Victoria’s Vacant Residential Land Tax (VRLT) was designed to unlock empty homes and boost housing supply during an acute housing crisis. However, recent data reveals a gap between the tax’s intended reach and its actual enforcement, with thousands of property owners successfully avoiding millions in tax obligations through various legal and practical loopholes. The Scale...

As Victoria chases its AAA credit rating, with little or no success, having sold virtually every government-owned asset through privatisation, it is now scraping the barrel by selling off public housing assets. What has emerged from recent research is that this desperate financial manoeuvre is being orchestrated with the assistance of major international real estate...

Colin Mandy, SC, the defense lawyer for Erin Patterson, has presented a multi-faceted argument aimed at establishing his client’s innocence and challenging the prosecution’s narrative. His defense hinges on several key points: 1. Mushroom Foraging as a Hobby, Not Malice: Mandy emphasized that Erin Patterson’s interest in wild mushrooms was a genuine hobby that blossomed...

In the high-stakes Erin Patterson murder trial, Crown Prosecutor Nanette Rogers, SC, has delivered a compelling and unyielding closing argument, meticulously dissecting the defense’s narrative and presenting a picture of calculated deception. Rogers’ strategy has been to highlight inconsistencies in Patterson’s accounts, question her credibility, and underscore actions she argues are indicative of guilt. A...

When Waleed Aly penned his reluctant farewell to The Project this week, he wasn’t just mourning the end of a television show. He was documenting the latest casualty in a broader media apocalypse that has been unfolding for over two decades. The collapse of free-to-air television’s advertising model bears striking similarities to an earlier media...