Explainer newsletter
Fascinating answers to perplexing questions delivered to your inbox.
Please Explain podcast
Expert daily insight into the stories that drive the nation.
COP26 newsletter
A daily update on the climate summit that will shape our future.
Updated
Victorian Parliament
Tim Smith defies Liberal leader’s call to quit Parliament after crash
Embattled Liberal MP Tim Smith is refusing to quit State Parliament, defying Opposition Leader Matthew Guy who declared the member for Kew should not recontest next year’s election.
Analysis
Analysis
Guy’s tough call calms the faithful, leaves Smith with nowhere to run
What came as a welcome surprise to supporters shocked the member for Kew, who had naively assumed friendship and factional allegiance would protect him.
The Melbourne Cup everyone needed and no one saw coming
Verry Elleegant, the winner of this year’s Cup, bolted down the Flemington straight like a teenager released from lockdown.
‘The adrenalin got the better of me’: Cup-winning owner apologises for breaching COVID protocols
Verry Elleegant stamped herself as a champion of the turf, but one of her exuberant owners turned to the hurdles as he leapt into the mounting yard in a breach of COVID protocols.
Almost very elegant fashion wins the Melbourne Cup
Colour, tradition and a dash of celebrity produced memorable looks on the field at Flemington’s signature race day.
Day of champagne buckets and meat smokers as Melburnians revel in Cup heat
It was a day of Shetland ponies and can-can dancers, as Melburnians who weren’t trackside found their own way to mark the Cup or just get out in the beautiful weather.
‘A special day’: Lucky punters cheer Cup winner home at Flemington
There may not have been the same atmosphere as when 100,000 people pack the track, but those in attendance were thrilled to be part of the action.
Analysis
Glasgow summit
Fighting fires at home, Xi Jinping makes a two-way bet on climate
The Chinese President told his colleagues in Rome and Glasgow that he was “delivering concrete actions”, while trying to put out a fire in his own backyard.
Analysis
AUKUS
Australian officials fear leaking Macron’s texts crossed a line amid US tension
Australia’s decision to leak text messages from French President Emmanuel Macron made some officials believe a line had been crossed that risked alienating the Biden administration.
COVID hurdles fail to halt enrolment rush at long-awaited new school
Greenvale residents have been waiting for a local high school for more than 20 years. But its front gates remain locked for foundation principal Mark Natoli, as he prepares for its opening next year.
Malnourished aged care residents left to fend for themselves during COVID outbreaks
Distressed aged care residents were left to fend for themselves in deadly COVID outbreaks last year, with a report re-igniting calls for a national inquiry.
Analysis
RBA
Modern-day Robin Hoods at the RBA still loosing monetary policy arrows
The RBA has wound back one part of its support for the economy, but it is still pumping billions of dollars into the country to tighten the jobs market.
Analysis
Please Explain podcast
Berejiklian inquiry: Finding a breach of public trust or a tawdry fishing expedition?
Today on Please Explain, state political editor Alexandra Smith joins Nathanael Cooper to look at what unfolded at the ICAC.
Wild horse culls to go ahead in Alpine National Park
Court approves long-delayed plan to tackle increasing damage to unique alpine ecosystems.
GLASGOW CLIMATE SUMMIT
‘None of us will live forever’: Queen urges leaders to act
Queen Elizabeth delivered an emotionally charged and highly political call to arms to world leaders, invoking her own mortality to send a warning about future generations.
‘Significant milestone’: In Glasgow, the world moves to halt deforestation
Leaders representing land which is home to more than 85 per cent of the world’s forests are expected to commit to reversing deforestation by 2030.
Local
Thousands still without power as state braces for more wild winds
Thousands of Victorians are still without power, while mobile and internet services remain down for many as the clean-up from Friday’s strong winds continues.
Cleo Smith abduction probably ‘opportunistic’, taskforce boss says
Superintendent Rod Wilde said police were trying to understand how Cleo could have been taken from the family’s tent without anyone realising until the morning.
Updated
AFL off-field behaviour
‘Forcible touching’ dropped but De Goey still facing assault charge
Troubled Collingwood star Jordan De Goey no longer faces a charge of “forcible touching”, but New York prosecutors have maintained a charge of assault.
