Melbourne
- Strongest cold front of 2024 to bring weekend snow, followed by potential record-breaking 'blocking high'www.abc.net.au Strongest cold front of 2024 to bring weekend snow, followed by potential record-breaking 'blocking high'
Polar air from Antarctica is surging towards south-east Australia, bringing gusty winds, showers and low-level snow. While midwinter cold outbreaks are typical, the subsequent weather is nothing short of bizarre.
> > > Polar air from Antarctica is surging towards south-east Australia, bringing gusty winds, showers and low-level snow. While midwinter cold outbreaks are typical, the subsequent weather is nothing short of bizarre. > >
- Do your neighbour's security cameras make you uncomfortable? Here's what you can dowww.abc.net.au Do your neighbour's security cameras make you uncomfortable? Here's what you can do
Many Australians can now access surveillance tech, but this can lead to disputes between neighbours. Here's a breakdown of some of the legal issues that can crop up.
This is getting more and more relevant all the time.
- Melbourne's $13 billion toll road cash cow – How drivers are about to cough up even morewww.drive.com.au Melbourne's $13 billion toll road cash cow – How drivers are about to cough up even more
Since it opened, the price of travelling along one local toll road has gone up by three times as much as it started.
- Victoria's largest maximum security prison and another jail are set to close with job losses expectedwww.abc.net.au Victoria's largest maximum security prison and another jail are set to close with job losses expected
Two Victorian jails, including the notorious Port Phillip Prison, are set to close with a new prison opening near Geelong.
- Victorian government announces pill testing trial to start this summerwww.abc.net.au Victorian government announces pill testing trial to start this summer
Victoria will trial pill testing of illicit drugs this summer, Premier Jacinta Allan has announced, saying it was "a common sense way to save lives".
- As a contentious infrastructure project gathers steam, small pockets of Melbourne are being changed foreverwww.abc.net.au As a contentious infrastructure project gathers steam, small pockets of Melbourne are being changed forever
While the Victorian government's contentious and expensive Suburban Rail Loop continues to spark fierce political debate, the project seeking to connect the city's major rail lines is becoming a reality on the ground.
- Residents at new social housing development lodge complaints over defects, lack of promised featureswww.abc.net.au Residents at new social housing development lodge complaints over defects, lack of promised features
There's growing scrutiny over a $104 million social housing development promoted as being accessible for people with disability, after a resident complained promised features were never built.
- After its only cafe closed, the regional town that once hosted Eric Bana and The Dry is desperate for food optionswww.abc.net.au After its only cafe closed, the regional town that once hosted Eric Bana and The Dry is desperate for food options
Can you imagine having nowhere to buy lunch? Almost a year after opening its doors, the local cafe in the Mallee town of Beulah has closed its doors, and farmers and tourists have to look elsewhere for a bite to eat.
- Daily Discussion Thread: 🎙️ or🎤? 🎂 or 😘? Saturday, June 22, 2024
Today is World Rainforest Day!
- Man and woman found dead on walking track near Victoria's Great Ocean Road, police saywww.abc.net.au Man and woman found dead on walking track near Victoria's Great Ocean Road, police say
A crime scene has been established in Gellibrand Lower after the bodies of a man and a woman were found on a walking track near Wreck Beach.
- Man charged, bomb squad called after Melbourne CBD lockdownwww.abc.net.au Man charged, bomb squad called after Melbourne CBD lockdown
A 33-year-old man has been charged with possessing explosives and making a hoax bomb threat after an incident in Melbourne's CBD on Wednesday.
> > > A 33-year-old man has been charged with possessing explosives and making a hoax bomb threat after an incident in Melbourne's CBD on Wednesday. > >
- An Indigenous girl asked to reconnect with her culture. In a ‘racist’ child protection system, her pleas were ignoredwww.theguardian.com An Indigenous girl asked to reconnect with her culture. In a ‘racist’ child protection system, her pleas were ignored
Victorian coroner condemns ‘systemic racism and paternalism’ in child protection system after inquest into 17-year-old’s death
- Police in Victoria could be given broader powers to search people suspected of carrying kniveswww.abc.net.au Police in Victoria could be given broader powers to search people suspected of carrying knives
The Victorian government is seeking to give police broader powers to search people without a warrant if they are suspected of carrying knives in public.
