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The Age

The Age has the latest local news on Melbourne, Victoria. Read National News from Australia, World News, Business News and Breaking News stories.

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Featured Writers

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Cherie Gilmour

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Cade Lucas

Teacher, writer and broadcaster from Melbourne.

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Katie Cincotta

Katie Cincotta began as the national writer for television game show Sale of the Century, and went on to be a magazine editor before starting her own freelance writing business. …

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Isabella Podwinski

Journalist

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Indi Brummelen

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Donna Le Page

With more than 30 years’ experience in the public relations industry, Director Donna Le Page has established a reputation for delivering innovative communications strategies and is proud of the successful …

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Latest Articles

When a man opens a door for me, I have a feminist malfunction

When I travel from the basement carpark to the first floor of my gym, there is a recurring event that happens around the lift. I have a feminist malfunction. It happens when a male, usually older but not always, holds the lift door open for me to enter before him. …
By Cherie Gilmour
• The Age

If you go too hard with St Pat’s, you might welcome World Sleep Day

Today is St Patrick’s Day, and don’t we all love wearing green, going to the pub to drink Guinness, and attempting to riverdance? What you probably didn’t know is that it’s also National Corned Beef and Cabbage Day, Doctor-Patient Trust Day, Preschool Teacher Appreciation Day and World Sleep Day. And …
By Cherie Gilmour
• The Age

Barbie is the hot pink line between the ‘haves’ and the ‘have-nots’

My daughter was given a Barbie doll recently, and I eyed it warily. Something primal rose in me, and I wanted to chop off her hair and see if she could do the splits. I’d never been allowed one; my parents thought she promoted a negative body image. But there …
By Cherie Gilmour
• The Age

King Gizzard’s Bluesfest protest is cancel culture gone wrong

Cancel culture is back in the news after Byron Bay’s Bluesfest announced controversial Sydney band Sticky Fingers would feature in the line-up. Sticky Fingers frontman Dylan Frost has made headlines for a number of incidents, including in 2016 when he was accused of being physically intimidating towards singer Thelma Plum …
By Cherie Gilmour
• The Age

In the game of dating, Tinder is losing the love match

Our relationship with Tinder appears to be on the rocks. After a decade of helping out the lonely and the lusty, the love machine that fits into the palm of your hand is proving less popular. Its parent company Match Group (for those with a thing for redheads?) has reportedly …
By Cherie Gilmour
• The Age

Is it the end of the #GirlBoss era in Australia? That wouldn’t be all bad

Earlier this week, news broke in this masthead that the corporate feminist behemoth Business Chicks was either shutting down or scaling down. For more than a decade, the women’s networking group has been at the forefront of a dominant strain of rah, rah, you go girl, #GirlBoss feminism in Australia. …
By Kristine Ziwica
• The Age

Challenging essays that divert from the ideological rails

In the introduction to his new essay collection, Provocations, Jeff Sparrow states he feels “tremendously isolated” as a socialist writer in a country as anti-intellectual as we. Like most Australian greats, Sparrow rejects the “persona of ocker larrikinism” that mainstream writers adopt to avoid accusations of elitism. He also admits …
By Kurt Johnson
• The Age

Stop telling fat people their bodies are costing our healthcare system

Allow me to be clear: A person’s health status, or the status we assign their health due to their appearance, is not information that is owed to anyone, aside from perhaps a trusted medical professional. I choose to share my health status publicly because I’m able to do so without …
By Hannah Vanderheide
• The Age

‘We had to try a few home visits’: Concern for student welfare peaked in lockdown six

At one point, more than 80 per cent of secondary schools were “very concerned or concerned” about student mental health and wellbeing, while almost 70 per cent of secondary schools were worried about academic progress. Jo Camozzato, principal at Edgars Creek Secondary College, said there was no doubt this year’s …
By Petra Stock
• The Age

‘We had to try a few home visits’: Concern for student welfare peaked in lockdown six

At one point, more than 80 per cent of secondary schools were “very concerned or concerned” about student mental health and wellbeing, while almost 70 per cent of secondary schools were worried about academic progress. Jo Camozzato, principal at Edgars Creek Secondary College, said there was no doubt this year’s …
By Petra Stock
• The Age

Westmead Children’s Hospital saved Kobi’s life. His family is trying to give back

When Sydney locked down in June, Grant Doyle, along with his brother Craig and niece Georgia, signed up to the Sydney Children’s Hospital team for the Sun-Herald City2Surf. For Grant and his 12-year-old son Kobi, the Children’s Hospital at Westmead holds a special significance. “That hospital is the only reason …
By Daniel Lo Surdo
• The Age

Feeding the soul: Everybody needs good neighbours, especially in lockdown

Everybody needs good neighbours. Particularly in lockdown, when the people living nearby have become a much-needed source of human connection and social interaction, whether that’s pet-sitting, produce sharing or simply stopping for a chat. William Reid first met his neighbours as they headed to the park with their ragdoll kitten …
By Petra Stock
• The Age

Unknown, uninvited strangers joining Victorian online classrooms

Unknown and uninvited people have joined classrooms held on digital platform Webex at least 13 times during remote learning in Victoria. Education Department documents obtained under Freedom of Information laws reveal the incidents include strangers posting “images of a concerning sexual nature”, making racist comments and engaging in aggressive and …
By Petra Stock
• The Age

