Latrobe Valley Express Wednesday 13 March 2024

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Unwanted reputation

By ZAIDAGLIBANOVIC

LATROBE

The

Latrobe

Those

In

Though

On Wednesday, February21the state government announced councils around

the statewould deliver arange of initiatives as part of the Free from Violence Local Government Program 2024-27.

The councils will deliver programsand activities that willhelppeople in the community understand the role they can play in making their community safer.

Latrobe City Council will receive $250,000 over athree-year period that will go towards developing and delivering training programs.

The state government believe that as large employers with unique connections to their local communities, councils are well placed to support communities to bothpreventfamily violence and stop violence against women.

This funding from the state government is the second round of the program, which is currently supporting 15 councils to carry out primary prevention initiatives in their local area.

The state governme nt saidthese grants are an important partoftheir nation -leading work to end family violence.

Memberfor Eastern Victoria,Harriet Shing said family violence prevention programs were vital to keep people safe.

“Family violence remains oneofthe most challeng ing and dev ast at in g law and order issues in Australia and funding more family violence prevention programs across communitiesinLatrobe City will playanimportant role in making and keeping people safe,” she said.

“Every Victorian-nomatter their age or address -has the right to be treated with respect at home, work or in their community.”

Latrobe City Council welcomedthe fundingand was eager to continueits work to prevent family violence.

“The Family Violence Prevention Funding will support counciltoadopt an overarching, strategic and structured approach to primary preventionof family violence and the promotion of gender equity across the workplaceand community. This model will complement council’s work to date in this area, and will include training and awareness

activities, and advocacy forpositive change,” acouncil spokesperson said.

“This will be facilitated by anew part time three-year position based at Latrobe City Council.

“Council will work closely with the community to implementthis program Family violence prevention funding will supportfoundational and consistent advocacy across the Latrobe City community, regarding the drivers of family violence and violence against women.

“Itwould also support the actions of the council’s Gender Equality Action Plan and the Municipal Public Health and Wellbeing Plan with aprimary prevention focus, and boostunderstanding for the need to consider primary prevention in council’s service delivery.” Council are currently engaged in many programsfor primaryprevention, which includes support for the Victoria Against Violencecampaignand theUnited Nations 16 Days of Activism activities.

Continued -Page3

Traralgon knockedNewborough offtheirperch at the weekend, winning theStrzelecki North Grand Final by 11 shots.The result ended afouryear runofDivision 1premiershipsfor Newborough.

Wind farm: AGL receives preliminaryselection

By PHILIP HOPKINS

AGROUP of leading companies including AGL has been preliminary selected to build wind farms off the Gippsland coast to driverenewable energy in Victoria, The Australian newspaperreported last week.

The group, which could still changeasanofficial decisionisstillweeksaway, willbethe leaddevelopers of wind energy, which will generate about 20 per centofthe state's energyneeds within a decade under the state government's plans. This will double to 4gigawatts by 2035 and 9GW by 2040.

Companies that have been preliminary awarded a"feasibilitylicence" areStar of the South,which is Australia's most advanced offshore wind operation, and aconsortium including AGL Energy. The consortiumalsoincludesthe Norwegian giant Orsted and the Japanese-owned Parkwind, The Australian said.

All partiesdeclined to comment, all havingsigned non-disclosure agreements during the bidding process.

Feasibility licenses give projects exclusive rights over apartofthe region for seven years, which is deemed critical for attracting investment.

Parkwind is owned by JERA, Japan's largest powergeneration company,whichlastmonth acquireda15.1per cent stake in Woodside's Scarborough LNG project -all part of Japan's aim to secure its energy supplies.

In contrast, theJapanese-ownedFlotation Energy, was left off the list of preliminary licence holders, The Australian said. Flotation is ownedby one of Japan's largest companies, Tokyo Electric Power Company, and had what was regarded as Australia's secondmost advanced offshore wind development.

