The Watchlist newsletter
Find out the next TV, streaming series and movies to add to your must-sees.
Breaking news alert
Big breaking news sent to your inbox when it happens.
Olympics newsletter
Never miss a medal or great sporting moment with our morning email.
‘No alternative’: Victoria to go into seven-day snap lockdown as mystery cases emerge
Victoria will enter its sixth lockdown as Premier Daniel Andrews warns he will do “everything we can” to avoid a “NSW-style” outbreak. The lockdown begins at 8pm tonight.
Latest live posts
LoadingUpdated
Coronavirus pandemic
What are the new coronavirus restrictions for Victoria?
The latest COVID-19 outbreaks in Melbourne have prompted new restrictions. Here’s a list of the new rules.
Updated
Victoria
‘Go home’: Victoria is set to go into sixth lockdown tonight
Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews has confirmed that Victoria will lock down for seven days from 8pm. “There is no alternative for us but to listen to our public health experts, take their advice, and make the decision the very difficult decision my Cabinet colleagues and I have made on the advice.”
Hunt for killer of Australian woman goes on as loved ones mourn
Shanae Edwards had travelled and worked all over the world, volunteering in South America, skiing in Canada, exploring temples in Thailand. But most recently it was the capital of Georgia that had captured her imagination.
National cabinet thrown open to scrutiny in FOI ruling
Senator Rex Patrick has succeeded in his appeal for documents from national cabinet to be made available under FOI.
Updated
Child abuse
Hillsong pastor charged for allegedly concealing child sexual abuse by his father
Brian Houston was charged following a two-year investigation into allegations he had failed to report the alleged abuse of a young male in the 1970s.
Live
Tokyo Olympics
USA on top of Matildas in bronze medal goal-fest
The Australians and Americans are playing in a bronze medal match for the first time.
Australia’s gold tally leaps to 17, bronze for Melissa Wu, Carl Lewis slams relay runners
Two gold medals in 10 minutes means Australia has now equalled its record for an Olympic Games, joining the 17 the country won in Athens in 2004.
Missing $7860 whisky bottle among flash gifts given to Trump White House
The public register reveals Scott Morrison joined numerous other world leaders in giving former president Donald Trump a picture of himself.
Opinion
Casinos
How investors got Crown Resorts so badly wrong
Without a licence to operate in NSW, Victoria and WA, Crown will move from a redemption/rehabilitation story to a liquidation story
Elizabeth Knight
Business columnist
Opinion
Government debt
America has hit its debt ceiling, and the ‘X-date’ looms large
The Biden administration has been forced to take “extraordinary measures” to conserve cash as it seeks to head off a US default on its debt - a development that would have global ramifications.
Stephen Bartholomeusz
Senior business columnist
Bill Gates says Epstein relationship was ‘a huge mistake’
Regrets, he has a few: The billionaire acknowledged in a TV interview he shouldn’t have spent time with disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein on several occasions.
RFDS sees ‘rural-dom’ and primetime drama through a different lens
There’s medical emergencies, a bunch of appealing, vividly-drawn characters and heartfelt depictions of a close-knit community in Seven’s new eight-part drama.
Forty years on, do music videos still matter?
The first music video to ever air on MTV – The Buggles’ Video Killed the Radio Star – was broadcast on August 1, 1981.
‘Time’s up’: Indigenous leader calls for Stolen Generations reparations in WA, Queensland
WA and Queensland are the only two jurisdictions in which survivors have never received reparations for being forcibly removed from their families.
Exclusive
Media & marketing
YouTube’s Sky News ban ignites fresh News Corp fury
Comments from broadcaster Alan Jones prompted YouTube to ban Sky News for a week. But the move has given Sky presenters fresh ammunition in the media culture wars, and frustrated senior News Corp executives.
Hawks v Pies game out of Tassie, relocated to MCG
Hawthorn’s much-anticipated clash with Collingwood has been moved out of Tasmania and relocated to the MCG at the behest of the Tasmanian government.
Editor's Picks
Opinion
Political leadership
Damaged not destroyed: PM in trouble but could land on his feet
Niki Savva
Award-winning political commentator and author
Just in
Tokyo Olympics
Australia 78 USA 97
Olympics
Boomers resolve to reset for bronze match after semi-final heartbreak
- by Phil Lutton
Local
Exclusive
Legal Cannabis
Andrews government quashes push to legalise cannabis in Victoria
A two-year inquiry that was set to recommend legalising cannabis in Victoria has been watered down after Labor MPs intervened.
