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Integrity agencies could be given broader scope to investigate building sector
The interim report of a review into Victoria’s construction sector comes after a months-long investigation by this masthead into illegal and unethical behaviour at taxpayer-funded Big Build worksites.
Analysis
Naked City
How the tide turned on Phillip Island killer
While the murders John Leslie Coombes committed were all different, his stories surrounding them were disturbingly similar.
Updated
LGBTQ
Albanese backflips on sexuality census question after backlash
An internal Labor revolt forced the government to change its position following a week of acrimonious public debate.
Why it’s been a winter of extremes in Melbourne
Melbourne’s winter was a lesson in extremes: darker, warmer and wetter. What can it tell us about our changing climate, and what summer might bring?
Opinion
AFL 2024
There’s a cardinal rule of footy fandom and I’m ready to break it
Supporting a footy team should be fulfilling. Enjoyable! It should give a return. It should not be triggering. It should not induce heart attacks.
Kate Halfpenny
Regular columnist
Which street was not part of the original Hoddle Grid? Take The Age quiz
How well do you know Melbourne and Victoria? Test your trivia and news knowledge with Stephen Brook’s weekly quiz.
Music promoters awarded $2.84m over cancelled Robbie Williams concert
The concert was to be a part of the 2020 Australian Grand Prix weekend, but it and the race were among the first wave of cancellations across Victoria in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Breaking
Crime
Newborn baby found with life-threatening injuries outside Melbourne home
Officers are investigating and a woman is under police guard after a newborn baby was found with critical injuries outside a home in Melbourne’s south-east.
‘What are we aiming for?’ Players want to know the plan for AFLW to explode
The AFLW season starts tonight, but where is the competition headed? We spoke to players, coaches, and administrators, including the new AFLW boss, and asked, what should it look like by 2030?
Teen Aussie sprinter Gout Gout goes viral – again – after dominant world champs run
Gout Gout’s dominant victories have made him world famous on social media, and the 16-year-old did it again at the world junior championships in Lima.
Gold medallist Michael Klim: ‘My nickname was Lumpy as I was a chubby kid’
The Olympic swimmer reminisces about the women who made an impact on his life.
Major bank boss wants end surcharges on card transaction; Australian telco TPG to cut 120 jobs
“If surcharging maintains, I hope to goodness that it’s simpler, more transparent and consistent,” NAB chief executive Andrew Irvine said.
Rebel billionaire: The 39-year-old who sparked a global firestorm
Pavel Durov’s laissez-faire attitude to regulation made messaging app Telegram into a giant. Now it has landed him in hot water.
An anti-migration, leftist renegade is shaking up German politics
Sahra Wagenknecht is considered, even by her opponents, to be a superb communicator and masterful at touching raw nerves in the population.
Call yourself an Oasis fan? Darren spent $200k to become Liam Gallagher
As the lead singer of Noasis, Australia’s most successful Oasis tribute band, Darren Spiby can lay claim to being the group’s biggest fan - and he’s got the receipts to prove it.
The ultimate Fiji holiday guide for families
Whether you’re a first-timer or return visitor, travelling with teens or enduring the terrible twos, Fiji has a family holiday experience everyone will love.
Priscilla at 30: How queens of the desert made Australian film history
The people behind the cinematic legend relive the colour and chaos behind the scenes – and how one casting misstep might have changed everything.
Paris Paralympics
French impressions: Australia’s athletes as you’ve never seen them
An award-winning photographer, a film camera, and Australia’s Olympian and Paralympian athletes as you’ve never seen them before.
Escaping the war, this Ukrainian athlete spent 24 hours on a train as bombs hit
Ukraine’s Artem Kolinko opens up ahead of his Paralympics debut on a terrifying long-haul train ride that might have saved his life.
Victoria
It’s a 29-hectare parcel of land, and it could be the secret to getting trucks out of the inner west
Making the site available to shipping companies is expected to drive down truck movements across inner-west suburbs.
Five young trans women died. The coroner says this is what has to change
The police search for Bridget Flack – whose body was found in park by members of the LGBTQ community – was plagued by deficiencies, including a failure to appreciate her risk of suicide and delayed efforts to triangulate her phone.
It Had To Be You: When Harry Connick Jr met Treasurer Tim Pallas
Not only is the US crooner a performer, actor, singer, composer and Grammy winner, he is also a government lobbyist.
