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Melbourne after COVID

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A deserted Flinders Street Station during the COVID lockdowns.

Taxpayers stung $125m to cover COVID class action payout

About 16,000 businesses financially hit by 112 days of pandemic lockdowns have had a legal win, which also means former government ministers will avoid giving evidence.

  • Daniella White and Rachel Eddie

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Brunetti Classico owner Fabio Angele is acutely aware of the decline in Lygon Street’s pedestrian traffic.

It once attracted 700,000 people in one weekend. Now Lygon Street is in a state of flux

The famous street is facing a sink-or-swim battle, decades after its heyday when visitors crammed in to dance on the road and have their first taste of pizza.

  • Cassandra Morgan and Craig Butt
Bourke Street Mall, once at the top of Melbourne’s retail hierarchy, has fallen out of fashion.

This CBD icon was a mecca for shoppers. Then Melbourne fell out of love

Once at the top of Melbourne’s retail hierarchy, this mighty strip took a mighty tumble – before a “sensorial wonder” moved in.

  • Cassandra Morgan and Craig Butt
Foot traffic in Melbourne CBD has failed to return to pre-COVID levels – and probably never will.

City Limits

This series investigates how Melbourne CBD has weathered the long shadow of the pandemic amid changing workplace, retail and entertainment trends.

Foot traffic in Melbourne CBD has failed to return to pre-COVID levels.

Are you part of Melbourne’s missing 20 per cent? Check how much foot traffic has dropped

Once Melbourne’s liveliest areas, these city zones have been transformed after they were abandoned by the CBD’s vanishing 20 per cent.

  • Cassandra Morgan and Craig Butt
Novak Djokovic has a complicated relationship with Australia.

Loved and unloved: Behind the relationship between Djokovic and Australia

At Melbourne Park, Djokovic will have, as ever, a legion of fans in his corner, and a chunk of the public that will be barracking against him; this has long been the Novak equation.

  • Jake Niall and Selma Milovanovic
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Victorian Health Minister Mary-Anne Thomas visiting an elective surgery theatre in January 2023

Victoria spent over $1b on a surgery catch-up plan. The financial watchdog can’t say if rapid clinics worked

The state’s surgery catch-up blitz following the pandemic has missed key targets, delivering 30,000 fewer procedures than expected.

  • Broede Carmody and Kieran Rooney
The National Children’s Chorus and Australian Children’s Choir met online about 4 years ago. Now, they’re performing together for the first time.

These children’s choirs met four years ago. Now they are finally singing together

The pandemic hit young people hard – but one Zoom call helped kids in the US National Children’s Chorus and Australian Children’s Choir realise they were far from alone.

  • Nell Geraets
Author Megan Clement.

I’m locked out of voting this election. I feel less Australian than ever

I haven’t lived in Australia for 12 years, but I keep finding myself back here at election time. It’s ironic, really, because I no longer have a say in who leads my homeland.

  • Megan Clement
A group of people is pushing the narrative that there’s more to the Daniel Andrews bike crash than is publicly said.

The Liberal heavyweights and pandemic agitators driving the ‘Bike Boy’ campaign haunting Daniel Andrews

The Age unveils key players paying the bills and driving the legal campaign that has consistently embroiled the former premier.

  • Sherryn Groch