Volunteer-led cupsleeve events—named after the decorated, fan-made cardboard wraps you might see on a takeaway coffee or boba—bring fans together to celebrate their favourite K-pop idols through handm...

At St Kilda’s Astor Theatre, movies are still a shared ritual. The historic single-screen venue carries family memory, community and the passing of traditions across generations. As streaming makes fi...

The Melbourne International Comedy Festival (MICF) has taken over the city this April. Among the yellow flyers and big-ticket shows, independent venues function as a place to showcase new talent. All ...

Campaigners are claiming “an unequivocal win” after the national regulator rejected plans to conduct oil and gas exploration in waters off the Great Ocean Road. Theoné van der Merwe reports.

Amid rumours the cult children’s TV show LazyTown may be returning from a 12-year hiatus, its loyal fanbase of adult superfans is excited—and nervous—about what the future may bring. Erielle Sudario r...

To most Melburnians, seagulls are pests: scavengers to be shooed, netted, spiked off our rooftops. But their circling, their claim to the scraps of a city that pushed them to its edges, tells a deeper...

A daytime pyrotechnics display from internationally-renowned artist Cai Guo-Qiang, in collaboration with outdoor brand Arc’teryx, has offended Tibetan locals and drawn controversy across China. Sihan ...

Every month, a group of crafters get together at a different local pub to yarn about yarn, life, and more. The collective builds community away from screens and into real life, with creativity the onl...

Jazz was all around Australia’s top live music city in October, when the Melbourne International Jazz Festival brought daily performances from the inner city to the outer suburbs. Allan Browne’s music...

As young Filipinos recently flooded the streets of downtown Manila in protest, one symbol stood out. Erielle Sudario reports.

The koalas of French Island are starving. Once a conservation safe haven, the island’s habitat has been stripped bare by unmanaged population growth, with some critics calling for a controversial koal...

Labubus are one of 2025’s trendiest and most sought-after toys, but rising demand has resulted in a surge of the dolls’ counterfeit cousin known as “Lafufus”. These fakes are prompting safety warnings...

While the Pacific frequently makes headlines due to geopolitical tensions, Pacific perspectives are harder to find. With regional journalists facing increasing challenges, industry veterans urge the A...

The Human Rights Commissioner says delays to AI regulation are causing “real harms,” while new research shows the role of AI in recruitment is embedding discrimination. Sarah Jensz reports on urgent c...

Homeschooling in Australia surged after the lockdowns on the COVID 19 pandemic. Advocates emphasise its flexibility and more personalised education experience, but is it really a better alternative fo...

The controversial French bill to ban female athletes from wearing religious symbols, including the Muslim headscarf, in any sporting event or competition, is still yet to pass the National Assembly bu...

Sydney Harbour’s worst maritime tragedy killed three generations of one family. Ava Morrison reports in the latest of our occasional series visiting the Melbourne General Cemetery, Graveyard Shift: Ev...

“There was no one around who knew more about the laying hen.” Alfred Hart’s expertise in poultry helped Melbourne families eat, farmers export and women find financial independence. August Mikleus rep...

Graveyard Shift: Every Body Has a Story. The doyenne of Melbourne’s hospitality scene for almost 40 years is remembered for anticipating fusion dining trends, training a generation of taste-makers and...

A Pacific COP hosted in Australia would provide ‘a moment for those with most power in the world to listen to those with least power’, Fiji’s Deputy PM tells a Melbourne audience. Shayal Devi reports.

As the Albanese government prepares to set its 2035 emissions target and pursue its bid to host COP 31, there’s an opportunity for Labor to power up climate ambition. But so far, there’s little sign i...

Every Sunday evening, Emily Hu comes to Melbourne’s St Kilda Beach with a canvas and invites passers-by to draw on it with a simple question: “What do you love?” Yaqian Zhan reports on a woman on a mi...

As Melbourne’s suburbs continue to rise — in terms of both population and the crowded skyline —open green space is rapidly becoming a luxury. In Box Hill, a fenced-off patch of grass once home to a hi...

