The Parliament of Victoria in Australia has finally passed contentious pandemic management legislation in a 20-18 vote, following a marathon 21-hour debate in the upper house. The laws have been the subject of protests and amended several times after concerns over the extent of the powers it grants the state’s premier and health minister—many legal…

The Parliament of Victoria in Australia has finally passed contentious pandemic management legislation in a 20-18 vote, following a marathon 21-hour debate in the upper house. The laws have been the subject of protests and amended several times after concerns over the extent of the powers it grants the state’s premier and health minister—many legal…

Tens of thousands of protestors who took to the streets of Melbourne in some of the largest protests so far against government-mandated COVID-19 health regulations hailed from a broad cross-section of society—including the wealthiest segment of the state—and were not extremist or fringe elements portrayed by some media outlets. A new “heat map” from market…

As Melbourne Fashion Week starts from Nov. 15 -21, fashion experts expect Melburnians to turn to a more leisure clothing style in a post-lockdown world. Dr Kate Sala, lecturer of design and technology at the School of Fashion and Textiles, Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT University), noted that Melbourne’s penchant for black might give way to more colour…

The Victorian state government has agreed to tinker with its broad-ranging Pandemic Management Bill to win over crossbench MPs and secure safe passage for the proposed law through the state’s Parliament. Seven amendments have been made to the Public Health and Wellbeing Amendment (Pandemic Management) Bill after negotiations with crossbench members from the state’s upper…

Prominent legal figures are continuing their vocal opposition to impending pandemic laws that will allow the government to “rule the state of Victoria by decree.” The letter, signed by 59 members of the Victorian Bar, warned that the Public Health and Wellbeing (Pandemic Management) Bill 2021 gave “unlimited and practically unreviewable power” to the health…

Commentary Rising vaccination rates in Australia continue to edge most states towards ever more significant easing of restrictions in time for Christmas. Hopes are high in some parts of the country that COVID-19 lockdowns will now be consigned to history, never to be imposed again. However, thanks to the zeal of Premier Daniel Andrews and…