State News

VICTORIA Legal Aid will extend its services for people with a mental illness in Bendigo and provide more help in growth areas in regional Victoria after being awarded extra funding from the State Government. VLA Civil Justice, Access and Equity director Kristen Hilton said the organisation was giv..

GREATER Bendigo council is joining forces with the Bendigo Weekly to tell your transport stories. Council wants to hear personal stories of how you get around as part of its Integrated Transport and Land Use Strategy. Do you walk, drive, ride a bike or catch public transport to get to school or ..

WATER Minister Peter Walsh visited Big Hill Primary School this week to see first-hand how the school is saving water and money through State Government’s Schools Water Efficiency Program. Mr Walsh said 195 Victorian schools had signed up for the voluntary program, which was a finalist in th..

Drug offences in Bendigo are up 36.4 per cent from the same time last year, with police accounting for the increase as an improvement in reporting. "We have seen an increase in drug seizures and more people being held accountable for poor public behaviour," Inspector Brad Dixon said, as Vict..

Bendigo schools shone at Friday’s Victorian Education Excellence Awards. Bendigo Senior Secondary College won the curriculum innovation award for its work taking more VCE subjects to rural schools in the district. Huntly Primary school won the partnerships with families and communities awa..

The State Government has delivered on its election promises in the state budget. The government announced funding for the Golden Square Primary School and the Epsom railway station. However, there was no money in the budget for planning for the Calder and Calder Alternate intersection at..

Greater Bendigo council’s reputation is under fire, as controversial actions by councillors and surprise proposals for budget cuts take their toll. Cr Elise Chapman’s Fortuna hunger strike and disability controversy, Cr Helen Leach’s published complaint about celebrations for g..

Bendigo licensees are calling on the State Government to reverse a decision to send the local Liquor Inspector back to Melbourne. "Once they go into Melbourne, they will have to argue the case to come out to Bendigo," licensee of the Cambrian Hotel Julie Gardiner said. "With a local comp..

By JOEL PETERSON About 200 of Australia’s best lawn bowlers will descend on Bendigo this weekend, to contest the time-honoured Australian Sides Championship and Super Six tournaments. Held from April 29 to May 2 at the Bendigo Bowls Club, the Sides Championship includes 12 of each state an..

THE Bendigo Weekly has joined a group of independent regional Victorian-based newspapers to create its own powerful network with a combined readership of more than 350,000 people. Known as VicFree, the network represents the largest circulating and most-read newspaper in each paper’s respect..

Bendigo's house prices have continued to skyrocket, despite a slowdown in the rest of the state. The latest Victorian Valuer General’s report shows a median house price increase of between 25 and 30 per cent in some Bendigo suburbs for the year to the end of September, 2012. Quarry..

A new report has called for an immediate stop to the practice of sending graduate doctors from overseas to rural areas. Bob Birrell at the Centre for Population and Urban Research this week challenged the “mindset” that there is a shortage of GPs in non-metropolitan Australia. ..

A report on health risks for firefighters has identified a growing rift between professionals and volunteers. “The primary problem identified is that volunteers don’t turn out,” the authors of the report prepared for the Victorian Branch of the United Firefighters Union said..

By Rosemary Sorensen What audiences want from an art gallery and how to deliver it, will be discussed at a symposium in Bendigo next week. National Gallery of Victoria director Tony Ellwood is returning to Bendigo to take part in the symposium, which is a preview event for the Castlemaine State ..

The after-hours mental health crisis outreach service has had a last-minute reprieve, as part of the reversal of the cuts to Bendigo Health’s operating budget, announced this week. The service was due to be reduced at the beginning of March, accounting for $100,000 of the $2.9 million ..

By Rosemary Sorensen A frustrating search and rescue mission on Lake Eppalock last weekend has opened the way for talks between the volunteer Coast Guard and the Water Police. “There’s a bit of conflict,” Coast Guard Lake Eppalock public relations officer Lucy Ritchens said. ..

Health Minister David Davis called a last-minute press conference in Bendigo today after being chastised for originally not planning to do so. Mr Davis met with health officials in Bendigo this morning, but was not intending to hold a press conference. Labor MPs Jacinta Allan and Maree E..

A $225,000 State Government grant will help a wide range of refugees build better, more productive lives in Bendigo. The grant will go to Bendigo Community Health Services to run a Refugee Action Program in Bendigo. Nationals Member for Northern Victoria Damian Drum said BCHS had put ..

Member for Bendigo East Jacinta Allan has labelled Health Minister David Davis "desperate" for trying to shift blame for any delays to the $630 million Bendigo hospital redevelopment, and accused the State government of holding the project to ransom. Mr Davis told the Bendigo Weekly Australi..

Friday has been declared a Total Fire ban for the entire state. Bendigo is facing a very hot start to the new year, with temperatures expecting to nudge 40 degrees for six days in a row from Thursday. The Bureau of Meteorology is tipping the mercury to hit 40 on Friday and 38 on Satur..