Category Archives: Victorian politics

Victorian government faces backlash from small businesses over right to work-from-home laws

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Small employers won’t be exempt from proposed legislation designed to allow offsite working two days a week

Business groups have criticised a decision to rule out exemptions for small businesses in the Victorian government’s plan to legislate the right to work from home two days a week, saying some companies could move interstate or overseas.

Cabinet met on Monday to greenlight the work from home plan – a key pillar of Labor’s re-election campaign – with further announcements expected during the parliamentary sitting week.

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Polls, preferences, potential defections: can Victoria’s Liberal party ward off the rising threat of One Nation?

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Opposition leader Jess Wilson is under pressure to reveal her position on a deal with Pauline Hanson’s party as the state election approaches

While internal divisions have long been the Victorian Liberal party’s main obstacle to winning government, a new threat is emerging on its right flank: One Nation.

Just four years ago, One Nation received just 8,077 lower house first-preference votes out of more than 3.6m cast in Victoria – equivalent to 0.22% of the total – and won a single seat in the upper house.

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Where will Victoria’s new homes be built? Competing Liberal and Labor visions are as much about politics as planning

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Jess Wilson’s housing plan offers little that is truly new – but Jacinta Allan claims it draws a line through Melbourne and locks millennials out

A genuine policy contest has finally broken out over housing in Victoria – but it is as much about politics as it is about planning.

The opposition leader, Jess Wilson, on Wednesday announced a plan to expand Melbourne’s capital city zone – effectively expanding the CBD to take in Collingwood, Fitzroy, Fishermans Bend, North Melbourne, Parkville and parts of Southbank not already included. This will mean height limits can be lifted, density increased and development encouraged to “restore vibrancy” to the city.

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Role of far-right manosphere in homophobic attacks on men to be investigated in Victoria

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Exclusive: Greens move to call parliamentary inquiry after series of ‘disturbing’ attacks targeting gay and bisexual men lured via dating apps

The role of “far-right manosphere influencers” in fuelling homophobic attacks where victims were lured through fake dating app profiles before being assaulted is set to be investigated by a Victorian parliamentary inquiry.

Aiv Puglielli, the Greens’ equality spokesperson, will on Wednesday move a motion calling on the upper house’s legal and social issues committee to investigate the scale of such crimes, as well as the state’s current response and support available to victims.

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Victoria could become first Australian state to ban unnecessary surgery on intersex children

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Exclusive: Legislation would prohibit deferrable, irreversible procedures until child can give informed consent, bringing state in line with ACT

Victoria will become the first Australian state to ban unnecessary surgeries on intersex children, with legislation to be introduced to parliament to ensure procedures are deferred until patients are old enough to consent to them.

The health minister, Mary-Anne Thomas, will on Tuesday introduce the health safeguards for people born with variations in sex characteristics bill, which if passed would prohibit deferrable, irreversible procedures and treatments on intersex infants and children until they can provide informed consent.

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Brad Battin faces spill after group of Victorian Liberal MPs say they have lost confidence in his leadership

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Sources say shadow treasurer Jess Wilson has received enough support to test leadership of the party a year out from state poll

A group of Victorian Liberal MPs has told the party leader, Brad Battin, they no longer have confidence in his leadership, paving the way for a vote on whether to replace him.

The intervention on Monday afternoon – delivered almost one year before the state goes to the polls – could trigger a ballot on his position as early as Tuesday morning.

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Will Victoria’s new youth crime laws be tough on crime or just a coward punch?

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Jacinta Allan’s Labor government takes a leaf out of the playbook of conservative oppositions: focus on crime and hope voters see them as knights in shining armour

To put it in language those in the Victorian government who are enamoured of tabloid newspapers and talkback radio will understand: are these new laws tough on crime, or merely a coward punch?

A decision by the Victorian government to introduce adult crime, adult time laws has been widely condemned as an easy way out, getting in first with a cheap shot rather than having to duke it out on youth crime with a rabble of a Coalition at next year’s state election. It may work politically, but will it work as policy?

