Good morning central Victoria!
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
We’re in for a mostly cloudy day with a high (70%) chance of showers, most likely this evening. There is also a chance of a thunderstorm this evening - Bendigo 37, Maryborough 35, Castlemaine 34, Kyneton 34, Redesdale 37, Echuca 39.
Catch up on news here:
$1 million reward on teens’ disappearance
A REWARD of up to $1 million has been offered for information on the disappearance of two Bendigo teenagers 49 years ago. Read more here.
Flack proceeds with 10 per cent pay cut
City of Greater Bendigo councillor George Flack has voluntarily reduced his allowances, deeming it “sound financial judgement” in tough economic times. Read more here.
Bendigo Health’s cafeteria closes for final time
The closure of the Bendigo Health cafeteria on Friday marked the end of an era for workers, some of whom had worked there for more than 20 years. Read more here.
‘Explosion’ heard in Eaglehawk
Bendigo police are investigating the source of a loud noise, described by some as an ‘explosion’, near Lake Neangar on Saturday night. Read more here.
Bowlers’ day out in BDCA as 57 wickets fall for 964 runs
Ball had the better of bat on day one of round 10 of the Bendigo District Cricket Association on Saturday. Read more here.
State of the nation
Need a national news snapshot first thing – well, we have you covered.
► PORTLAND, VIC: Adelaide driver Chris Stewart, 48, died when his purpose-built drag car crashed into a wall during a Portland race meeting on Saturday.
About 1000 people were at the track for the two-day South Coast 660, including family and friends of the driver, when the accident happened about 1pm, police said. An Ambulance Victoria spokesman John Mullen said the driver was deceased when they arrived and was unable to be resuscitated. Read more.
► HORSHAM, VIC: A toddler who was seriously sunburned allegedly despite wearing SPF50+ sunscreen, is healing well.
Two-year-old Zayden ended up with large blisters on both shoulders, which bled and became infected, after a family trip to the beach last week.
Following a trip to the hospital and multiple doctor’s appointments, Zayden’s mum Jennifer Moore said he is doing much better. Read more.
► NEWCASTLE, NSW: Rescuers say a life jacket has saved a rock fisherman from drowning after a rogue wave washed him into dangerous surf between Avoca and Copacabana beaches on Sunday morning.
The 58-year-old fisherman was swept into the sea about 8am, spending about half-an-hour bobbing around off a spot known as Winnie Bay before two volunteers from Avoca Surf Life Saving Club pulled him into an inflatable rescue boat.
Club president Garry Clarke said the man was about 500 metres out to sea when they got to him. Read more.
► DUBBO, NSW: Athletes at the start of their career through to those who have plenty of experience were at the Athletics NSW Country Championships at Barden Park.
The youngest athlete that lined up was just nine years old, according to officials, while one competitor in their 90s also took part.
“That’s the interesting thing about athletics,” Athletics NSW board member and meeting manager for the Dubbo tournament Peter Higgins said. Read more.
► BALLARAT, VIC: If the Ballarat Vegan Festival is anything to go by, more locals are willing to give up meat and animal products than ever before.
“It’s easy being Vegan,” festival attendee Anna Hills said.
Ms Hills and her sister grew up vegetarian but decided to follow in their father’s footsteps and adopted a vegan lifestyle two years ago.
Ms Hills hasn’t looked back. Read more.
Photo spotlight
The best of the best photos from the Tamworth Country Music Festival Day three. Click HERE to see more from the Northern Daily Leader’s coverage of the festival.
National news
► HEALTH: Andrew Mullard reckons diabetics have enough to contend with without the Federal Governmant imposing more costs on them.
Regular visits to GPs, the cost of medication including insulin, trips to dieticians, podiatrists and optometrists and now the extra burden of blood test strips is pushing their medical expenses to the limit.
Mr Mullard, of Windella, was diagnosed about seven years ago with type 1 diabetes. He will still received subsidised strips, but his type 2 counterparts will now have to fork out $60 for one pack of 100 test strips. Read more.
► EMPLOYMENT: There's an "exciting new world of work" out there, and not only is Sarah Moran embracing it, she's encouraging others to do the same.
Ms Moran, 32, is chief executive of Girl Geek Academy, which builds technical and entrepreneurial skills among women. She said the lines between traditional jobs and entrepreneurship were "blurring further and further".
When a school careers counsellor recently asked her about the future of work, Ms Moran told her: "You get a job or you make a job, and it's totally OK to bounce in between." Read more.
► SAME-SEX MARRIAGE: The Turnbull government's proposed version of marriage equality would further entrench discrimination by allowing civil celebrants and service providers to refuse to undertake gay weddings, the peak law body says.
The Law Council of Australia will on Monday tell a parliamentary inquiry the proposed laws would allow discrimination against same-sex couples on "no proper basis" and undermine fundamental principles of the law.
"The current bill that they're looking at doesn't strike the right balance," council president Fiona McLeod, SC, said. It went "too far" in appeasing religious groups and was "inconsistent with the current federal law", she said. Read more.
National weather radar
International news
► USA: Now that's a counterpunch. Forever telling Americans that if he's punched, he'll counterpunch, Donald Trump woke from his first sleep at the White House to find the streets of the capital flooded with probably as many people protesting against him as were there on Friday to welcome his inauguration.
As his slap-in-the-face inauguration speech sank in, Trump took himself off to see a bunch of guys he's punched relentlessly – the CIA. And around the world, leaders tended to be mute or, like Malcolm Turnbull, tweeted platitudes that seemed to pretend Trump's threatened war on the world is just bluff and bluster. Read more.
► USA: Donald Trump's ascent to the White House has been met with a tidal wave of peaceful protest across the country, with hundreds of thousands flooding Washington, DC, and huge crowds in other cities across the United States and the world expressing anger, disgust and defiance at the new President and demanding equal rights for all.
The Women's March on Washington, DC, the largest march to take place on Saturday, inundated the national capital, with huge crowds spilling from the designated rally area to the south of the Capitol, sprawling across the National Mall and into surrounding streets, and jamming the underground Metro service. News network MSNBC estimated half a million people were at the Washington march by 1pm, though organisers later put the figure around 1 million people. No official city figures for the march were made available. Read more.
► ANTARCTICA: More used to marching penguins, it was a different kind of movement that swept across one of the most remote places on the planet in recent hours.
The protests against Donald Trump's rise to the US presidency have reached faraway shores, with a Women's March held in Paradise Bay in Antarctica.
A group on an expedition ship to the frozen continent have joined millions around the world to stage their own protest march - with gentoo penguins out in force to support them. Read more
Faces of Australia: Alex Jeffery
One of Inverell’s young Aboriginal dancers will represent her culture and her country when she takes part in two of Sydney’s major Australia Day events.
Wiradjuri teenager Alex Jeffery will take part in the official Sydney launch event for the day’ celebrations at Barangaroo Reserve on Thursday morning and perform for the massive, sold-out Sydney Opera House Australia Day concert that evening. Read more of Alex’s story here.