Category Archives: Melbourne

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

Posted on by

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.

Sign up for Guardian Australia’s free morning and afternoon email newsletters for your daily news roundup

Continue reading...

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

Posted on by

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.

Sign up for Guardian Australia’s free morning and afternoon email newsletters for your daily news roundup

Continue reading...

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

Posted on by

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.

Sign up for Guardian Australia’s free morning and afternoon email newsletters for your daily news roundup

Continue reading...

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

Posted on by

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.

Continue reading...

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

Posted on by

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.

Sign up for Guardian Australia’s free morning and afternoon email newsletters for your daily news roundup

Continue reading...

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

Posted on by

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.

Sign up for Guardian Australia’s free morning and afternoon email newsletters for your daily news roundup

Continue reading...

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

Posted on by

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.

Sign up for Guardian Australia’s free morning and afternoon email newsletters for your daily news roundup

Continue reading...

Woman charged with murder after body found in Melbourne river

Posted on by

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.

Continue reading...

Two people found dead after Melbourne house fire

Posted on by

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.

Continue reading...

Concern over fumes and contaminated runoff as Derrimut chemical factory fire still smoulders in Melbourne

Posted on by

Fire expected to burn for days as local residents warned to avoid nearby waterways

Residents in Melbourne’s west have been told to avoid lingering fumes and potentially contaminated runoff after a chemical factory fire sent toxic smoke billowing over the city.

Firefighters battled the blaze throughout the day and night after a large explosion at the Derrimut factory on Wednesday morning.

Sign up for Guardian Australia’s free morning and afternoon email newsletters for your daily news roundup

Continue reading...

Woman’s body found at Melbourne waste management facility

Posted on by

Homicide squad detectives are investigating the death, which is being treated as suspicious

The body of a woman has been found at a waste management facility in Melbourne’s north.

Workers made the grim discovery while moving green waste at the site on Cooper Street in Epping on Wednesday.

Continue reading...

‘Million dollar views, baby’: Victorian minister praises train station’s ‘fantastic’ Dandenongs vista

Posted on by

On a morning when the Dandenong Ranges were largely obscured by clouds, Danny Pearson says ‘lots of caffeine’ was driving his enthusiasm

According to Victoria’s transport infrastructure minister, this is a train station with “million dollar views, baby”.

At a press conference on a cloudy Friday morning, Danny Pearson was ebullient in his praise for the views commanded by the new elevated platform at Croydon – to the point that his enthusiasm itself was questioned by reporters.

Sign up for Guardian Australia’s free morning and afternoon email newsletters for your daily news roundup

Continue reading...

Man charged over alleged theft of Garry the gorilla

Posted on by

Officers raided 33-year-old’s home and allegedly seized statue along with 24 suspected stolen drivers’ licences and prescription medication

A man who handed himself in to police has been charged over the alleged theft of a gorilla statue from a retirement village in Melbourne’s north.

The gorilla, a 1.5-metre garden ornament named Garry, disappeared from Leith Park retirement village at St Helena on 6 June.

Continue reading...

Victoria police make 2,700 arrests in five-month domestic violence blitz in south-east Melbourne

Posted on by

Police say 7,500 charges laid, including against a man, 42, who allegedly stabbed a woman and assaulted a teenager in front of two younger children

A man who allegedly stabbed a woman and assaulted a teenager in front of two children was among 2,700 arrests by Victoria police during a five-month blitz targeting family violence offenders in Melbourne’s south-east.

Victoria police on Thursday said 7,500 charges had been laid as a result of the blitz, between January and June of this year.

Continue reading...

Synthetic opioid detected in bodies of four people found dead in Melbourne home

Posted on by

Police confirm drug’s presence after deaths of boy, 17, and three adults in Broadmeadows last week

A synthetic opioid has been found in the bodies of four people found dead in a Melbourne home last week, police say.

The bodies of the 17-year-old boy, two men aged 32 and 37, and a 42-year-old woman were discovered at the property in Broadmeadows, in Melbourne’s north, in the early hours of 25 June.

Sign up for Guardian Australia’s free morning and afternoon email newsletters for your daily news roundup

Continue reading...

Melbourne airport staff accused of smuggling drugs for organised crime cartels

Posted on by

Scores of workers allegedly breached security checks, and air crew accused of stashing illegal products in false-bottom suitcases

Dozens of Melbourne airport staff have been accused of working for organised criminals trying to smuggle drugs into Australia.

Aviation workers were the subject of a Border Force investigation targeting criminals in airport supply chains.

Sign up for Guardian Australia’s free morning and afternoon email newsletters for your daily news roundup

Continue reading...

Melbourne’s airport rail link hits more turbulence after mediation falters

Posted on by

Airport operator says it will fight for more costly underground option despite expert report’s findings

The long-promised train to Melbourne airport appears to have hit yet another snag, after the prolonged and bitter standoff between Victoria and the airport that has delayed the line for years intensified, despite government-imposed mediation.

The train project – which would be funded by the federal and state governments – has stalled over the state’s insistence it would only finance a cheaper above-ground train station instead of the costlier underground option demanded by the airport.

Sign up for Guardian Australia’s free morning and afternoon email newsletters for your daily news roundup

Continue reading...

Police investigate possible drug link after four people found dead in Melbourne home

Posted on by

Cause of death of two men, a woman and a boy in Broadmeadows yet to be determined, police say

Four people have been found dead in a Melbourne home, including a teenage boy.

Victoria police said the bodies of two men, aged 37 and 32, a woman, 42, and a teenage boy, 17, had been found at a Broadmeadows property early on Tuesday.

Sign up for Guardian Australia’s free morning and afternoon email newsletters for your daily news roundup

Continue reading...

Labor MP Josh Burns’ electoral office has windows smashed in attack by vandals

Posted on by

Jewish MP says attack that used slogan ‘Zionism is fascism’ was ‘politically motivated’

Vandals have smashed windows and set fire to the front of the federal Labor MP Josh Burns’ Melbourne electoral office in what he has branded a “politically motivated attack”.

At least five people were seen near the office located on Barkly Street in St Kilda about 3.20am on Wednesday, police were told.

Continue reading...

Victoria’s premier unveils new housing targets for construction of 2.5m new homes by 2051

Posted on by

Jacinta Allan reveals Geelong will be set highest target for new homes, with City of Melbourne and Melton second and third

Melbourne’s CBD, the outer suburbs and the regional city of Geelong will shoulder the burden of new housing in Victoria, according to draft council targets set to be released by the state government.

The premier, Jacinta Allan, and planning minister, Sonya Kilkenny, will on Sunday announce their proposed housing targets for local government areas (LGA), which they say could lead to the construction of 2.5m new homes by 2051.

Sign up for Guardian Australia’s free morning and afternoon email newsletters for your daily news roundup

Continue reading...