Category Archives: Melbourne

Police on alert for potential violence at Eritrean festival in Melbourne

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Supporters of the African nation’s dictatorial regime have clashed with opponents in the diaspora at similar events in other countries

Australian federal police and government officials have met representatives of the Eritrean community in a bid to avoid potential violence during a planned cultural festival in Melbourne’s western suburbs this weekend.

Similar events held in Europe and North America in recent months have ended in violence and arrests, as supporters of the African nation’s regime clashed with members of the pro-democracy youth movement Birged Nhamedu.

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Australian capital city rents up 13% over year as further hikes predicted for 2024 amid housing shortage

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Housing advocates call for urgent reform to address growing crisis as capital rents hit average of $600 a week

Australia’s record shortage of rental properties will continue to drive prices up for tenants, analysts say, with a new report revealing combined capital city rents rose 13.2% year-on-year.

Data from PropTrack, the property analytics division of REA Group, has revealed national rental prices rose 11.5% over the past year, with combined capital city rents up 13.2% to an average of $600 a week, driven by large increases in Sydney, Melbourne and Perth.

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Calls for nationwide pill testing after suspected MDMA overdoses at Melbourne music festival

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Eight people were in induced comas after the Hardmission event at Flemington on Satuday

The suspected MDMA overdoses at a Melbourne music festival that left eight young people in medically induced comas over the weekend has sparked renewed calls for nationwide pill-testing programs.

Harm reduction and social justice advocates, and the Australian Lawyers Alliance (ALA), were among those urging state governments to legalise pill-testing, saying the scale of the overdoses highlight the urgency of the issue.

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This article was amended on 8 January 2024 after Ambulance Victoria clarified that eight people were in induced comas, not seven.

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Man charged after four stabbing attacks in Melbourne overnight that seriously injured victims

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Victoria police say random attacks were not terror-related with 31-year-old man facing 15 charges

A man is facing more than a dozen charges after he allegedly stabbed four strangers in Melbourne overnight in what police say were “completely random” and unprovoked attacks.

Officers on Sunday arrested the 31-year-old Melton man who allegedly used public transport to travel across the city when committing three separate attacks on Saturday night.

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Alleged Melbourne home invader shot dead after struggle, police say

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Man found dead in driveway of Donnybrook home with gunshot wounds after ‘firearm claimed off one of the offenders’, detective alleges

A man found dead in a driveway in Melbourne’s outer north was allegedly part of a group of home invaders before he was shot during a struggle, police say.

The man, who was yet to be identified, was found outside the property on Middlemount Street in Donnybrook, 30km north of Melbourne’s CBD, at about 4.20am on Sunday.

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Sleeper services may return on Sydney-Melbourne route after new trains arrive, as night patronage booms

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Exclusive: NSW government says it is open to all options even though new rolling stock, now due in 2026, will have reclining seats only

The permanent withdrawal of sleeper carriages on Sydney-Melbourne trains may be averted after new rolling stock enters service, thanks to the increasing popularity of intercity rail.

New Spanish-built trains ordered by the previous Coalition government were initially meant to enter service in January 2023, but are now not expected to be running before April 2026. As yet, there is no firm arrival date.

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Rubbish bin and rocks used in attack on mobile speed camera in Melbourne that injured operator

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Police say group jumped on the car in Coburg and shattered windows in what union calls ‘horrific planned assault’

A mobile speed camera operator has been injured after his car was attacked by five men in a Melbourne street.

The blue SUV, fixed with traffic cameras in its rear window, was operating on Nicholson Street at Coburg in the early hours of Friday morning when it was attacked.

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‘Bureaucracy going mad’: the 250 ‘magnificent’ 10m-high trees being felled for a Melbourne bike path

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Residents of Queens Avenue in Caulfield East are ramping up the fight against the 1km path and vow to ‘fight until the bulldozers come’

For 30 years, Tamara de Silva has woken up to the sound of birds chirping in the trees across the road from her home in Melbourne’s south-east.

“Listening to the magpies and the lorikeets in the mornings, watching them playing around – it lifts your spirits,” she said.

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Eleven people in hospital after fire at Melbourne New Year’s Eve house party

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Police say one man has life-threatening injuries after ‘terribly serious’ fire in suburb of Mill Park

Eleven people have been taken to hospital, including a man with life-threatening injuries, after a fire broke out at a New Year’s Eve house party in Melbourne’s north-east.

Emergency services were called to a home on Development Boulevard in the suburb of Mill Park just after 11pm on Sunday, responding to reports of a fire burning in the garden.

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New Year’s Eve: huge crowds turn out in Australian cities to see in 2024

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Hundreds of thousands gather in Sydney and Melbourne to enjoy spectacular fireworks displays

Australians turned out in their hundreds of thousands to see in the new year under a midnight sky lit up by fireworks.

In Sydney, crowds were abuzz and at maximum capacity as revellers crammed picnic rugs together across harbour foreshore vantage points. More than 8.5 tonnes of fireworks went up in smoke alongside 80,000 pyrotechnic effects to the sounds of jubilant cheers.