The Australian said it believed Flotation energy had tried to lobby the federal Labor government to reverse its decision, with senior Japanese

$3

milliontogotoward preventing family violence

From Page 1

IN addition, in partnership with Gippsland Women’s Health (GWH), four council employees are trained to facilitate Active Bystandertraining

The $250,000 from thestate government will allow council to work closer with GWH, Latrobe Community Health and Genderworks to share knowledge regarding primary prevention.

It will also allow council to fund more participation and support to community events, develop new programs and assist responding to resistance. It is intended that the primary prevention program will set its focus on council as aworkplace for the first year, laying foundations towards the other three domains of influence in subsequent years. These domains of influence include council as leaders and decision makers, council as aconnector and council as aservice provider.

With the alarming rates of family violence and gendered violence in the region, some in the community are calling for more urgent action fromthe state government to help solve the issue. With many reports of multiple, month-long social housing waits for victims and countless headlines

of crimesagainstwomen and children, family violence continues to plague the region.

Member for Morwell, Martin Cameron said the Valley was in afamily violence crisis.

“We are certainly in the midst of afamily violence crisis and breaches of family violence orders were the most frequently recorded offence in Latrobe last year,” he said.

“Perhaps most concerning is that these figures only include incidents where police were called for assistance, whereas researchsuggests that many incidents of family violence go unreported.”

Mr Cameronsaidconsideringthe disproportionately high rates of family violence in the Valley, $250,000 over three years wouldn't be enough to help the issue.

“We need to see afocus on prevention of family violence rather than focusing only on support after-the-fact. This begins with ourwhole community but also requires support and action from government,” he said.

“The stategovernment needs to adequately fund these agencies so they can deliver critical support that is more needed than ever.”

executives travelling to Canberra. "The list of winners could swell if projects facing boundary disputes, such as those of Origin, Shell and EnergyAustralia, can adjust their boundaries," the newspaper said. "Those in boundary disputes still do not know who they are vying with for the same partofthe ocean.Oncie informed,parties are expectedtohave 30 days to strike an agreement."

TheAustraliansaidthe government hoped that about10developers will be able to begin work on the wind energy projects.

Apart from its specific targets, Victoria sees the potentialfor 13GW of offshore wind capacity by 2050, five times the current renewable generation in Victoria.

Victoria still generates 60 per cent of its energy from Latrobe Valley brown coal, but Energy Australia'sYallourn power stationisdue to closein 2028 and AGL's Loy YangApower station by 2035

Pathway:

Cadet receives a gold commendation

By KATRINA BRANDON

ONE out of three and one in 27 years is amassive accomplishment.

Cadet Sergeant, GabrielleBonnicihas achieved this by completing aSummerCadetWarrantOfficers course,and waspresented with agold commendation for her efforts.

The Kurnai College student is the first female to ever receive this honour within the Australian Air Force Cadets program.

“I heard my name presented on the graduation parade,infront of all of the parents and families, and Iwas like, ‘me?’ It was just abit of asurprise,” she said.

“It’s the modern version of apromotion course, so personal development and leadership courses, and Iwent for the rank of cadet warrant officer, which is reallyintense. It pushed people to the limit,especially with the time frame we had with the new program.”

Gabrielle, whoisinYear 12, told the Express the programhas helped her in many ways,and is helping her get closer to her dream.

“It’s not about changing you to an Air Force or Defence Force member, it’s trying to change you to be abetter person for the rest of your life,” she said.

“With cadets, it is completely amazing. It gave me purpose in whatI wantedtodowith my life because Ijustlooked at what Iwas doing before Istarted cadets. After all, before, Iwas a‘ratbag’.

“When Icameinto the system, therewas more than Iever thoughtthat we did. We fly planesand all that likepeopleexpect us to do, but we learn survival,we learnhow to shoot, we learn how to load guns, and we learn heaps of intense stuff. It’s really fun if you want to get your hands dirty.”

