Politics
Victoria
Hundreds of police mobilise as Victoria shuts NSW border on COVID outbreak
Residents in border towns will be largely unaffected by the changes that came into effect at 11.59pm on Sunday, with communities allowed to freely travel across state lines but must prove their identity by showing their driver’s licence.
- by Sumeyya Ilanbey, David Crowe and Ashleigh McMillan
Latest
‘I can be my whole self’: Australia’s only LGBTIQ Pride Centre opens
“To everyone who has had to hide, to everyone who has had to fear, to everyone who’s had to be not quite themselves, this is your space,” Premier Daniel Andrews said.
- by Sumeyya Ilanbey
‘He’s absolutely a COVID baby’: Births up 50 per cent in some areas as Victorian baby boom surges on
More money is on the way for under-pressure hospitals to hire midwives and nurses, with births surging particularly in regional Victoria.
- by Michael Fowler
Opinion
Barnaby Joyce
Victorian Nationals make progressive pitch in wake of Joyce’s return
The state Nationals are keen to differentiate themselves from their federal counterparts placing Bridget McKenzie on the outer with some of her colleagues.
- by Annika Smethurst
‘The threat grows’: Victoria considering shutting border to all of NSW
Victorian health officials are actively considering shutting the border to travellers from all of NSW, as epidemiologists warn against any delays to pulling that trigger.
- by Sumeyya Ilanbey
Updated
Coronavirus pandemic
‘Please do not travel to NSW’: Victorians urged to stay away as NSW records 38 new local cases
Victoria’s Health Minister Martin Foley has urged Victorians to avoid travelling to NSW, and refused to rule out a hard border as the coronavirus crisis deepens across Greater Sydney.
- by Cassandra Morgan
Exclusive
Tourism
Sir David and the sea dragon: Attenborough joins fight for Flinders pier review
Parks Victoria knew for years that the 157-year-old Flinders pier – which provides a home to the endangered weedy sea dragon – needed urgent repairs but let it deteriorate before announcing its demolition.
- by Sumeyya Ilanbey
Salvos back Flinders Street safe injecting room amid fierce opposition
Salvation Army leader Brendan Nottle has backed a safe-injecting room in Flinders Street, but the Police Association, businesses and residents are strongly opposed.
- by Jewel Topsfield
Call to extend aged care grants to homes or risk more outbreaks
Federal grants to Melbourne aged care homes to stop their staff spreading coronavirus by working at other facilities are set to expire.
- by Clay Lucas
Labor factions begin jockeying for new seats amid boundary changes
Premier Daniel Andrews’ Socialist Left faction will meet sections of the Right, in keeping with an internal truce, to discuss which faction’s candidates will contest three new seats at the next state election.
- by Sumeyya Ilanbey
Exclusive
Science
‘Absolutely scandalous’: Experts raise concerns over unapproved cancer test used in trial
Cancer specialists have raised ethical concerns about a long-running Melbourne-based clinical trial related to cancer screening being run by an integrative medicine organisation.
- by Liam Mannix