Melbourne Express: Tuesday, October 31, 2017

Reporter Noel Towell is in Richmond where Premier Dan Andrews and a cast of paramedics, police officers, MPs and local councillors are announcing the trial of an injecting centre. Watch out for his file later today.

Lots of readers have been sending us photos of scarlett honeyeaters they spotted in their backyards, after reports earlier in the week they are migrating en masse to Victoria. I particularly like this story from Rebecca Lupton

"This scarlet honeyeater was found in my kitchen on Saturday. I had only minutes before caught and released a brown female when the red head of the male caught my eye - he was so beautiful he deserved a photo. Only about as big as a man's thumb. This was taken in Bega, NSW, 100km from the Victorian border. None of my friends have ever seen one before."

Reporter Steve Lillebuen is at the scene of that Abbotsford stabbing, and just filed this:

Several Victoria Street traders, who didn't want to be identified, said they saw police outside the Bakers Arms Hotel, but they thought nothing of it - just another person drunk or high on drugs in the area.

Nearby resident Phil de Pyle, who was out walking his dog past the pub, said he wasn't surprised to hear of the killing, saying the area needed a stronger police presence.

"Around here, the residents don't feel safe, he said.

"I come down here most days for a coffee and I see drug dealing happening openly on the street corner, you see people shooting up."

This is also bad - things a bit of a mess this morning folks

Upfield Line - Minor Delays - Delays up to 10 mins due to a truck damaging level crossing equipment.
— Not Metro Notify (@NotMetroNotify) October 30, 2017

Wow, things look really bad on the roads. The West Gate is static.

Luckily paramedics say only a single person with minor injuries had to be treated after that multi-car smash at the Burnley Tunnel.

The WESTGATE Fwy a carpark from the Princes Fwy out of the MALTBY BYPASS - ALL the way to a smash in the BURNLEY TUNNEL #victraffic
— Jimmy Traffic (@JimmyTraffic) October 30, 2017

In fact we can confirm the smash is blocking two lanes heading eastbound through the Burnley Tunnel. Emergency services and CityLink on scene. Delays building very quickly.

Multi-vehicle smash blocking the left-hand-lane in the Burnley Tunnel. This looks very bad, seeking more information now.

BURNLEY TUNNEL: Multivehicle smash blocking the LHL in the tunnel and building quickly at the city end of the WESTGATE #victraffic
— Jimmy Traffic (@JimmyTraffic) October 30, 2017

Fairfax Media, publisher of The Age, is "seriously considering" an appeal in the Chris Gayle defamation case, reports Michaela Whitbourn.

"The judge accepted that the jury had been misled in a way that prejudiced Fairfax, but declined to discharge the jury," the company spokesperson said.

"Fairfax believes that it did not get a fair trial. It is seriously considering its appeal rights."

Train network still running pretty well, with minor delays on only a couple of lines: Sunbury and Craigieburn.

It's hit 10 degrees at the Bureau of Meteorology's CBD weather station (although it feels closer to 8 degrees). Sadly, it's looking like a pretty cool week - here's the seven-day forecast

Have you spotted a distinctive bird with a bright red head lately?

Drought in Queensland is forcing the scarlett honeyeater to seek other lodgings, and its now turning up in huge numbers in Victoria, Joe Hinchliffe reports.

Have you spotted a scarlett honeyeater in your yard? Send me a picture - liam.mannix@fairfaxmedia.com.au

Victoria Street has just been reopened to traffic, we're hearing.

Another update from Steve Lillebuen who is out at the scene of the Abbotsford stabbing:

The crime scene is walking distance from what could be Victoria's first supervised drug injecting centre, said Yarra Mayor Amanda Stone.

She said she was very saddened to hear of the overnight homicide, but believed such crimes were far less likely to occur if an injecting site was up and running.

"I think we need to establish that it was drug-related, but it certainly does underline the need for a supervised environment where people can be connected to services and have a safe place to be."

How's this for a traffic problem: there are reports of loose sheep on Princes Freeway near the Avalon Airport turnoff. Take care if you're driving nearby.

In overnight news, hundreds of refugees and asylum seekers are barricading themselves inside the Manus Island processing centre and refusing to leave amid fears they'll be attacked if they venture outside the compound's wire fences, report Melissa Cunningham and Fergus Hunter.

Refugees are repairing and securing damaged barbed wire on the compound's perimeter fences to protect them from possible attacks as confrontation between the men, locals and Papua New Guinea authorities looms.

Reporter Steve Lillebuen is at the scene of the stabbing in Richmond. He says detectives, forensic police and uniform police remain at the scene.

Three forensic officers removed a large evidence bag from the crime scene just after 7am.

We have minor delays on the Craigieburn and Sunbury services, but other than that the train network is running just fine.

As we wait to hear more about the new safe injecting room that will be set up in Richmond to deal with the heroin crisis, here's how our reporters have covered the issue in the past

Melbourne's deadly 'heroin rectangle': Within these seven blocks, 20 people die each year:

Nino Bucci reveals that 20 per cent of all people who die from a heroin overdose in Victoria either die in, or source the drug from, north Richmond.

Greg Denham, the Yarra Health and Drug Forum executive director, said that the epicentre of heroin deaths was an area in north Richmond bordered by Hoddle, Victoria, Lennox and Elizabeth streets.

The street with no taps: ground zero for Melbourne's new heroin crisis

The streets and laneways around here have no taps. Not one. Some have had the brass tops removed; others are completely severed at the pipe.

Everyone had to remove them, says Ms Howard, because addicts kept coming into their backyards to get water used in injecting heroin.

Melbourne Express reader Ruth has written in to say she can see the broken-down truck being slowly pushed off the West Gate Bridge.

"The pushing van is on the scene but was moving slowly. It's in the left lane. Traffic is slow beforehand," she writes.

Thanks for the tip Ruth! If you have some information our readers might find handy, email me and I'll put it in - liam.mannix@fairfaxmedia.com.au.

Recapping our top stories:

A man has died after being assaulted with a knife in Abbotsford last night after a fight with a woman. It all happened only 400 metres from the likely site of the new safe injecting room.
A 23-year-old woman has been sexually assaulted in broad daylight as she walked past a service station in South Melbourne.

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