The programruns every Friday afternoonin Morwell. The program is also an alternative learning style for some subjects where students might have failed in aclassroom but excelled during their time as cadets. Gabrielle told the Express that subject for her was physics, but air cadets and learning about aviation in the way that flight works helped her a lot with that subject.

AccordingtoGabrielle,the opportunity to enter the cadet program starts in Year 7, and you can stay until you are in Year 12.

Onwardsand upwards: CadetSergeant, Gabrielle Bonnici hasachievedhighlyinher time with the Air ForceCadets

Photograph: KatrinaBrandon

After completing the time as cadets,there is an opportunity to reapply to be apartofthe system as astaff member.

All schools around the area are able to take on this opportunity.

The cadet program is also not always about being super serious, as Gabrielle explained.

“We have also been trained on when to be serious and relax to have some fun," she said.

"So, in classrooms,itwon’t be like your average teachergoing and talkingtoawhiteboard. It’sus actuallygettingyou involved and having fun,having abit of competition with each other. The only time we are seriouswill be with our serious stuff like parades or, for example, when we have to get it done in acertain amount of order and respect frame."

WIN afamily passtodiscover our unique planet on an epic scale at the

This is your chance to WIN afamilypass to discoverour unique planet on an epic scale at the BBC Ear th Experience!

Bringing the wonders of the world to Australia, the BBC Ear th Experience is an all-ages interactivejourneythrough sevencontinents at the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre that must close by 28th of April.

Featuring breathtaking footage on immersive multi-angle screens from the BBC Studios Natural HistoryUnit’shit television series Seven Worlds, One Planet, with incredible narration by David Attenborough, visitors will be guided through the beauty and wonder of the natural world.

With oppor tunities to exploreinteractive breakout zones for fur ther inspiring insights intothe ear th’s unique ecosystemsand creatures, visitors can diveintothe depths of the sea, soar across stunning aerial landscapes, and even get close-up views of the microlives of creepycrawlies.

The perfect summer activity for kids, the BBC Ear th Experience has afreePasspor t Experience for kids, and Pram Sessions run every second Fridayfrom10.00am.

TEN FAMILYPASSES to give away SO ENTERN OW!

This is your chancetoWIN afamily pass to discoverour unique planet on an epic scale at the BBC Ear th Experience!

Foryour chance to win, email reception@ lvexpress.com.au and tell us whyyou love nature. Formoreinformation on the BBC Ear th Experience and tickets, please visit:

https://bbcear thexperience.com/melbourne Entries closeWednesdayMarch 27th

T&Cs:

 Tickets arevalid foruptoone family(2Adults and 2Children aged 3-14)

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 Tickets arenon-refundable and not redeemable for cash

 Tickets aresubject to theTicketmaster Purchase Policy

GP1668369

with Muzza

Crossword Puzzle No.8577

ONE POINTERS

1. In which city would you find The Louvreart museum?

2. Who played the character Dirty Harry?

3. Which birddid miners use to detect poisonous gasses in the tunnels?

4. How long do chicken eggs take to hatch naturally? a) 9days b) 21 days c) 33 days

TWO POINTERS

5. Who is the host of the new Tipping Point game show on the Nine network?

6. What is the name used for an optical illusion caused by atmospheric conditions?

7. Which body part has the most bones?

8. True or false. The song ‘Love Is All Around’ was originally sung by Wet, Wet, Wet?

THREE POINTERS

9. Starting with the letter P, what do you call aperson that habitually puts offfinishing tasks?

10. In the Matrix movie, what colour pill does Neo take?

11. Guess the song from these lyrics. “I’ve never seen adiamond in the flesh, Icut my teeth on wedding rings in the movies...”

12. Who beat Daniil Medvedev to win this year’sAustralian Open mens singles title?

FOUR POINTERS

13. Who wrote ‘The Prince and the Pauper’?

14. What country takes its name from the Latin wordfor silver?

FIVE POINTER

15. Five true or false questions? One point for each correct answer

1. Apples and pears area part of the rose family?

2. Harry Potter’sfirst flying broomstick is called aFirebolt?

3. Put together,ahuman bodies blood vessels can circle the Earth?

4. The cheetah is the fastest animal on the planet?

5. Most cats arelactose intolerant?

HOW DID YOU FARE?

