An exclusive $500-a-head fundraiser for failed Victorian Labor MP Nathan Murphy could end up in the courts after a borrowed apartment used for the shindig was trashed, male and female underwear was dumped on the floor and a $700 coat went missing from the premises.
Brumby government
A special Crikey/Swinburne Uni joint investigation into more than 200 annual reports of departments and statutory authorities in just one day.
Brumby government facing fresh child protection crisis as lawyers plead for help
The Brumby government is facing a fresh child-protection crisis on the eve of the state election, with bureaucrats inside the Department of Human Service’s Court Advocacy Unit rebelling against the department’s conditions and alleging several serious breaches of the Occupational Health and Safety Act.
Steve Fielding coming to a town near you
The Victorian ALP repeatedly offered the Greens an across-the-board second preference deal in every upper and lower house state seat in exchange for support in the 25 most marginal lower house seats, Crikey can reveal.
Memo to Vic gov: voters really do care about the economy
The Brumby government could benefit from widespread concern over the issue of economic management, with Roy Morgan research commissioned exclusively for Crikey revealing swathes of voters in marginal seats rate it a pressing issue.
The Brumby Dump: V/Line quizzed over environmental damage
V/Line was involved in five serious incidents of environmental damage in 2007-2009, including killing critically endangered plants and spilling over 80,000 litres of diesel into the Geelong sewerage system, writes Swinburne journalism student Katherine McGowan.
Crikey Says: Going down with the ship
A government that establishes a Royal Commission to investigate a major disaster, yet believes the commission should not be concerned with “issues of leadership”, sounds like a government bereft of leadership.
Brumby hailed as Mr Responsible as debt triples to $39b
With John Premier promising to triple Victorian state debt from $13 billion to $39 billion in the next six years, the best thing you can say about Victoria’s financial position is that all other states are worse off.
Guy Rundle: 
Nixon should resign — but so should Brumby
There should have been resignations right across the board after Black Saturday, says Guy Rundle: Christine Nixon, the whole CFA leadership, and the Victorian Government.
Welcome to election year politics: Vic Libs jump on the spin wagon
Welcome to an election year: this week Bailleiu’s Libs have zoned in on Victorian schools as the battleground in the propaganda war.
Vic ALP’s post-bushfire boost burns out
A new Nielsen poll finds the Victorian Labor government’s two-party lead has slipped to 53-47. Has the Brumby government finally lost the shine it gained in the wake of the Black Saturday bushfire disaster? asks William Bowe.
Government ads: a case of self-promotion because they can
Outrage over government-funded political advertising has been going on for years, yet all governments — state and federal, Labor and Coalition alike — keep doing it, and voters rarely make them pay any price for it.
Buy our brown coal! Now cleaning up on eBay
Victoria’s 13 billion tonnes of unallocated brown coal are now listed as an eBay item, under the seller name “BrumbyGovt”. Bids are open for the next seven days. The starting price is $1,000,000, writes Greg Foyster.
