‘Everything is on the table’: Premier to meet police, courts on youth crime
Premier Jacinta Allan will sit down with stakeholders next week after conceding there was “more to do” on repeat young offenders.
- by Rachel Eddie, Kieran Rooney and Annika Smethurst
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Roads
Council fights for more compensation for tennis courts lost to North East Link
A local council has taken the Victorian government to court to fight for tens of millions of dollars more in compensation.
- by Rachel Eddie
Melbourne Airport agrees to have overground train station, clearing path for rail link
The announcement ends a stalemate with the state government that had pushed the airport rail link back to 2033.
- by Rachel Eddie and Kieran Rooney
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Victorian budget
Melbourne Water tapped the state for extra cash – to pay it back for an unexpected tax bill
The water authority borrowed additional money from a Victorian government entity – and paid interest to the government – so it could pay a tax to the same government.
- by Rachel Eddie
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Healthcare
Victoria’s primary care clinics face funding cuts in budget crisis
Priority primary care clinics, promised in 2022 as Daniel Andrews’ solution to the health crisis, are facing cutbacks as the Victorian budget grapples with debt.
- by Rachel Eddie and Kieran Rooney
Mental health programs in firing line of hospital budget cuts
As hospitals continue to search for savings, Victorian mental health programs, including those for children, could be hit with redundancies and hiring freezes.
- by Kieran Rooney and Rachel Eddie
Victorian politicians get 3.5 per cent pay rise
Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan will earn almost half a million dollars a year as MPs in the state received their second 3.5 per cent pay rise in two years.
- by Rachel Eddie
The inside story of Labor’s sudden change of heart on pill testing
Under Daniel Andrews, pill testing was a non-starter. Jacinta Allan made it permanent within months. Summer overdoses were a big reason why.
- by Rachel Eddie
Former Labor councillor avoids jail for vote tampering
Milad El-Halabi was sentenced on Thursday almost four years after a local election in Melbourne’s north-west was caught up in a vote-rigging saga.
- by Rachel Eddie
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Healthcare
Hiring freeze and cuts to surgery, stationery: Hospital chief’s warning over ‘challenging’ budget
Western Health has imposed a hiring freeze, cut back elective surgery and told staff to look for other savings as it grapples with state government budget cuts.
- by Jewel Topsfield and Rachel Eddie
Pill testing to become permanent in Victoria
A mobile site will be launched from December and visit up to 10 festivals across two summers, and a fixed site in a club district in Melbourne will open in the middle of next year.
- by Rachel Eddie