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Wind turbines near Ballan in Western Victoria where renewables policies are brewing as an election issue

Wind farm plan tipped to risk billions in energy investment and 26,000 jobs

An analysis estimates the Coalition’s proposed policy would put $3.9 billion in local wages and more than $200 million in landholder and community payments at risk.

  • Annika Smethurst

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A platypus being released after a monitoring survey for Melbourne Water in 2014.

Rain tank scheme aims to save threatened platypus population

An Australian-first project is under way to try to protect these elusive and endangered animals.

  • Bianca Hall
Parks Victoria will aim to clear the area by Anzac Day.

Lest we forget: Parks Victoria to clear vulnerable trees for war memorial

The planned bulldozing of vulnerable snow gums this week to restore views of the Mount Macedon Memorial Cross has sparked fury among environmental groups.

  • Bianca Hall
Sheep at a farm belonging to Benalla farmers, Stuart and Julie Green in the midst of a drought in May 2025.

When desperate farmers prayed for rain in the midst of a hidden drought

The Green family survived a major drought on their sheep farm. I got a front-row seat to the challenges they overcame.

  • Benjamin Preiss
A koala photographed last month on French Island, in an almost-denuded tree.

How do you save a starving koala?

The difficulty of moving koalas is again in focus following soaring numbers on French Island in Victoria, and deaths of translocated animals in NSW.

  • Bianca Hall
A koala photographed last month on French Island, in an almost-denuded tree.

‘Horrific’ mass koala starvation hits Victorian island

Distressed locals have told of desperate koalas falling from trees and trying to eat vegetation such as pine needles.

  • Bianca Hall
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Fitzroy Residents Association chair Michael Spencer wants to see urgent investment in flood management.

Flood threat hangs over 60,000 homes in Melbourne’s northern suburbs

Vast areas of Darebin and Yarra council areas have been declared flood-prone as a new statewide risk rating system ascribes a threat level to every home.

  • Sophie Aubrey
Opal Australian Paper’s Maryvale paper mill in the Latrobe Valley.

Australia’s last white paper mill sues Victoria for $402 million after lost jobs, closure

The Latrobe Valley operation says it was forced to shut its white paper production and cut 400 jobs when the government reneged on a deal to provide it with native timber.

  • Kieran Rooney
Blue skies and heavy cloud on the last day of winter in Melbourne.

Melbourne to bask in warmer-than-average spring days and nights

A leading climate scientist said people complaining about the cold weather this year have forgotten what a normal winter feels like.

  • Bianca Hall and Caitlin Fitzsimmons
The larger of the two trees is estimated to be almost 30 metres tall.

They bought a knockdown-rebuild and got a fight over Thornbury’s tallest trees

The larger of two eucalypts locals are fighting to save is estimated to be more than 25 metres tall and believed to be one of the tallest trees in Thornbury.

  • Tom Cowie