Hostility from constituents is not new for the state’s politicians, including its premiers. But the alleged attack on Helen Haines has sent a chill down the collective spine

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On Monday night, Georgie Purcell shared a statement on social media in support of Helen Haines, who earlier that day had been allegedly attacked by a constituent in her regional Victorian electorate.

Purcell, a Victorian upper house MP whose region partly overlaps with Haines’s federal electorate, wrote that the alleged attack had sent chills down her spine. Being a woman in politics, she said, had changed the way she moved through the world – where she parked her car, which route she took home, even whether she held public events at all.

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© Photograph: Ellen Smith/The Guardian

© Photograph: Ellen Smith/The Guardian

© Photograph: Ellen Smith/The Guardian

Detectives said the woman and primary-school-aged child could not be revived and died at the scene.

Detectives said the woman and primary-school-aged child could not be revived and died at the scene.

Readers take aim at the conduct of parliamentarians.

Traders and advocates at the Queen Victoria Market say the cultural icon is at risk. Management say it is thriving. Both can’t be right.

A private security firm contracted by the AFL to oversee Marvel Stadium has been place into liquidation, owing almost $2 million in tax and facing claims that hundreds of staff were underpaid.

Traders and advocates at the Queen Victoria Market say the cultural icon is at risk. Management say it is thriving. Both can’t be right.

A private security firm contracted by the AFL to oversee Marvel Stadium has been place into liquidation, owing almost $2 million in tax and facing claims that hundreds of staff were underpaid.

The respected journalist told the broadcaster she won’t return to the breakfast show she co-hosted with Bob Murphy.

The respected journalist told the broadcaster she won’t return to the breakfast show she co-hosted with Bob Murphy.

As locals continue to grapple with the violent attack on Helen Haines, towns across north-east Victoria are turning to an iconic Australian bird to show solidarity.

Antiques store owner, 74, pleads guilty to 13 charges after regulator uncovers hundreds of animals at his home and shop

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The white-walled room packed with magpies, galahs and sulphur-crested cockatoos, foxes and possums is eerily quiet. As a video pans across shelves filled with these and many other species, there is no flapping or squawking or hissing; the animals are frozen and silent.

They are among the more than 700 native animals that were found illegally taxidermied and frozen that were seized from the property of a Victorian antiques store owner last year.

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© Photograph: Conservation Regulator Victoria

© Photograph: Conservation Regulator Victoria

© Photograph: Conservation Regulator Victoria

Dumped parliamentary hopeful Grant Hutchinson has sent a legal letter challenging his termination as the Liberal candidate for Croydon.

Dumped parliamentary hopeful Grant Hutchinson has sent a legal letter challenging his termination as the Liberal candidate for Croydon.