VICTORIA

Melbourne’s $10.2 billion West Gate Tunnel has recorded more than one million trips since opening to motorists in mid-December, but new figures show traffic volumes are well below early projections. Data reveals the tunnel is currently averaging fewer than 22,000 vehicles per…

Victoria Police have launched a fresh five-day search for cop killer Dezi Freeman in Mount Buffalo National Park, focusing on a gunshot heard minutes after the deadly ambush that left two police officers dead. More than five months after the shootings at…

The Victorian government is facing mounting backlash after Premier Jacinta Allan dismissed concerns from regional residents that the Western Renewables Link transmission line could leave properties vulnerable to catastrophic bushfires. Landowners and CFA volunteers in western Victoria say they were “shocked” and…

Melbourne residents in the City of Stonnington are being forced to pay up to $250 a year to park on the street outside their own homes, following the introduction of a new paid digital parking permit system. Under the changes, which came…

A significant political and energy development is unfolding in Victoria, after the federal government announced expanded support for the creation of Australia’s first offshore wind industry, effectively breathing new life into a project that until recently was considered politically and financially uncertain.…

Victoria is bracing for one of the most extreme heat events in its history, with temperatures forecast to approach 50°C in parts of the state and Melbourne set to endure its hottest day since the Black Saturday disaster of 2009. Northern towns…

A growing pattern of so-called “punishment shootings” linked to organised crime networks is driving a significant increase in non-fatal gunshot injuries across Victoria, with public hospitals now treating firearm assault victims on a near-fortnightly basis. Newly analysed emergency department data shows that…

A historic war memorial in Melbourne’s northeast has been defaced with red paint and anti-Australia Day graffiti, triggering anger and distress among veterans and the local community, just one day after pro-Hamas symbols were sprayed on monuments in the city’s CBD. The…

Victoria is bracing for an extreme and potentially dangerous heatwave this weekend, with temperatures forecast to approach all-time records and authorities warning the conditions could reignite the state’s already devastating fire season. The Bureau of Meteorology has flagged severe heat across large…

Two historic monuments in Melbourne’s Flagstaff Gardens have been vandalised with symbols associated with Hamas in what Jewish leaders have described as an act of “psychological terror”, carried out in the early hours of the National Day of Mourning for the victims…

The catastrophic bushfires that swept through parts of Victoria earlier this month are intensifying concerns that insurance premiums will rise further in regional areas where cover is already unaffordable for many residents. More than 2,600 insurance claims are currently underway after fires…

The Country Fire Authority’s long-delayed 2025–26 annual report has revealed a $50.5 million operating deficit, intensifying debate over whether recent government funding increases are sufficient to maintain frontline firefighting capability during increasingly severe bushfire seasons. The report, tabled in Victorian Parliament on…