The State of Emergency in Victoria will be extended for another four weeks to continue the measures designed to slow the spread of coronavirus and keep Victorians safe.
The State of Emergency will be extended until 11.59pm on 19 July 2020, which allows the Victorian Government to continue to enforce physical distancing and isolation requirements, as well as other directions from the Chief Health Officer.
On June 1st, 2020, media watch on the ABC bemoaned the loss of regional journalism with the closure of the regional newspapers. Paul Barry said the greatest loss was that there would be no one to hold local government to account like the local newspapers could do.
From the outset, we have always listened to our medical experts. And they’re telling us we’ve come to a critical crossroads.
Today, our case numbers have hit the highest they’ve been in more than two months. I know that’s not what people want to hear – but sadly, that is our reality.
During the Bald Hills Wind Farm trial on June 10th, 2020, in the Supreme Court of Victoria the director of the wind farm under cross examination admitted to not submitting two letters relevant to the case.
Just as Britain assumed Australia was Terra Nullius (nobody’s land) and proceeded to usurp the rights of the traditional owners, OSMI Australia Pty Ltd, assumes that they have a right to develop a wind farm at Delburn, ignoring the opinions and feelings of nearby residents. Their only motive is profit. There are three main beneficiaries from this project, The Developers; Stephen Buckle and Peter Marriott who each stand to make millions if their plans are approved and HVP who will receive over a million dollars per year in rental. HVP is American owned and profits go overseas. HVP claims on their website that they are “Good Neighbours” but have not consulted with locals on this project.
I pulled the official letter from our post office box early one morning a few weeks ago. It was solely addressed to me.
I was a little shocked upon opening and reading the concerning news, yet subconsciously I’d been awaiting the inevitable day my body would begin to protest.
When your neighbour has a noisy dog that disturbs your enjoyment of sleep the first step might be to ask him to deal with the problem. The second step would be for you to complain to Council for them to deal with it under the Public Health and Nuisance Act.
Council acts on all such complaints by using a section of the Act that gives them 4 choices.
The Victorian Government is supporting an open and orderly restart of the onshore conventional gas industry, with the Petroleum Legislation Amendment Bill 2020 passing the Legislative Council.
Production of the estimated resources could generate as much as $310 million annually for regional economies and create up to 6,400 jobs over the lifespan of these projects.
A two-day hearing in the Supreme court began today and under the coronavirus pandemic rules, it was conducted from Court 2 using zoom remote conferencing technology. Around 21 individuals “attended” the zoom trial.
Next up was the cross examination of Mr Whalen by Georgia Costello SC, Council for the 5 residents in South Gippsland. Some facts that came out of this examination are that the Wind Farm was granted a permit in 2004 under the planning and environment act. Originally established by Mitzui it was later sold to Bald Hill Wind Farm in February 2017. Bald Hill Windfarm contract out the maintenance needs as well as the daily operations of the Windfarm to a group called Vestas.
Bald Hills Windfarm has 52 turbines scattered around South Gippsland in the Walkerville area. The permit was issued under the planning and environment act and the South Gippsland Planning Scheme. Permit was actually issued by the State Government Minister for Planning.
Mr Pizor QC then made reference to four of the planning conditions.
The first hour of day two was spent with lawyers for each side putting their final submissions and arguing various points of law and interpretations and what if scenarios repeating much of what was said on day one in various forms. For a non-legal person, this bit was dull although from a legal point of view quite necessary as each side tried to show the Justice towards their preferred interpretation of the law as it applied in this case.
After the Wind Farm Legal Team completed their summation it was the turn of the defence side to make their case.
First up was the lawyer for Council Mr Horan QC. After his submission, the legal team representing the 5 residents had their say. This was put to the Court by Mr Fetter QC
Marlene Kairouz has been named by the Age Investigation into branch stacking as complicit in the same operations that the disgraced Somyurek has been sacked over.
The Age newspaper quotes from secretly recorded tapes from the joint conference room she shares (shared) with Somyurek which shows her encouraging her staff to take part in the operation led by Somyurek.
Sunday Night on 60 minutes Accusations were made of the most serious nature about Minister for Local Government, the Honourable Minister Adem Somyurek.
Minister Somyurek has been surveilled in an undercover investigation launched 12 months ago around the time that he dismissed the South Gippsland Shire Council. BREAKING BREAKING NEWS-Somyurek has been sacked from Governmentv and will be expelled from the Labour Party.
Are Council Staff Inappropriately Involving Themselves in Recruiting Candidates for Council Elections?
Rumours have been flying around for a while that Council staff were hunting around for “suitable” candidates to run for Council at the next elections in Oct 2021. In line with this newspaper’s policy, this report needed facts, so I decided to investigate the issue further.
Based on advice from Victoria’s Chief Health Officer, learner permit and licence testing including drive tests will progressively resume from Monday 15 June.
The first priority under the staged resumption will be to re-book tests for those whose appointments were postponed due to coronavirus restrictions.
Trulli is known far and wide across South Gippsland, but like so many of our other businesses, the Meeniyan landmark has been
closed during the lockdown. The difficulty Trulli is facing is a little different than most other businesses in that the operation
employs nine full-time jobs, all of which are here on Visas not eligible for JobKeeper or Seeker support.
It’s likely that many readers drive through the Black Spur bends along the South Gippsland Highway between Koonwarra and Meeniyan.You may have noticed the delays and disturbance as highway re-alignment works proceed. You may not have noticed the platypus and Sacred Kingfishers that inhabit the adjoining wetlands.
Recently my family uprooted our elderly mother from a busy, peninsula town to Foster, so we can be all be near to enjoy quality time and take care of, well, whatever arises. I visited mum the other morning and was pleasantly reminded of what I obviously take for granted these days, having lived the country life for fifteen years.
This policy was approved of by Council on August 28th, 2019 by the Administrators. Within the Planning Panel report on recommendation 13, it is stated:
“Council consider undertaking a fulsome review of Clauses 22.05 and 22.06 of the South Gippsland Planning Scheme pertaining to Rural dwellings and Rural subdivision to ensure their consistency with the Planning Policy Framework and established principles (including Planning Practice Notes) relating to the form and scope of a local planning policy. Agreed”.
This week the Administrators have asked me to write a CEO Message in order to reflect on my time
The Victorian Government will continue to back farmers and protect our biosecurity with strict enforcement of on-the-spot fines for those caught trespassing onto farms in the name of animal activism.
