Vic

Delivering on our commitment to crossbench Members of Parliament, a new pandemic-specific part of the Public Health and Wellbeing Act 2008 will be legislated to embed lessons learnt managing COVID-19, incorporate best practice public health administration from other jurisdictions like New Zealand, and introduce greater transparency and accountability around decision-making.

Have you heard of Chilean Needle Grass? It’s a perennial tussock-forming grass and is one of 32 declared Weeds of National Significance (WoNS) in Australia. It’s commonly mistaken for native spear grass, but has potentially disastrous economic and environmental impacts.

The Boards of Maldon Hospital and Castlemaine Health have jointly agreed to explore a voluntary amalgamation they believe would deliver better health services for the communities of Mount Alexander, and secure Maldon Hospital in its current form for generations to come. The Boards will now commission a proposal that will examine the potential benefits of unification.

Mawsons Concrete and Quarries are planning to dig a quarry in the Blue Hills, which are located on the outskirts of Maldon, and are nestled between Shelbourne and Baringhup. The Tarrangower Times spoke to the Environment and Compliance Officer, Shari Rankin who stated, “At this stage it’s too early to determine a proposed start date but we don’t envisage this being until at least 2023 ..."

Geoff McLennan. This week the weatherperson looked after us superbly with a beautiful afternoon for petanque. There was a good turnout of players for the afternoon, we are now used to the extra regulations put on us by the pandemic like wearing masks, only one person per team can throw the coche and not being able to pick up boules not yours.

A drone has successfully established an ecological planned burn in the Grampians National Park, saving time and reducing the risk to firefighters, as part of a trial carried out by Forest Fire Management Victoria (FFMVic) crews in the Wimmera.

Kendall Jennings. In a ride that changed a young man’s career, Jye McNeil won the 2020 Melbourne Cup in his debut in the big race. However, the events he looked forward to with the Kerang Turf Club would go ahead without him on Thursday, October 14 due to COVID-19 restrictions ... In the fastest Melbourne Cup since Media Puzzle in 2002, Twilight Payment ran the cup in 3:17.34. In his inaugural Melbourne Cup ride, Jye McNeil from Myall won the great race in front of no crowd, a first in the cup’s history.

NSW Murray, Victorian Murray and Goulburn have both hit 100% allocations. The news is a welcome relief to farmers. Despite the increase in allocation, water prices remain firm. Victorian Resource Manager, Dr Mark Bailey, said, “The sustained flows into the Murray system have provided enough resource to repay all of the borrowed Barmah-Millewa Forest environmental water allocation and announce the 100% allocation. 

Kirstin Nicholson. Tynan. Remember that name. It’s a name you are going to see a lot of in the future. Tynan Dove is a 16-year-old from Cohuna who is set to make a name for himself in the world of rapping. He appears to be an ordinary teenager, studying Year 10 at Cohuna Secondary College and doing what other district teenagers do. Tynan is, however, an aspiring artist who is building a reputation as a renowned melodic rap artist.

The Ballarat West Employment Zone (BWEZ) is going from strength-to-strength with five new tenants bringing more than 150 new jobs to the precinct – cementing BWEZ as an engine room for growth in regional Victoria. Minister for Regional Development Mary-Anne Thomas visited the BWEZ headquarters of Office Vision, which is expanding its operations to the manufacturing hub.

An open letter from Chris Hardman, Chief Fire Officer, Forest Fire Management Victoria. As the Chief Fire Officer for Forest Fire Management Victoria (FFMVic), my role is to keep the community and our environment safe from bushfire risk. More than ever, the impacts of climate change and its impact on the work we do is at the forefront of our thinking, planning and actions.

The Victorian Government has tabled the second phase report from the Inspector-General for Emergency Management’s (IGEM) independent inquiry into the 2019-20 Victorian fire season.

A small-scale solar farm on Newstead’s outskirts is still on track for completion by 2022, albeit, a downsized version. After community consultation and feedback from the energy industry, the community group behind the project down-scaled it from 9 mega watts (MW) to 5MW ... The project is run by a group of dedicated volunteers with a range of expertise in business, PR, communication and project management.

Timber Towns Victoria welcomes a motion calling on the Victorian Government to table all documents relating to the closure of the native timber industry ... “Full, open and transparent information is needed that provides assurances to communities, workers and all sectors of the industry that decisions have been made based on evidence, and in the best interest of all Victorians. This decision has far reaching consequences that need to be fully understood and debated:” TTV President and Glenelg Shire Deputy Mayor Cr Karen Stephens.

2019 saw the celebration of the 90th anniversary of the Mt Tarrengower hill-climb ... There are not very many combined car and motorcycle events in the Australian historic events calendar. This combination contributes to making the Mt Tarrengower hill-climb a unique event and one of the oldest such events in Australia ... The event was so popular in 2019 that capacity was reached within a week of entries being opened. 

Kel York. On 2 June 1916 the Maldon News reported there was some excitement around Sandy Creek following the discovery of gold on the property of Mr Gordon, just below Cookman’s Ranges, about three miles (five kms) south of Maldon. The lucky prospectors were John Annand and A Thomas. John had discovered gold in that locality in 1902, and had been prospecting there since.