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Sam Groth’s ambition to be premier meant articles on relationship with wife ‘not idle gossip’, News Corp claims

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Court told new privacy laws shouldn’t apply to Herald Sun stories alleging Victorian MP’s wife, Brittany, was underage at start of relationship

News Corp stories alleging Sam Groth began dating his wife, Brittany, while she was underage were far from “idle gossip” given the claims were being “weaponised” by rivals of the Victorian Liberal MP, who aspires to become premier, the publisher has told a court.

The Herald and Weekly Times (HWT), reporter Stephen Drill and Herald Sun editor Sam Weir are being sued in the federal court over a series of articles published in July. Groth is suing for defamation while his wife has launched the first test case of new laws for serious invasions of privacy.

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Australia’s first formal treaty with Indigenous traditional owners passed in Victoria

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Step towards reconciliation hailed as ‘a historic moment’ with premier Jacinta Allan saying it gives Aboriginal Australians the power to shape policies that affect their lives

The Australian state of Victoria has taken a historic step towards reconciliation, passing the nation’s first formal treaty with Indigenous traditional owners.

After two days of debate, the upper house of Victoria’s parliament passed the statewide treaty bill without amendment by 21 votes to 16, just before 9pm on Thursday.

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News Corp had no first-hand source suggesting Sam Groth’s wife underage at start of relationship, MP’s lawyer tells court

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Australia’s new privacy laws to be tested as Victorian Liberal MP and wife Brittany Groth sue over Herald Sun articles

A News Corp journalist had “not one piece of information” to suggest the deputy Victorian Liberal leader, Sam Groth, began a relationship with his wife when she was underage, the MP’s lawyers have told a court.

In what a federal court judge described as a “test case” for Australia’s new privacy laws, Groth and his wife, Brittany, are suing the Herald and Weekly Times (HWT), reporter Stephen Drill and the Herald Sun’s editor, Sam Weir, over a series of articles published in July.

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‘Yeah, nah’: why the Victorian Liberal party has taken an unusual step in the search for future MPs

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The state opposition is changing tack in a bid to attract stronger candidates for high stakes seats and avoid an election catastrophe

When the Victorian Liberal party’s state executive met last Thursday, just days before preselections closed in seats held by four retiring MPs, they looked at the list of candidates before them, underwhelmed.

“The view was, ‘yeah, nah’,” said one Liberal source, who requested anonymity to discuss internal party matters.

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‘We’ve got no tourists’: small businesses caught up in Australia’s largest manhunt struggle as aid announced

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Victorian government pledges up to $2.5m to help visitor economy in alpine region as search for alleged Porepunkah killer Dezi Freeman continues

The Victorian government has announced a support package for tourism operators and small businesses caught up in Australia’s largest manhunt.

The government announced on Monday that as much as $2.5m would be paid to support the visitor economy in Porepunkah, Bright and surrounding region, as the search for alleged police killer Dezi Freeman edged towards a fourth week.

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Victorian Liberals must unite or face ‘crisis’, president warns as moderates swat away challenge for power

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Philip Davis pleads for rival groups to ‘kiss and make up’ after divisive campaign to replace him

The president of the Victorian Liberals, Philip Davis, has warned his party to unite ahead of the 2026 election or “we will be in a crisis”, after he survived a leadership challenge.

Davis defeated his immediate predecessor, Greg Mirabella, in a vote at the Victorian Liberal party’s state council at Moonee Valley racecourse on Saturday by 493 votes to 397.

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Victorian Liberal party shapes up for ‘nastiest, most toxic’ state council in years amid leaks and infighting

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State party’s deep divisions on show as sexist messages force resignation of director days before annual meeting

Timing is everything in politics. It’s a principle worth recalling when nine-month-old messages are made public just two days before the Victorian Liberals’ annual state council meeting.

The messages, taken from a WhatsApp group involving a small handful of party headquarters staff, are undeniably sexist and inappropriate. In them, Victorian Liberal party director Stuart Smith mocked the party’s women’s council, saying it could only make decisions at a meeting “after two men told them they had to”, and joked that upper house MP Bev McArthur had dementia.