Reminder that police can just sort of declare an area "designated" and can then search anybody who goes into those areas, including their bags and vehicles. They do not need permission or reasonable grounds to do this. They also have powers to strip search anyone in these areas if they don't (or say they don't) have another way to search you, like a metal detector.
If the designated area is "planned", they are required to publish this in a paper and in the government gazette and they also have to leave a gap of 10 days between the end of one designated area and the start of another. But if the area is declared and is unplanned, they do not need to notify anyone and can start one even if it has not been 10 days since the last one. They also can only declare certain areas as designated, although in practice this means they can (and do!) declare areas as large as the entire CBD as designated. They also can't declare an area for longer than 12 hours.
The key change in this is that they want the power to declare certain areas as permanent designated areas
- Daily Discussion Thread: ⬆️⬆️⬇️⬇️⬅️➡️⬅️➡️🅱️🅰️ Wednesday, June 19, 2024
Today is Juneteenth and also the international day for the elimination of sexual violence in conflict
- Victoria to raise age of criminal responsibility to 12 with no exceptionswww.theguardian.com Victoria to raise age of criminal responsibility to 12 with no exceptions
Premier Jacinta Allan says bill to raise age from 10 allows police to issue warnings to children while cracking down on repeat offenders
- Thoughts on Rising?
I only discovered the River Songs audio piece for the last few nights (it played just after sunset around the Yarra every day, bouncing sounds and singing around all the buildings around the Yarra) ... and I honestly really loved it, easily one of my favourite urban art pieces ever.
Otherwise, I felt like this round was somewhat underwhelming and underfunded from what I saw, which feels like a trend with these White Night / Rising things ... seems like they have a ~3 year lifetime before they just dwindle to being underwhelming? But I didn't really dig into this one or see much of it. I'd guess the works along the river put a constraint on this year? But still ...
Any thoughts? Is it something only central/inner dwellers tend to notice?
- Builder collapse victims say nightmares continue under Victorian-run insurance schemewww.abc.net.au It's been four years since this Victorian family's builder fled the country. Their home is still not finished
Multiple families say their dealings with the Victorian Managed Insurance Authority have been worse than the collapse of their builder.
> > > * In short: The Victorian Managed Insurance Authority (VMIA) has been accused of forcing families to accept the lowest-cost replacement builders following a string of building company collapses. > * Homeowners say it has added to their distress, and left some hundreds of thousands of dollars out of pocket to rectify defects. > * What's next? Couples who spoke to the ABC are pursuing challenges to VMIA's decisions. > >
- The Victorian government has proposed new housing targets for local councils. These are the suburbs expected to boomwww.abc.net.au The Victorian government has proposed new housing targets for local councils. These are the suburbs expected to boom
The state government said Victoria has the largest annual population growth of all Australian states, and it needs more than two million additional homes by the 2050s. Here are the suburbs it's proposing to grow.
> > > * In short: The Victorian Government has proposed new housing targets for local councils, in a bid to significantly boost the state's housing stock. > * It's planning to build 2 million new homes by 2051 to keep up with demands of the growing populations. > * What's next? The state government will consult with councils and release the final targets for new dwellings later this year. > >
- Pharaoh at the NGV is the greatest exhibition of ancient Egyptian art ever seen in Australiatheconversation.com Pharaoh at the NGV is the greatest exhibition of ancient Egyptian art ever seen in Australia
Many exhibitions of ancient Egyptian art have been held in Australia. Pharaoh, at the National Gallery of Victoria, is outstanding for its scope, scale and presentation.
Tickets and more info: https://www.ngv.vic.gov.au/exhibition/pharaoh/
- Wait ... that's a hotel?!www.theage.com.au The Melbourne luxury hotel that needs just one thing
Tall enough to cast a shadow over Melbourne’s Carlton Gardens, the 61-level luxury hotel is vacant despite a strong recovery in Australia’s hotel market.
- Melbourne shivers through coldest temperature in years as south-east collectively feels the coldwww.abc.net.au Winter cloud brings coldest weather in 27 years to south-east states
After Melbourne recorded it coldest day in five years yesterday, parts of south-east Australia today shivered to their coldest maximum in up to 27 years.
> > > Through early next week much of the south-east will wake to temperatures near freezing, and along the ranges minimums should plunge to around -5 degrees Celsius. > >
