This Month
Housing focus as Pallas warns of horror Victorian budget
Economists warn that Victoria has no choice but to cut spending in next week’s budget, after slugging businesses and property investors last year.
- Gus McCubbing
April
Rents rise 11pc in Victoria as investors flee: NAB
Victorian property investment declined last year while advertised rents increased by 11 per cent, according to new data from NAB.
- Gus McCubbing
March
Allan, Andrews ‘overstated’ Commonwealth Games blowout by $2b
Victoria’s auditor-general says Labor’s Commonwealth Games debacle cost taxpayers $589 million for “no discernible benefit”.
- Gus McCubbing
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
Pesutto’s leadership in crisis amid new defamation proceedings
Victorian Opposition Leader John Pesutto’s hold on the Liberal Party is in crisis mode under the weight of mounting legal battles.
- 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
February
Businesses suffer as Victoria outage blame game erupts
Pramod Patel turfed more than $20,000 worth of stock after his Victorian grocery store lost power for four days, but the political blame game rages on.
- Gus McCubbing
More than 3000 still without power a week after Victoria storms
Premier Jacinta Allan says her government will review last week’s mass outages which saw 530,000 homes and businesses lose power.
- Gus McCubbing
Federal auditor to probe Labor’s $2.2b Suburban Rail Loop commitment
The auditor-general will examine whether the approval of Commonwealth funding for the $125 billion project was “informed by appropriate departmental advice”.
- Gus McCubbing
Greens booted from parliament, accuse Labor of ‘arming Israel’
Four Victorian Greens MPs were kicked out after demanding the Allan Labor government sever ties with Israel’s defence ministry.
- Gus McCubbing
January
Victorian opposition backflips on treaty support
The proposed treaty would pave the way for legally enforced Aboriginal consultation on future Indigenous-related decisions.
- Melissa Meehan and Rachael Ward
‘Consultative’ Allan has reunited warring Labor factions: MPs
Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan’s more “consultative” leadership repairs a brutal factional rift that emerged after Daniel Andrews resigned, MPs say.
- Gus McCubbing
December 2023
‘A milking cow’: states lash Commonwealth over infrastructure funding
Victoria will get just 1.6 per cent of new priority infrastructure spending over five years, and cuts are expected to cause a $1.6 billion hit to NSW’s budget.
- Gus McCubbing and Samantha Hutchinson
‘Secretive’ $125b rail loop plan is good for productivity: Allan
Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan says there is nothing controversial about Labor’s use of consultants to ‘prove up’ the Suburban Rail Loop.
- Updated
- Gus McCubbing
November 2023
Labor retains Mulgrave despite double-digit swing
With more than 75 per cent of the vote counted, Dandenong mayor Eden Foster leads with more than 40 per cent of the primary vote.
- Updated
- Callum Godde
Labor moves to lock Victoria into public electricity commission
The Allan government is moving to enshrine the revived State Electricity Commission in Victoria’s constitution to stop a future Liberal government from being able to scrap it.
- Updated
- Gus McCubbing
Eleven Games committee officials were paid $300k a year
The top public servant charged with overseeing the cancelled Commonwealth Games was paid more than $500,000 last financial year, a report has revealed.
- Updated
- Gus McCubbing
October 2023
Former VicTrack boss breached code of conduct: auditor-general
The former head of Victoria’s rail agency, Campbell Rose, suggested that a government joint venture should give him an equity stake.
- Jenny Wiggins and Gus McCubbing
Allan denies misleading parliament on Games blowout
Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan has stood by the evidence she gave to a parliamentary hearing about the Commonwealth Games despite knowing of budget pressures.
- Updated
- Gus McCubbing
‘Torched’: Andrews’ cancelled Games bill jumps by $40m
The Victorian government spent $21 million in consultant fees as it prepared to fit out athlete villages for the axed Commonwealth Games, despite a budget of $1 million.
- Gus McCubbing
