenities like schools and parks.

With her government’s third housing policy announcement in as many days, Allan on Tuesday flagged a revamped statewide pilot infrastructure contribution program.

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Jacinta Allan’s pitch to young voters on housing affordability snags Liberal Nimbys ‘hook, line and sinker’

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In pitting millennials against boomers, the Victorian premier is setting the stage for a 2026 election fought on housing

It’s no coincidence Jacinta Allan chose Brighton – a bayside suburb of Melbourne with a median property price of $3.3m – to unveil her most significant policy to date.

With a reputation as a wealthy, predominately white enclave, and as the centre of a safe Liberal electorate of the same name, it is unlikely the Labor premier had many fans in the area on Sunday, even before she announced her bold plan to seize planning controls around Middle Brighton and North Brighton train stations.

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Victorian premier pushes ahead with housing plan to rezone affluent areas despite anger from locals

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Brighton residents chant ‘Shame, premier, shame’ as they surround the pub where Jacinta Allan announces policy

Victoria’s premier has taken aim at opponents of government plans for high-rise apartments to soar above Melbourne’s inner suburbs.

Jacinta Allan on Sunday announced a plan to create 50 new “activity zones” to help deliver more than 30,000 additional homes across Melbourne by 2051.

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Toddler, 3, dies after allegedly being hit by car in Melbourne’s south-east

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Man charged with dangerous driving after girl allegedly struck by a vehicle in Endeavour Hills

A three-year-old girl has died in hospital after being hit by a car on a major thoroughfare in Melbourne’s south-east on Thursday.

Emergency services were called to Heatherton Road, near the intersection of James Cook Drive, in Endeavour Hills about 8.30am on Thursday, following reports a child had been struck by vehicle.

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