Matcha, the emerald jewel of Japan, has become an increasingly popular menu item in Melbourne. But the quality being served up remains hit and miss in a market where cafes and consumers still have a l...

In Melbourne’s rapidly developing inner west Footscray Maker Lab, a not-for-profit, volunteer-run organisation, provides a creative space for more than 40 artists.  Amidst the flying sparks and spilli...

Even in winter, Melbourne’s St Kilda Beach remains a place where people swim, fish and play. As official water quality monitoring pauses for the winter, replaced by twice daily water quality forecasts...

In Melbourne, a tiny Chinese choir uses songs to weave a sense of belonging and warmth. As Yuxi Luo reports, the Melbourne Chinese Choir has been going for more than 30 years and, for the members of t...

Nestled on High Street, in the northern Melbourne suburb or Preston, Lucchini Cakes & Cafe is more than just a bakery—it’s a living archive of a changing community. For over five decades, three genera...

The six recipients of the 2025 Varuna Climate Fellowship have been announced.

A new government department was meant to help Victorians access public information including their own. Instead, it’s made freedom-of-information harder, longer and more annoying. Katherine Everest in...

In Melbourne’s West Footscray, a humble secondhand store has become a lifeline for the local community. The Op Shop, a volunteer-run secondhand store supported solely by donations, offers more than ju...

The Merri Creek is a green oasis in Melbourne’s north, a place to stroll, run, ride and recharge. Have you ever wondered who’s monitoring the water quality, clearing the rubbish and nurturing seedling...

Morwell’s buzz from the ‘trial of the century’ of accused murderer Erin Patterson has made some locals winners, a few losers, and most unfazed – apart from the difficulty of finding a parking spot. La...

Carli Reeve is part of a grassroots movement gathering data, asking questions about the environmental implications of seismic surveys, in particular on little penguin colonies, and urging a national m...

Frustrated with what they describe as the Australian Government’s failure to protect them from catastrophic global heating, a group of young Australians are taking their concerns to the United Nations...

As the toll of native animals killed on Victorian roads rises, a petition calling for a $2 vehicle registration levy aims to provide more consistent funding to wildlife rescue and rehabilitation servi...

Despite the Coalition’s federal election shellacking, the party is not over for Liberal campus clubs. Membership has gone up in opposition – and experts and student activists say campus politics will ...

The increasing power of the growing Chinese Australian voting bloc on Australian politics is widely recognised. But experts and activists say it is too often characterised in sweeping terms that lock ...

Love the art but loathe the artist? A Melbourne Writers Festival panel wrestles with cancel culture and the question of whether it’s possible to support creators whose transgressions overshadow their ...

Critics say bans on ‘disruptive’ protests are inconsistent with the clash of ideas at the heart of academic life, and the campus as a site for historic protests on conscription and future staff indust...

Against the tide of commentary about disengaged and disinterested Gen Zs, Laura Mayne is 23, in her second term as a local councillor, and urging more young people to claim a seat, and some power, in ...

Neighbourhoods in the electorate of Menzies may look like models of middle-class suburban comfort, but housing is a concern for young voters, and they find little comfort in the policies of the major ...

Climate anxiety is rising but political priority for climate is down as the business of getting by preoccupies Gen Z voters. Theoné van der Merwe reports

All grown up but facing a deeply uncertain future, Gen Z is jaded, distracted and decoupled from old politics. It’s also not to be underestimated as a defining force in a seat like Menzies that until ...

Gen Z is jaded, distracted and decoupled from old politics. It’s also not to be underestimated as a defining force in a seat like Menzies.

One year ago, in the wake of the Bondi Junction killings, the PM declared violence against women a “national crisis”. Women continue to be killed at a rate of one per week. But until a spate of killin...

Could legalising cannabis emerge as a sleeper issue in the election or for a re-elected minority Labor government? A look at the experience in Canada overseas what legal recreational use might look li...

Box Hill’s Chinatown has become a political hotspot as candidates battle for the so-called Chinese Australian vote. Closer scrutiny reveals a diverse community of cynics, believers and generational di...