Thousands of Victorians have signed a petition pleading for the state government to invest more in maternity care. Melbourne Greens MP Ellen Sandell said hundreds of women had reached out to her with stories of poor maternity care. She is now calling for the State Government to invest more into fixing the system. “Women are being failed by an underfunded system at its breaking point,” Ms Sandell said. The hospitals and midwives are doing their absolute best, but there simply

Victorian mental health services could see a substantial change “if we stop funding criminals and start funding health”, experts say. Health and Community Services Union (HACSU) state secretary Paul Healy said decriminalising and taxing cannabis could see the government making billions of dollars for the mental health sector and reduce the number of people tied up in the justice system. “The government would have to grow it, license it and tax it, and that is where the $2 bil

The time has finally come for video game developers and publishers to present their upcoming titles to a sea of dedicated fans. It’s E3 week, and there is no doubt there is about to get some exciting video game news. E3 is a yearly video game industry exhibition, where publishers, studios and gaming hardware manufacturers announce and showcase their upcoming games and gaming accessories. It’s one of the biggest events in the game industry calendar, with many major studios li

Why is reading so hard, and why have I only made it through half a book in two years? These are the questions I ask myself at least once or twice a month. As an avid reader throughout my childhood, I was convinced reading would always be a passion … but now, as a 20-year-old university student, that passion has faded away. I took to the internet to ask, “does anyone still read?” and found a 2017 Macquarie University study that showed just 65.5 per cent of Australians read a

Residents have every right to protest over the council’s plans for a substantial new netball centre, Bayside’s mayor says. Mayor Laurence Evans said the council was listening to objections and trying to resolve residents’ concerns, while also attempting to create a balance in sporting facilities. “The netballers deserve to have an appropriate place to play,” Cr Evans said.   After endless years of gender inequity, it is enlightening to be spending money on female sporting fac

Nearly 8000 people have signed a petition calling for the end of unpaid student placements. Second year RMIT student Olivia Armitage created the change.org petition on May 3, urging the Victorian Government to legalise a payment of at least minimum wage for all compulsory educational placements. Ms Armitage said the ongoing effects of Covid-19 on Victorian students has meant change is needed now more than ever. She said students were one of the most financially affected grou

Research animals should be allowed to find a home after they’ve done their time in testing laboratories, rather than being killed, Animal Justice Party MP Andy Meddick says. Mr Meddick has given notice that tomorrow in Victoria’s Upper House he’ll ask for a six-year limit to be placed on the working life of lab animals, at which time they would be offered to rescue services. Mr Meddick’s electoral officer, Gary Hall, said accountability was important. Essentially, we are push

Good characters make for great family viewing, and Sony Pictures Animation’s new film for Netflix, The Mitchells vs. the Machines , delivers. Produced by Christopher Miller and Phil Lord, the same duo who directed 2009’s Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs , it’s hard not to draw comparisons between the two family films. These projects don’t seem too similar at first, aside from the production company, composer (Mark Mothersbaugh) and contributions of Miller and Lord. However,

Revealing child sex offender information to the public doesn’t improve children’s safety and could actually do more harm than good, an expert says. Child Safety foundation Bravehearts research director Carol Ronken said similar schemes elsewhere had demonstrated publicising information could even pose greater risks for children. “Unfortunately, public notification schemes, along the lines of Megan’s Law approach , may, in fact, increase the risk of reoffending,” she told Vict

About 30,000 people tuned into the Astronomical Society of Victoria live stream of last week’s lunar eclipse, with hundreds more attending in person—a sign of a strong increase in interest in the sky. Society president Chris Rudge said a large number of Victorians were taking up astronomy. “I guess people were looking for things to do, and astronomy is one thing that you can do on your own, or you can equally well do it with a group of friends,” he said. Astronomy speaker an

For a film set solely in one location with a talented cast and exciting writer/director at the helm, Stowaway should’ve been a gripping survival tale. Instead it’s a decent Friday night flick not likely to be remembered. Director Joe Penna hit the ground running with his thrilling and nuanced feature debut Arctic in 2018 and has followed it up with yet another survival thriller, this time set in space. The film is well directed and performed, with production and sound desi

Students at Swinburne University Residence are fearing for their studies with all of Victoria in stage four lockdown once again due to a rise in Covid-19 infections. Student residents at Swinburne are worried about what might happen to their university performance, after going into lockdown just before the SWOT-VAC period of exam revision began. First-year student William Kneebone said he was concerned about the loss of on-site resources previously available. “It made it a lo