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Victorian Liberals director resigns after messages mocking the party’s women’s council revealed

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Stuart Smith resigned on Thursday morning and apologised for WhatsApp messages contained in the Liberal party headquarters staff group chat

The director of the Victorian Liberals, Stuart Smith, has resigned after leaked messages were published in which he ridiculed the party’s women’s council and upper house MP Bev McArthur.

Smith resigned on Thursday morning and apologised for the WhatsApp messages, contained in the Liberal party headquarters staff group chat, which were published by the Australian on Wednesday night.

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Victorian Labor targets affluent Melbourne suburbs for rezoning to allow 16-storey apartment towers

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Under the plan, the state government will seize planning controls for the designated areas – near train and tram stops – from local councils

Affluent Melbourne suburbs such as Hampton, Hawthorn and Kew could be rezoned to allow apartment towers of up to 16 storeys, according to new draft maps released by the Victorian government.

The premier, Jacinta Allan, and the planning minister, Sonya Kilkenny, will on Wednesday release the maps showing proposed heights and boundaries for 25 of the government’s 50 activity centres, which were first announced in October 2024.

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Herald Sun failed to seek response from Victorian MP Sam Groth and wife before article that invaded privacy, court documents claim

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Groth and wife Brittany are suing a News Corp paper for defamation and breach of privacy over incorrect claims of inappropriate relationship

The Herald Sun failed to seek a response from Brittany Groth, the wife of Sam Groth, the Victorian Liberals deputy leader and former tennis star, before wrongly outing her as a victim of child sexual assault who was preyed upon by her now-husband when he was her coach, the couple allege in federal court documents.

The Herald and Weekly Times, along with reporter Stephen Drill, who wrote the articles, and his editor Sam Weir, are being sued in the federal court by Brittany Groth, in the first test of a new statutory tort for serious invasions of privacy, and by Sam Groth for defamation.

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Neo-Nazis have occupied the steps of Victoria’s parliament twice in two years. Are protest laws to blame?

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Calls for tougher ‘move-on’ laws overlook the fact that police already have considerable powers in Victoria

As neo-Nazis occupied the steps of Victoria’s parliament for the second time in as many years, many are asking the question: how has this happened again – and what can be done to prevent it?

On Sunday, neo-Nazi Thomas Sewell, the leader of the National Socialist Network (NSN), mounted the steps of the building, stood behind a podium draped with an Australian flag and delivered what can only be described as the keynote speech at the city’s March for Australia rally. Neo-Nazis were also involved in rallies in other states, although statements on the March for Australia Facebook page distanced the events from white supremacists.

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Neo-Nazi Thomas Sewell arrested outside Melbourne court over alleged attack on Indigenous protest site

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Victoria police confirm arrest hours after the neo-Nazi confronted Victorian premier Jacinta Allan at a press conference

Neo-Nazi Thomas Sewell has been arrested outside a Melbourne court over an alleged attack on Camp Sovereignty, a sacred Aboriginal burial ground in Kings Domain and longstanding protest site on Sunday.

Victoria police have confirmed detectives from the Melbourne crime investigation unit arrested Sewell, 32, and two associates – a 23-year-old man from Mooroolbark and a 20-year-old man from Ardeer – outside Melbourne’s magistrates court about 3.20pm on Tuesday.

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Victorian Liberal members to push for regulated cannabis market at state council

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Proposal to treat cannabis similarly to alcohol among 62 policy motions on draft agenda, alongside increased parental leave and scrapping net zero

Rank-and-file Victorian Liberal party members will use this month’s state council meeting to push for a regulated cannabis market for adult use, overhaul heritage and planning laws to tackle the housing crisis and introduce a full year of parental leave with a “daddy quota”.

The motions are among 62 on the draft agenda for the Victorian Liberal state council – the party’s annual general meeting – on 12-13 September. Other motions include proposals to scrap net zero targets, renters’ rights reforms and diversity quotas.

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