Federal cash cut-off leaves Victorian businesses in limbo

Continuing COVID restrictions will leave many Victorian businesses unable to trade for months after their federal government financial lifeline is cut off in November. The events, hospitality and entertainment sectors are set to be the hardest hit when, two weeks after 80 per cent of eligible Victorians are double vaccinated, …
By Petra Stock
• The Age

Octopuses, artworks and dinosaurs on the moon: Children’s tiny galleries pop up in the streets

A red octopus hangs above a sign that reads “Please do not touch” as a small crowd peruses seascapes of sailing ships and ocean liners on the walls. As Melbourne’s lockdown drags on, tiny galleries are popping up in Brunswick streets. Their pre- and primary-school aged curators, stuck at home, …
By Petra Stock
• The Age

Parents speak out against inconsistent quality of remote learning

“My concern is that Elissa is not being educated,” he said. Victorian schools have had six terms of moving in and out of lockdown. The minimum guidelines have not shifted in that time: 45-60 minutes of literacy, 30-45 minutes of numeracy and 30-45 minutes of additional learning, play-based learning and …
By Petra Stock
• The Age

Octopuses, artworks and dinosaurs on the moon: Children’s tiny galleries pop up in the streets

A red octopus hangs above a sign that reads “Please do not touch” as a small crowd peruses seascapes of sailing ships and ocean liners on the walls. As Melbourne’s lockdown drags on, tiny galleries are popping up in Brunswick streets. Their pre- and primary-school aged curators, stuck at home, …
By Petra Stock
• The Age

Calls grow for return of children to classroom, as regions get new student safety measures

Mr Merlino said on Friday he wanted children back to face-to-face learning as soon as possible, “but with hundreds of children with coronavirus, including children seriously unwell in hospital, we won’t put the health of Victorian kids and teachers at risk and flood schools with people before we get public …
By Petra Stock
• The Age

Calls grow for return of children to classroom, as regions get new student safety measures

Mr Merlino said on Friday he wanted children back to face-to-face learning as soon as possible, “but with hundreds of children with coronavirus, including children seriously unwell in hospital, we won’t put the health of Victorian kids and teachers at risk and flood schools with people before we get public …
By Petra Stock
• The Age

‘Bored out of my mind’: Children and parents rejoice at playgrounds reopening

After spending almost all their time inside since Melbourne’s playgrounds were shut last month, Corinne Moesch’s three children are jumping for joy at news they will soon reopen. Premier Daniel Andrews made the expected announcement on Wednesday afternoon that playgrounds would reopen from 11.59pm on Thursday. Rocco, 9, Reggie, 7, …
By Petra Stock
• The Age

At his first swimming carnival, Ricky came last. Now he’s aiming for Paralympic gold

When Ricky Betar competed in his first swimming carnival at age 9, he came last. When he joined a squad, he couldn’t keep up for the first six months. Today he is in Tokyo ready to compete at his first Paralympic Games. Betar, 17, is the son of an Australian …
By Daniel Lo Surdo
• The Age

Remote learning security concern after threatening strangers breach online classrooms

Uninvited and threatening people joined online Google Classroom sessions with Victorian school students on at least three separate occasions last year, amid privacy concerns from parents and schools. Victorian Department of Education documents obtained under freedom of information laws revealed the incidents, including one in which a teacher was forced …
By Petra Stock
• The Age

ADHD no excuse for poor behaviour

As you’re probably well aware by now, Queensland MP Andrew Laming, has, in typically understated fashion, declared that he has been diagnosed with the Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder or ADHD. Before we start, let me be clear: this is a good thing. As someone who lives with ADHD and has …
By Cade Lucas
• The Age

‘Not a fitting end’: Veteran survived the war but not COVID in aged care

On Anzac Day you could usually find Allan Lorraine eating lunch with his family at his local RSL. But the WWII veteran, who worked in signals for Australia’s Sixth Battalion in New Guinea from 1942, won’t be there on Sunday. Born in then working-class South Melbourne in 1923, he was …
By Isabella Podwinski
• The Age

‘Is this enough?’: The fret of preparing a fast-breaking feast

When you’ve spent the day fasting, there’re few things better than sitting down to a dinner table laden with food. But when you’re the one in charge of preparing the feast, that can prompt a moment of doubt. “You look at your dinner table and think: is this going to …
By Isabella Podwinski
• The Age

Evictions ramping up with worse to come, tenants groups warn

Renters across Victoria are being ordered from their homes by their landlords in a wave of evictions after COVID-19 tenancy protections ended last week. No hard data is yet available on the after-effects of lifting the state government’s rental moratorium, but tenants’ advocacy groups, legal services and the real estate …
By Isabella Podwinski
• The Age

Teens dealing vaping products on TikTok, Instagram

Seventeen-year-old Peta was introduced to e-cigarettes by her older brother over summer and now vapes most days. “Most of my friends vape,” said Peta, who declined to use her last name. “People my age feel as though it won’t affect them because it’s not tobacco. “It’s become an issue at …
By Isabella Podwinski
• The Age