‘Build first, question later’: Victoria’s big spend under fire from watchdog
A new report from Victoria’s Auditor-General has been described as a stunning indictment of the approach to transport planning.
Indigenous charities fear being silenced under new federal regulations
Proposed rules tabled on Tuesday could restrict protest activities by charitable organisations, which Indigenous charities say may be used to limit their advocacy.
Man found not guilty of Skype murder still waiting for psychiatric bed
Delays in getting a bed still plague Victoria’s only forensic psychiatric hospital for men despite repeated warnings and a recent funding announcement.
Disability worker sentenced to bond without conviction over NDIS fraud
A disability support worker charged over fraudulent claims for payments from the NDIS has been sentenced to a $1000 good behaviour bond without conviction.
CORONAVIRUS PANDEMIC
Exclusive
Hungry Jack’s founder says Australia should learn from UK and live with virus
Rich lister and Hungry Jack’s founder Jack Cowin has said Australia should take inspiration from overseas and start thinking of how best to live with the virus.
Exclusive
Private schools to start vaccinating their staff on-site
Wesley College will begin giving the jab to its staff on campus this week, as several other non-government schools in Melbourne look to follow suit.
Politics
Exclusive
Closing the Gap
‘The furthest attempt’: Indigenous leader welcomes $1.1b Closing the Gap funding
The Coalition of Peaks has praised the federal government’s Closing the Gap implementation plan but has warned much more needs to be done in the next decade.
Business
Opinion
Fintech
Banks square up to Afterpay and Apple in payments fight
It’s becoming increasingly clear that the major banks have a fight on their hands, and the threat is coming from both fintechs and “big tech” players such as Apple.
Clancy Yeates
Banking reporter
World
Israel launches air strikes at Lebanon day after rockets strike north
The overnight airstrikes were a marked escalation at a politically sensitive time.
Opinion
Lapsed Catholics need to reflect their beliefs in the census
Monica Dux
Writer, columnist and social commentator.
Explore
Got a news tip?
Share information with our journalists securely and confidentially. Learn more
Property bydomain
The eight regions across Australia where house prices are falling
Amid the property boom raging on across the nation, there are only eight regions where prices haven't risen over the past year. And they're not all out bush, either.
How the humble ACT became our best performing property market
Less than 500,000 people live in our nation's capital and yet the house prices there are now on par with Melbourne, soaring past the $1 million mark.
Life & Culture
From Norman Swan’s health guide to grim fiction: what to read this week
T.C.Boyle elicits both fascination and distress from the reader in his novel about life with a chimpanzee.
Sport
Updated
Richmond
AFL teams: Rioli to debut, Walker dropped, Treloar returns
Maurice Rioli jnr is set to make his debut for Richmond as the Tigers swing the axe, Taylor Walker has been dropped following his alleged racial slur while Bulldog Adam Treloar returns from a long-term ankle injury lay-off.
God’s work, self-confidence: Australians’ lofty ambitions
Nicola McDermott relies on her scripture. Eleanor Patterson knows she is ready. Both breezed through the qualifying rounds to the finals on Saturday.
Pies board challenge delayed after fan petition hitch
Collingwood’s board battle is now slated for the annual general meeting in December, rather than an earlier spill, after a member petition was found to be legally inadequate.
Aussie closing in on decathlon medal
Australia has never finished higher than sixth in the decathlon and has yet to win a medal in any event on the track at these Games despite outstanding performances.
‘Never seen it before’: Golfers use ice vests on course
Hannah Green worked her way into contention as world No.1 Nelly Korda flirted with a historic 59 on a day when golfers melted in the Tokyo heat and humidity.
Hawks v Pies game out of Tassie, relocated to MCG
Hawthorn’s much-anticipated clash with Collingwood has been moved out of Tasmania and relocated to the MCG at the behest of the Tasmanian government.
Live
Tokyo Olympics
Tokyo Olympics LIVE updates: USA regain the lead after Sam Kerr strike
The Australians and Americans are playing in a bronze medal match for the first time.
Have Your Say
Joy to the world: Olympic skateboarders cheer each other to the end
Youngest competitors in the Olympics’ youngest sport were doing disappointment their very own way. And until the end, it looked strangely like joy.
