This Month
Tony Mokbel walking free caps another bad week for Jacinta Allan
Wearing a big smile and an ankle bracelet, one of Australia’s most notorious gangland figures was granted bail after 18 years in prison.
PM makes first Victorian campaign stop, but Allan is nowhere to be seen
There are four Labor premiers in Australia. Albanese is happy to stand alongside three of them.
‘Wheels are falling off’ in Victoria amid police crisis: Dutton
Opposition Leader Peter Dutton has sought to link the growing unpopularity of the Victorian Labor government to Anthony Albanese’s federal campaign in the state.
‘Not going to happen’: Dutton accuses Allan of SRL obsession
The opposition leader promised to stop funding Melbourne’s Suburban Rail Loop, making it a defining issue in the federal election in Victoria.
March
Dutton to scrap SRL funding, pledges $1.5b to Melbourne airport link
The funds being announced by Peter Dutton on Tuesday will be matched by the state opposition leader Brad Battin, lifting airport rail funding to $13 billion.
Judge slams CFMEU administrator for resisting coercion probe
A CFMEU official allegedly threatened one owner on the Monash Freeway project that he would take his soul and rip his head off.
PM won’t rule out more Suburban Rail Loop funding despite warnings
Anthony Albanese says he believes it’s a viable project – “When you have an infrastructure project, quite often in the early stages, there’s some criticism of it.”
Inside the rollercoaster week in Victorian politics
Crime, the CFMEU, cost blowout fears on the Suburban Rail Loop and a new stoush with the top cop. These stories show why Premier Jacinta Allan may think a week is a long time in Victorian politics.
Allan told she needs an exit strategy for SRL
Infrastructure Australia has cast doubt on the Victorian government’s ability to fund a third of SRL East through value capture and warns of more cost blowouts.
More prison officers needed to manage stricter bail laws: Allan
Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan has passed tougher bail laws, saying the state needs a “jolt to the system” amid an escalating crime problem.
The real story behind Jacinta Allan’s horror week
If Labor goes badly in Victoria in the federal election, the state’s scandal-prone premier will be blamed. Then it will be game on, insiders say.
CFMEU is still Building Bad nine months later
New reports of criminal activity underline how inadequate the measures taken have been to stamp out illegal CFMEU-linked behaviour.
Allan denies she colluded to oust Victoria’s top cops
Victoria’s former deputy police chief lodged a complaint with the state anti-corruption body that the premier plotted to remove him and his boss last month.
Victoria’s energy challenge explained (in 7 charts)
The state has been powered by vast reserves of cheap oil, gas and brown coal. But it faces blackouts in coming years – here’s how that happened.
Victoria starts handing out hefty bills in land tax ‘grab’
More than 400,000 people who run a small business or Airbnb from their home have been hit with hefty land tax bills under the government’s plans to rein in debt.
Victoria police reject Allan’s claim about CFMEU crackdown advice
Jacinta Allan said it was the acting police commissioner’s fault that she said a nine-month-old operation against thuggery in the construction industry was new.
All the bankers at Melbourne’s sodden grand prix
From Luke Sayers to Mike Cannon-Brookes to Matt Comyn, Australia’s biggest business names braved the Melbourne weather on Sunday.
February
Office tower to apartment block: Inside the new push to fix housing
Planning reforms in Australia’s two biggest states have sparked political backlash, but will buyers and developers fill in the missing middle?
Melbourne’s ‘biggest eyesore’ could be targeted in housing blitz
Victorian Planning Minister Sonya Kilkenny says a disused former Cancer Council building in the heart of Melbourne could be cleared for development into new homes.
Victoria must give up ‘ideological attachment’ to apartments: Metricon
Victoria will continue to miss housing targets until it realises Millennials and migrants want detached homes, not inner-city apartments, Metricon chief executive Brad Duggan says.