37: Topofthe class; 30-36: Outstanding; 23-29: Well done; 15-22: Solid effort; 9-14: Room for improvement;

0-8: Hit the books.

At the forefront: Countr yPress Australia President, Andrew Schreyer.

Lifeblood: The Latrobe ValleyExpress,Gippsland Times and Gippsland Farmer (all produced and printed in Morwell) will be affected by Meta’s(Facebook) decisiontostoppaying Australian publishersfor news content.

Photograph: Liam Durkin

Meta announcement ahugeblow to regionalnews, putting jobs at risk

COMMENT

BY ANDREW SCHREYER

AUSTRALIA'Slargest organisation of newspaper publishers has attacked the announcement by Meta that it will no longer negotiate deals with publishers once current agreements expire.

Country Press Australia represents more than 230 regional, rural and outersuburban publications across the nation.

The organisation was recently advised through an email from Meta that “our company priorities have substantially shifted in the past year and, as aresult, we will no longer be making Facebook News Tab available in Australia”.

Metaalsoconfirmed “This doesn’t affect our agreement with CountryPressAustralia which will continue in accordance with its terms and conditions until it expires”.

In asubsequent meeting between Country Press Australia and Meta, it was made clear that Country Press Australia’s agreement with Meta would not be renewed.

This is adevastating blow to our members who are party to the agreement.

All are publishers of regional and local public interest journalism.

Meta has been providing grantstoCountry Press Australiapublishers which has provided vital sustainability.

There will be publishers who close the doors and won’tbeable to continue supporting their communitieswithnewsinthe wake of thisannouncement. These regionaland local publishers are the major, and in most cases sole, providers of local public interest journalism in their communities.

In timesoftrouble and in emergency situations, such as during floods and in major bushfire events, the local publisher’s Facebook page is never more important or appreciatedbypeople in our communities.

Meta’s actions undermine our democracy in the way the company displays suchdisdainfor the work of the news industry. It also undermines public confidence in the media sector.

The most popular Facebook pages in most regional and rural communities are those of the localnews publishingcompany, yet Meta says people don’t go to Facebook for news or political content.

What about in timesofbushfireand floods or when the chips are down and someone in the community needshelp? Local experience would suggest otherwise.

If, by Meta’s own admission, Australians don’t go to Facebook for news or political content, then the federal governmentshould heed the advice of Meta and immediately cease advertising on Meta’s platforms.

Sadly, jobs will definitelybelost as aresult of Meta’s decision, but it’s hard to putanumber on this.

Given the already well-documented challenges our industry faces (major cost increases for newsprint, ink, energy and the decline in federal governmentadvertising spend), this announcement will force many publishers to confront the issues aheadofthem and cut staff.

The reaction fromour members in the aftermath of the announcement has been one of deep concern, alarm and even anger.

The federal government must act to give assurancetoour industry and to supportthe democratic infrastructure that is the newspaper industry. And it needs to move swiftly, decisively and with purpose.

We need governmenttosupport the newsindustry and invoke the news media bargaining code.

Our government must alsodowhatitcan to assureAustralians thatthe government values the news industry’s role in our democracy to mitigate disruptions to the news industry.

Facebook reaped the benefits of our members’ unique local content for many years, and has paid thoselocal and regional publishers for only the last threeyears andwillnow not renewtheir agreement with Country Press Australia.

Ademocracy cannot function without ahealthy news sector, and this is now heavily at risk in regional and local communities after Meta’s decision.

It is important that the federalgovernment responds swiftly to this decision and considers all possibleactionincluding designating Meta under the News Media Bargaining Code and other options available to them and the ACCC.

It is vital thatnews media is adequatelycompensated for the content that Facebook has been able to build their business from over many years and ensure astrong and robust news media industry which is vital for ahealthy democracy.

