'This oil could have killed native animals and plants': authorities search for Greater Bendigo National Park oil spill culprit

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Bendigo police pilot program attempting to even scales for Aboriginal children

Aboriginal Elders should be called in by Bendigo police when they are cautioning young indigenous people, a community legal service has told a Victorian parliamentary inquiry.

In a submission to an upper house committee, the Victorian Aboriginal Legal Service said it supported a pilot program of pre-charge cautioning at Bendigo, Echuca and Dandenong but more was needed for it to succeed.

The legal service said it had high hopes for the pilot program because of its ability to help vulnerable young people - many in out of home care - to be diverted from the criminal justice system.

Statistics have shown that when cautions go down, arrests go up for Aboriginal youth and the figures worsened sharply between 2008 and 2015.

Investigation into illegal oil spill in Greater Bendigo National Park

An investigation is in progress after a large amount of waste oil was illegally dumped inside a national park outside Bendigo recently.

A large oil tank was found dumped inside the Greater Bendigo National Park, near Rifle Range Road, on March 28.

It is believed the tank was taken to the site, tipped on its side, and left to empty into a drainage ditch, spreading oil more than 40 metres through native bushland.

"Dumping oil in a National Park is incredibly reckless," Parks Victoria Statewide Enforcement Coordinator Chris Mercier said.

Best in the business: Maley crowned WNBL MVP

A bit of good news from the world of sport now as a local superstar gets recognised for her great efforts.

Anneli Maley's outstanding season with the Bendigo Spirit has earned her the WNBL's most prestigious individual award.

On Friday, the 23-year-old won the Suzy Batkovic Medal as the league's Most Valuable Player - the second Bendigo Spirit player to win the award after Kristi Harrower won it in 2009-10.

In her first season with the Bendigo Spirit, Maley led the league in scoring, 19.8 points per game, and rebounding, 15.7 boards per game.

Maley polled 78 votes in the Suzy Batkovic Medal to edge out Stepha Talbot by just one vote.

Australian Transport Safety Bureau issues findings on mid-air crash that killed Bendigo man

Pilots involved in a mid-air crash that killed a Bendigo man likely did not see each other, an investigation has concluded.

It has recommended equipment upgrades to minimise the risk of a repeat tragedy.

Chris Gobel was among four people killed when the aircraft collided eight kilometres south of Mangalore Airport, to Bendigo's east, in February 2020.

The death sent shockwaves through Bendigo's tight-knit flying community, with the Bendigo Flying Club describing him as a key aviation figure.

Bendigo Advertiser launches new podcast, The Takeaway with first episode coming out today

Exciting news coming from the digital side of things as we release our new podcast today!

Thanks to the hard work of our entertainment reporter Chris Pedler as well as our digital guru Maddy Fogarty and political reporter turned producer Neve Brissenden, each fortnightly episode will centre around a prominent figure from around central Victoria and their story.

Listen to The Takeaway trailer here:

Our first podcast, titled The Takeaway, will be released fortnightly and speak different figures about their careers, the social issues in their fields and the work they do - all in the time it takes for their dream takeaway meal to be "prepared".

The first episode will see Bendigo Pride Festival and LGBTIQA+ advocate John Richards go back to the 80s for his order while talking about issues the queer community still face each day in Australia.

Listen to the very first episode of The Takeaway with Chris Pedler here.

Daily cases in Greater Bendigo drop below 200 on Friday

Another COVID-19 update coming your way, this time with some local statistics.

Greater Bendigo has recorded 189 new COVID-19 cases in the last 24 hours, 84 less than Thursday.

Active cases have dropped as well overnight, bringing the total to 1415.

The majority of the new cases were linked to postcodes 3550, 3551 and 3555.

Surrounding shires also recorded a number of new cases in the last 24 hours.

Macedon Ranges noted another 103, a big from Thursday's numbers. The shire's active cases have come back to just more than 500.

Campaspe shire recorded 39, taking it's total number of active cases to 272, while the Central Goldfields and Mount Alexander shires recorded 22 and 29 new cases respectively.

Loddon shire reported 12 while Buloke noted 15 new cases overnight, and Gannawarra recorded 11.

Prime Minister agrees to send Bushmasters to Ukraine

Morning all, Maddy here to bring you the latest from Ukraine's President asking Australia to send Bendigo-built Bushmasters in his address to parliament on Thursday.

Senior reporter Tom O'Callaghan has been across this story for the Bendigo Advertiser, as has Canberra Times senior political reporter Harley Dennett.

In a historic plea to Australia's parliament on Thursday, Ukrainian President Volodmyr Zelensky called for Australia to send reinforcements in the form of the nation's Bendigo-built Bushmasters to help fight off Russian invaders.

A plea, Prime Minister Scott Morrison responded to by saying Australia "had every intention to help".

"We will send our armoured vehicles, Bushmasters, [and] we will fly them over in Globemaster C-17s to make sure they can be there to support," Mr Morrison said on Friday, Harley reported.

Tom raises a few good questions in his article. What might that look like? And how might Bushmasters fair in a conflict very different from Afghanistan's, where the vehicles first proved themselves in battle?

To read his full story, click here.

Victoria records more than 10,000 cases, six COVID-related deaths

Good morning central Vic! Health reporter Alex Gretgrix here with the latest COVID-19 news.

Info has come from the Twitter-verse, outlining the new cases recorded in Victoria.

Victoria has recorded 10,424 new coronavirus cases overnight, bringing the states total number of active cases to 61,308.

The latest Department of Health data also revealed six people have died from the virus.

The new cases were made up of 6681 reported rapid-antigen tests and 3743 positive PCR results.

Health workers tested 22,934 people for COVID-19 on Thursday. There are 310 people were in hospital due to the virus including 12 in the ICU and three on ventilators.

As far as vaccination rates go, 94.3 per cent of Victorians over the age of 12 are double jabbed. The state's third dose rate has also continued to climb steadily, with 65.7 per cent of eligible Victorians (18-years and over) having received theirs.

Here you can find today's weather, the latest news and sports updates (with photos of course) and anything quirky happening around the traps.

If you have any feedback, suggestions, news tips or simply a great picture you'd love to share email us at addynews@austcommunitymedia.com.au or message us on social media.

Bit chilly

Good morning, political reporter Neve Brissenden here again this morning. Big evening as opposition leader Anthony Albanese delivered his budget reply speech. We'll bring you more on that a little later.

For now, Bendigo residents are waking up to a pretty chilly morning - it's currently 13 degrees out there!

Wind is expected to pick up today too, with a top of 21 degrees in the region.

In the north of the state, Echuca will be mostly sunny with a top of 23 while south of Bendigo, Castlemaine will be partly cloudy with a top of 19. Kyneton is set to see showers while only reaching 16 degrees.

On this day

As Bendigo PRIDE festival wraps up this weekend, today's on this day is pretty on theme!

Whats happening?

Last night, opposition leader Anthony Albanese delivered his budget reply speech. In it, he outlined the oppositions pledge to "solve the aged care crisis".

Locally, new ABS data confirmed what some of us have been feeling for quite some time... Bendigo's population has skyrocketed over the last couple of years.

Finally, women's and family services spoke out yesterday, arguing the investment in women's issues in the federal budget is not enough.

More to come throughout the day.

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