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Police investigating after Qantas crew pin down passenger on flight from Bali to Melbourne

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Video shows airline staff and other passengers holding a man down after disturbance on flight on Sunday

Federal police are investigating after Qantas cabin crew were forced to pin down a disruptive passenger on a flight from Bali on Sunday.

Video shows Qantas staff and other passengers holding the man down after a disturbance on a flight from Bali to Melbourne.

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New Year’s Eve 2023: heat and hail forecast in Australia’s weather mix as crowds gather early for fireworks

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Displays expected in cities across country to ring in 2024 while predicted wild weather on east coast could disrupt revelry

Heat and hail have been forecast across parts of the country as hundreds queue outside the Sydney Opera House to secure front-row seats for the New Year’s Eve fireworks.

Lines in Circular Quay began to form at 8am on Sunday as people sought to stake their claim to a view. By 11.24am, organisers announced the Sydney Opera House vantage point is full and advised members of the public to seek alternative options.

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Two people dead and a dozen injured after multi-car crash in NSW – as it happened

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This blog is now closed

Tasmanian yacht Alive is in the box seat to take out Sydney to Hobart yacht race’s overall honours, with skipper Duncan Hine confident the 66-footer has a winning time on the board.

Hine and his crew finished the 628-nautical-mile blue water classic yesterday afternoon as clubhouse leaders on handicap time.

It’s a waiting game. We’re looking good, though. I believe we could do it again, but the reality may be different. Now we wait with bated breath to see if anyone can beat our time.

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Carols by Candlelight: Melbourne woman arrested after pro-Palestine supporters storm stage

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Two other protesters were denied entry at the gates to the concert at Sidney Myer Musical Bowl

Thousands of people joined in to sing along at Carols by Candlelight in Melbourne on Sunday, with the festivities momentarily interrupted by two Pro-Palestine protesters who stormed the stage as children were performing.

The protesters were tackled and quickly removed, with host David Campbell appealing for calm and assuring people the children were safe.

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Christmas weather: rain forecast along Australia’s east coast after Brisbane hit by storms and hail

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Thunderstorm conditions extending from Mackay in Queensland to Melbourne, with BoM warning weather may change quickly

Widespread rain and cloudy weather affecting much of the east coast is expected to continue into Christmas Day, with revellers encouraged to prepare an indoor option for tomorrow’s festivities.

Queensland was lashed with severe thunderstorms on Sunday, with giant hail and huge downpours of up to 43mm in just 15 minutes recorded in northern Brisbane.

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‘Severe, intense conditions’: Christmas weather could be stormy in Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne and Canberra

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NSW SES warns heavy rain may cause flash flooding with storms forecast across three states from Christmas Eve to Boxing Day

Residents of Australia’s eastern states have been warned to prepare for severe storms forecast over the Christmas weekend.

Thunderstorms are expected between Christmas Eve and Boxing Day across a broad region, including much of New South Wales and south-east Queensland and spreading down into Victoria.

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‘A true icon’: Melbourne mourns death of renowned furniture salesman Franco Cozzo

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Due to his TV ads in the 1980s and 90s, Cozzo’s name became synonymous with the western suburb of Footscray

Melburnians are mourning the death of renowned furniture salesman Franco Cozzo, who has died aged 88.

Cozzo’s family announced his death on social media on Wednesday night.

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Convicted Melbourne terrorist Abdul Nacer Benbrika to be released from prison

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Electronic monitoring and rules on who he can associate with will be imposed by Victorian supreme court

Convicted terrorist Abdul Nacer Benbrika is set to be released from prison within hours and placed on an extended supervision order that will force him to comply with 30 conditions, including electronic monitoring.

The Victorian supreme court heard on Tuesday that Benbrika would be released later on Tuesday – after spending nearly 20 years behind bars – after the order was finalised.

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Australia news live: Daniel Andrews fires up over ‘Dictator Dan’ moniker; festival-goers warned about heatwave conditions

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Former Victorian premier gives first interview after resignation, saying ‘the haters hate and the rest vote Labor’. Follow the day’s news live

James Ashby to stand for One Nation in Queensland seat

James Ashby, the chief of staff to One Nation leader Pauline Hanson, will stand for the party in the seat of Keppel at next year’s Queensland state election, AAP reports.

The Nationals are dead in Queensland’s parliament while the Liberals are lurching further left in their attempts to secure inner-Brisbane seats.

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‘A new low’: police believe gasmask-clad graverobbers sought to intimidate Melbourne gangland rival

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Victoria police say theft may not be only motive of two men who targeted coffin of Meshilin Marrogi, the sister of George Marrogi

An attempt to remove a body from a Melbourne mausoleum was part of a plot by an underworld figure to disturb a gangland rival, police believe.

Detectives confirmed on Friday that it was suspected two men who committed the offence had been trying to remove the corpse of Meshilin Marrogi to cause “friction and hurt” to her imprisoned brother, George Marrogi.

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