August
- Exclusive
- Venture capital
Start-up founder sues Victoria’s VC fund
The Victorian government’s troubled venture capital fund Breakthrough Victoria faces a multi-million dollar legal battle.
- Patrick Durkin
- Exclusive
- Venture capital
Brumby urged to follow Breakthrough Victoria CEO out the door
The chief executive of the Victorian government’s Breakthrough Victoria fund, Grant Dooley, has resigned and backed an overhaul of the John Brumby-led board.
- Patrick Durkin
May
R&D boost needed for Future Made in Australia plan to fly
Australian firms that develop innovative technologies say they are disincentivised to build their products in Australia and are calling for R&D incentive changes.
- Tess Bennett
March
Break or breakthrough: the red flags at Victoria’s VC fund
Breakthrough Victoria was formed after its now-chairman, John Brumby, called for the establishment of such a fund.
- Myriam Robin
No plans to wind up embattled $2b VC fund: Pallas
Victorian Treasurer Tim Pallas has hit back at calls to wind up the state’s venture capital fund, saying there isn’t enough private money to support start-ups.
- Updated
- Gus McCubbing
Victorian government venture capital fund referred to auditor-general
The Allan government is standing by Breakthrough Victoria’s chairman John Brumby as the opposition claims the fund needs to be investigated.
- Patrick Durkin and Gus McCubbing
- Exclusive
- Venture capital
‘Mass redundancies’: Vic government’s losing VC bet
A medical start-up heavily backed by the Victorian government’s troubled venture capital fund has run into trouble.
- Updated
- Tom Richardson and Patrick Durkin
- Exclusive
- Venture capital
Board exodus: Vic government start-up fund spent $22m to invest $74m
Three directors of the state government-funded $2 billion Breakthrough Victoria venture fund are quitting amid calls for the fund to be wound up.
- Patrick Durkin
February
John Brumby-chaired Citywide mulls options for waste arm
Gather, garbos! Melbourne council is weighing putting a sizeable waste management business on the auction block.
- Sarah Thompson, Kanika Sood and Emma Rapaport
September 2023
Andrews leaves Victorian Labor firmly in power, but tarnished
His legacy as premier includes huge investments in infrastructure, the largest debt burden of any state and a record of division.
- Updated
- Ben Potter
August 2023
- Opinion
- Venture capital
How a former premier runs biggest – but least known – VC fund
Blackbird, AirTree and Square Peg are the big name local VCs, but none of them run a fund that is half the size of the mammoth $2 billion Breakthrough Victoria.
- Adir Shiffman
February 2023
Start-up that makes room-temp quantum computers banks $26m
The Victorian government and the CSIRO’s venture fund Main Sequence have put fresh capital behind Quantum Brilliance.
- Updated
- Tess Bennett
November 2022
Lobsters, Mount Everest and frequent liars kick off election games
Daniel Andrews was smiling and shaking hands to ’90s duo Moloko and their hit single Sing it Back [bring it back] as he launched a shot at the history books.
- Patrick Durkin
October 2021
How Bracks, Brumby, Baillieu and Kennett would fix Victoria
The two Labor and two Liberal leaders agreed rebuilding public confidence and a global strategy were key to restoring the state’s fortunes.
- Patrick Durkin
May 2021
John Wylie farewelled at State Library Victoria
Melbourne’s most cultured and most wealthy citizens turned out in force to farewell the outgoing chairman.
- Myriam Robin
March 2021
- Exclusive
- Science
John Brumby to lead $2b research fund in Victoria
The former premier says the fund will drive investment in businesses and jobs creation across five key sectors, focused on the state’s university precincts.
- Patrick Durkin
March 2020
Huawei beats an inevitable retreat
The Chinese telco giant's experiment of setting up a local board populated with heavy hitters to push its case in Canberra and win over the public ultimately failed, writes Jennifer Hewett.
- Jennifer Hewett
January 2020
- Exclusive
- Bushfires
Jeff Kennett warns on bushfire donation chaos
Former Victorian premier Jeff Kennett has warned that the $500 million in bushfire donations risks becoming a shambles unless governments step in to scrutinise the charity spending.
- Patrick Durkin
Donation warnings as fundraising efforts top $200m
The bushfire crisis has generated more than $200 million in donations as the public, business and philanthropists rush to give. But does that create new problems?
- Julie-anne Sprague
April 2019
Bipartisan support for plan to save democracy
Australia’s democracy is frayed and public confidence in our system of governance is in worrying decline, a new report says.
- Phillip Coorey