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Clay Lucas

Clay Lucas

Clay Lucas is an investigative reporter at The Age who has covered urban affairs, state and federal politics, industrial relations, health and aged care. Email him at clucas@theage.com.au or claylucas@protonmail.com, or via Signal +61439828128.

Museums Victoria is about to axe 55 jobs due to government funding cuts.

‘Find someone to hug’: Museums Victoria to cut 55 jobs, raise ticket prices after funding slashed

New spending on exhibition spaces and IT upgrades will be deferred after big cuts in this year’s state budget.

  • Clay Lucas

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Medicinal cannabis being grown in September 2024 at Victorian cultivator ECS Botanics.

Cannabis Inc: Australia’s booming medicinal weed industry

Australia’s medicinal cannabis industry has taken boomed since legalisation in 2016 – but its growth is raising questions for many in the health sector.

This GIF of Stephen Colbert was posted in a chat for cosmetic injectables workers.

Inside the Botox black market: Leaked messages reveal ‘illegal’ trading network

A trove of internal communications shows nurses with links to a major telehealth company were buying and selling prescription-only drugs, while staff joked about liability.

  • Clay Lucas and Henrietta Cook
Medicinal cannabis being grown in September 2024 at Victorian cultivator ECS Botanics.

Medicinal cannabis crackdown looms as high-strength products hit market

Leaked TGA document reveals concerns over the surging number of high-strength products given to Australians.

  • Clay Lucas

No red flags in one doctor’s 72,000 scripts, cannabis giant insists

Montu says its systems are safe and patient-focused, following revelations one of its doctors wrote more than 72,000 cannabis scripts in two years.

  • Clay Lucas and Angus Thomson

The cannabis factory: How one doctor wrote 72,000 scripts in two years

Medicinal cannabis giant Montu’s doctors are issuing prescriptions at an alarming rate, prompting strong criticism from the federal government.

  • Angus Thomson and Clay Lucas
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Tim Staindl and Duncan Wallace outside the Corkman pub rebuild in Carlton.

Brick-by-brick rebuild of bulldozed pub becomes a concrete ‘Temu Corkman’

Nearly a decade after its illegal demolition, the Corkman Pub is going back up. But what’s emerging has left those who fought for its rebuild feeling cold.

  • Rachael Dexter and Clay Lucas
New housing in Manor Lakes butts up against the reserve for the future Outer Metropolitan Ring.

$350m spent buying land, a call for urgency, but no sign of Melbourne’s mega-road

The 100-kilometre outer ring road is not high on the public’s radar, but the government has spent millions securing its path, and internal documents reveal it was urged to finish the first stage by 2031.

  • Adam Carey and Clay Lucas
The cosmetic injectables industry has boomed.

Cosmetic crackdown: End looms for speedy Botox scripts, influencer freebies banned

New rules for injectables target quick telehealth consults, the role of influencers and nurse training, in an attempt to ensure patient safety comes before profit.

  • Clay Lucas and Henrietta Cook
The grand staircase at Melbourne Museum’s successful Titanic exhibition, held in late 2023 until April 2024.

Museum boss ‘disappointed’ at media leaks as union questions Titanic hires

The Museums Victoria chief told a staff meeting she was “disappointed” at leaks to The Age, and has defended her senior managers after an ombudsman’s probe prompted a policy rewrite.

  • Clay Lucas