Bum note: The predictable, avoidable MSO mess that was months in the making
The confused and complicated situation engulfing the MSO goes beyond the Israel-Palestine conflict to a cold war raging for months inside Australia’s oldest professional orchestra.
Restaurateur embroiled in feud with Mick Gatto charged with gun offences
Jamal Mohammad was charged by the Viper taskforce after allegedly being found with two guns and ammunition at his home last year.
See & Do
The hidden darkness that lies at the heart of Impressionism
Sebastian Smee’s book looks at the wider influences on visual art that are not necessarily marked on the canvas.
‘Shift in an unusually huge way’: How AI choreographs a dance workshop
Arts and artificial intelligence are often at odds, but a new dance performance aims to create harmony from the intersection.
Politics
Updated
LGBTQ
Six MPs defy Albanese over census backflip that baffled Coalition
Assistant Health Minister Ged Kearney took a rare step in breaking with the government’s position, taking the revolt to six government MPs.
Business
Breaking
Earnings season
‘Dysfunctional’: The Star enters trading halt as regulator mulls Bell inquiry report
The NSW casino regulator says it needs more time to decide what to do about the struggling gaming giant after receiving a damning report into The Star’s culture. The company has also delayed releasing its results.
Opinion
AI
Nvidia’s $48b prediction just rattled Wall Street
Stephen Bartholomeusz
Senior business columnist
World
US Army defends cemetery employee in Trump campaign incident
The military, which rarely comments on political matters, said the employee who was pushed aside acted professionally and was being unfairly attacked.
Opinion
The more-than-Dan dilemma: Allan has to convince voters. Fast
Annika Smethurst
State Political Editor
Explore
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Property
‘More bang for your buck’: Where you can tree change for $618,000
“Your typical buyer there can sell their house, come down here and buy something probably nicer and still have $1 million in their pockets to play with.”
Suburbs where families can’t afford to pay the mortgage, and can’t afford not to
Most home owners have managed to keep up with 13 interest rate rises, but in some areas at least one in 50 borrowers are behind.
Good Food
Lifestyle
Testosterone boosters are popular among fit men. This is what you need to know
Many healthy middle-aged men also see testosterone boosters as an anti-ageing strategy to restore their lean muscle, strength, sex drive and energy. They come with risks.
Culture
Exclusive
Arts
Opera Australia in turmoil after shock departure of artistic director
Jo Davies had barely 18 months in the key role at the nation’s biggest performing arts company.
Traveller
Drivedrive
From Our Partners
Sport
‘What are we aiming for?’ Players want to know the plan for AFLW to explode
The AFLW season starts tonight, but where is the competition headed? We spoke to players, coaches, and administrators, including the new AFLW boss, and asked, what should it look like by 2030?
Concussions rule Will Pucovski out for entire season
Will Pucovski is yet to medically retire from concussion according to officials, but a decision to end his troubled career is expected before the start of the season.
Analysis
AFL 2024
Inside the politics of the Petracca predicament
Like a boulder hurtling down the mountain, the destructive momentum from Christian Petracca’s injury has gathered so much velocity that if it is not halted, it could demolish the Melbourne hierarchy.
Thompson takes top-10 scalp at US Open; four Aussie men into third round
Jordan Thompson, Chris O’Connell and Alex de Minaur have joined Alexei Popyrin in the US Open’s last 32 as Australia’s strong start in New York rages on, with more countrymen still to play on Friday.
Bont crowned captain of star-studded All-Australian team, but some big names miss out
Marcus Bontempelli started a potentially career-defining month with a major honour while Charlie Curnow, Zach Merrett and Darcy Cameron were the most notable exclusions from the All-Australian team.
Teen Aussie sprinter Gout Gout goes viral – again – after dominant world champs run
Gout Gout’s dominant victories have made him world famous on social media, and the 16-year-old did it again at the world junior championships in Lima.
Tom nearly died at the last Paralympics. Now he’s a gold medallist
Australia has its first gold medal of the Paralympics courtesy of swimmer Tom Gallagher, who took an unexpected trip to hospital three years ago after racing in Tokyo.
Have Your Say
September heat: This is who is under the most pressure in the finals
These six men face the toughest task of all – staying composed when the heat is on in finals and delivering when it matters most in September.
Kane Cornes
AFL columnist