Updated
Coronavirus pandemic
Crowds return to Flemington as Victoria records 989 COVID cases
It is the first time since September the state’s daily coronavirus case tally has dropped below 1000.
Outdated data limits travel for City of Melbourne residents
City of Melbourne residents will soon be subject to some travel restrictions because vaccination levels are being measured using outdated population figures.
MELBOURNE CUP
Updated
Tralee Rose to be monitored after being galloped on in the Cup
Tralee Rose was sent to Werribee Veterinary Hospital for precautionary scans after the 161st running of the Melbourne Cup, but she has escaped serious injury.
McDonald answers the elephant in the room to claim Melbourne major
Sydney’s leading jockey James McDonald has been Australia’s pre-eminent rider for the past three years, but Melbourne’s spring majors had eluded the star Kiwi-born hoop until Tuesday.
Politics
RBA holds rates at ultra-low levels in bid to drive up wages
The bank has conceded a rate rise in 2023 is “entirely plausible” but pushed back at suggestions it could be lifting rates early next year.
Business
Opinion
Coal
BHP’s exit from thermal coal would be gift wrapped for COP26
Market forces have done the heavy lifting on Australia’s decarbonising push but, in part, it’s a default leadership courtesy of a government policy vacuum.
Elizabeth Knight
Business columnist
World
Fears for 100 people missing in collapsed Nigerian high-rise
Developers promised buyers of the soon-to-be ready upmarket apartments a “stress-free lifestyle”.
Opinion
PM needs to tell a good story, not just a strong climate plan
Rebecca Huntley
Researcher and author
Accusations aside, Macron pointed out something that’s much more important
Anthony Galloway
Foreign Affairs and National Security Reporter
Explore
Got a news tip?
Share information with our journalists securely and confidentially. Learn more
Property bydomain
Toorak manor Chiverton sells for between $31 million and $34 million
The palatial home, once owned by Steve Vizard, sold late last week after the buyers made an offer too good to refuse.
The city where 13 new suburbs have joined the million-dollar-plus club
Interstate movers are outbidding local buyers, and setting suburb records in the process.
Lifestyle
Actor Sam Frost says she will get COVID-19 vaccine weeks after video backlash
The Home and Away star’s announcement comes after Channel Seven said it would require cast to be double vaccinated by January 10.
Culture
‘I felt like something was missing’: Emily Ratajkowski is a work in progress
The supermodel’s first book, titled My Body and out on November 9, is a collection of essays that “were written to try to figure out what I believed,” she says.
Sport
In 160 years, no horse had won from gate 18. Then McDonald showed up
The best jockey in the country came up with a Melbourne Cup ride for the ages from a barrier that had long been cursed. How did he do it?
‘The adrenalin got the better of me’: Cup-winning owner apologises for breaching COVID protocols
Verry Elleegant stamped herself as a champion of the turf, but one of her exuberant owners turned to the hurdles as he leapt into the mounting yard in a breach of COVID protocols.
‘I didn’t want to run her’: Waller’s startling admission over Verry Elleegant’s Cup triumph
While other Sydney-based trainers and even Ireland’s Joseph O’Brien made last-minute dashes to Melbourne, the champion conditioner watched his first Cup victory from home.
Live
Melbourne Cup
As it happened Melbourne Cup 2021: Verry Elleegant defeats Incentivise to take out the race that stops the nation
Follow along for all the major moments and reaction from the race that stops the nation - the 2021 Melbourne Cup.
Analysis
Melbourne Cup
‘Substandard? It will go down as one of the great Cups’: Beaten Euro
There was plenty of debate about the quality of this year’s Cup field, but the European raiders say critics don’t know what they are talking about.
Updated
AFL off-field behaviour
‘Forcible touching’ dropped but De Goey still facing assault charge
Troubled Collingwood star Jordan De Goey no longer faces a charge of “forcible touching”, but New York prosecutors have maintained a charge of assault.
Analysis
Melbourne Cup
Melbourne Cup finishing order: Assessing each runner and what the jockeys said
The finishing order is in for the 161st running of the Melbourne Cup at Flemington. It’s the race that stops a nation and this year was no different. Future Score was scratched on Tuesday morning.
Have Your Say
The Melbourne Cup everyone needed and no one saw coming
Verry Elleegant, the winner of this year’s Cup, bolted down the Flemington straight like a teenager released from lockdown.