A Victorian government proposal to build a clinical information system for every Victorian, with no opt-out, has merits, but the many risks to privacy must be addressed.
The decision recognises that water rights are critical for Indigenous people to restore customs, protect their culture, become economically independent and heal Country.
Victoria's $800 million energy efficiency plan promises to lower power bills, make homes more comfortable and help meet our climate goals. It's high time other states picked this low-hanging fruit.
Justice Jennifer Coate's first report into the bungled hotel quarantine in Victoria maps out how processes can be changed to make sure it never happens again.
After the Directions Tree was cut down last week, Australian academics - both Indigenous and non-Indigenous - have come together in 'sorrow and anger'.
The deteriorating Western Grassland Reserve in Victoria represents a failure of imagination. When the grasslands are steeped with history and culture, imagine its potential.
The public housing hard lockdown is the product of a punitive public housing system whose residents have been neglected for decades.
Researchers have uncovered what appears to be widespread logging of steep slopes in Victoria, which has the potential to damage critical water supplies.
Chris Taylor
Researchers have uncovered what appears to be widespread logging of steep slopes in Victoria, which has the potential to damage critical water supplies.
Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews has refused to sign on to the federal government’s school funding reform unless they increase their share of funding to 25%.
Kelly Barnes/AAP
Victorian schools could potentially be without federal funding after 31 December if the state government refuses to sign up to the Gonski 2.0 funding reforms.
Joy Rowley’s 2011 murder has raised the question of whether a stand-alone offence of non-fatal strangulation would prevent the escalation of family violence.
Supplied: Domestic Violence Victoria
A stand-alone offence of non-fatal strangulation would be difficult to prove and detract from the ways in which family violence victims are being failed in other policy areas.
Other states and territories could follow suit and similarly reinvest in their TAFE systems through a comparable policy initiative.
Julian Smith/AAP
30 skill priority areas will be free from the beginning of 2019 in Victoria. Students will feel the most benefit, while private providers say the policy is not equitable.
Feral horses in the eastern Alps.
Griff en/Wikimedia Commons
Victoria's new plan to control feral horses aims to remove up to 400 a year from the eastern Alps. But without considering aerial culling, the plan seems unlikely to get to grips with the problem.
Assisted dying legislation is likely to be introduced in Victorian Parliament within a month, and be based on a report launched today by Brian Owler and Jill Hennessy.
JOE CASTRO/AAP
Ben White, Queensland University of Technology and Lindy Willmott, Queensland University of Technology
Public opinion, shifting views in the health profession and international trends allowing assisted dying mean it will be lawful in Australia at some point. But will it be lawful in Victoria soon?
A national regulator is proposed to oversee cultivation of cannabis for medicinal purposes in Australia.
Dank Depot/Flickr
The Commonwealth plans to legalise local production of cannabis for medical and research purposes; as do Victoria and NSW. But what laws need to change for all of this to work?
Mixed farming country near Binalong, New South Wales.
Andrew Campbell
I’m quite nervous about writing this. I’m going to stray from my familiar academic world into a political one, and it’s on an issue that may very well have killed several people. My reputation has already…
Will new Victorian land clearing rules clear up confusion, or just create more?
www.shutterstock.com/123250027
The Victorian government is overhauling its rules on native vegetation clearing, the first major change in this area for more than a decade. Vegetation management policy rarely makes it into the news…
Broadcaster Derryn Hinch has been found guilty of breaching court suppression orders in the past. Does justice need to be seen in order to be truly done?
AAP/Julian Smith
The Victorian state parliament is currently considering the Open Courts Bill (2013) after questions have been raised about just how much transparency is needed in the justice system. The bill, proposed…
A change in Premier should be Victoria’s chance to re-embrace wind power.
Instinia/Flickr
Earlier this month, Victorians woke to the news that they had a new premier: Dennis Napthine, member for the South-West Coast District, would take over from Ted Baillieu to lead the state. As climate change…
The announcement this week of funding for Victorian TAFEs won’t make up for previous cuts.
AAP Image/Julian Smith
There might be a new premier in Victoria, but it seems there’s still no good news for TAFEs. The $200 million in structural adjustment funding announced this week is certainly welcome, but it is simply…
Intern at the Centre for Climate and Resilience Research (CR2), Santiago, Chile; Research Assistant, Centre for Resources Energy and Environmental Law, The University of Melbourne
Chief Executive Officer, Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research; Professorial Fellow, Fenner School for the Environment and Society, Australian National University