It is also vital that the federalgovernment ensures strong support of the industry now more than ever before and ensures the News Media Assistance Program (News MAP) is finalised urgently.

Andrew Schreyer is the president of Country Press Australia.

GP1668041

Photograph supplied GP1668019

Three local teenagers arrested

MOORABBINCrimeInvestigationUnit detectives have charged agroup of Latrobe Valley teenagers following an aggravated burglary in Brighton on the morning of Tuesday, March 5.

Investigators have been toldfour children attended aresidential property on South Road, Brighton, in an allegedly stolen Volkswagen Golf at about 5am.

It will be alleged the group entered the residence before being frightenedoff by the occupants of the property and fleeing in the Volkswagen. That vehicle was followed by the Air Wing and the groupwas observed meetingupwith afifth person drivingaVolkswagen Amarok, allegedly stolen fromRailway Avenue, Brighton.

The two vehicles travelled together and were followed by police, reaching speeds allegedly in excess of 150 kilometres per hour before the Amarok was abandoned in Stella Avenue, Noble Park.

A1 7- ye ar -ol db oy also from Morwell and 14-year-oldMoe girlwerechargedwith aggravated burglary and theft of motor vehicle. Both willface achildrens court at alater date.

Pubpest

POLICEare investigating the circumstances surrounding criminal damage to apub in Morwell on Sunday, January 21, 2024.

Investigators have released an image of aman whomay be able to assist with enquiries.

Anyone with informationisurged to call Morwell Police Station on (03) 5131 5000.

All fi ve pe op le then fl ed to get her in the Volkswagen Golf.

Police continued to follow that car as it drove at dangerous speeds to the Rowville area.

Stop sticks we re succes sf ull yd eployed on Armstrong Roadand the groupran from the scene but were swiftly arrestedbyresponding officers with the assistance of canine units and the Air Wing.

A14-year-old Moeboy has since beencharged with aggravated burglary, theft of motor vehicle and committing an indictable offence whilst on bail. He is understoodtohave faced achildrens court on Tuesday.

A15-year-old boy from Morwell has been charged with theft of motor vehicle and will face achildrens court at alater date.

A15-year-old Noble Park boy has been charged with two counts of theft of motor vehicle, dangerous drivingwhilstbeing pursued by police and committing an indictable offence whilst on bail. He will face achildrens court at alater date.

Disorderly: Police areinvestigating the circumstancessurrounding criminal

WillowGrovehay shed fire

ALARGEshed fire nearBalfoursRoadand Willow Grove Rd in Willow Grove broke out at 9.15am on Thursday,March 7.

The fire generated smoke in the area, with Vic Emergency releasing awarning to the public not to be alarmed as emergency crewswereattempting to extinguish the fire.

TheEmergency alert said the firewas not likely to spread into nearby grassland, but acommunity stay informed alert was issued.

The fire was con side red under cont ro lb y 10.14am.

It took nine emergencyresponse vehicles to extinguish the fire.

GERF provide relief funding

THE Gippsland EmergencyRelief Fundisstill providing significantfinancial assistance to families impactedbythe stormwhich tore through Gippsland amonth ago.

Having already dealtwith more than 50 referrals for severely damaged or uninhabitable residences, GERFwill continuetoprovidemuch needed emergency funding to even more families, farms and businesses who are still suffering from storm damage.

GERF President, Andy Tegart said donations would be ongoing.

“We have received$300,000 in donations and we

havealreadydistributed over$200,000 to eligible residents,"hesaid.

"However we know that amount will continue to grow over coming weeks, so we are relying on the ongoing generous support of donors large and small.

Donations to the appeal can be easily made via the GERF website (gerf.org.au) and all donations over $2 are tax deductible.

“Everydollar donatedtothe appeal is distributed to those who suffered property damage during thestorm. Your donation willbehelping us to help othersintheirtimeofneed,"MrTegart said

Support: GERF Vice President, Nigel Browne (left) and president Andy Tegart (right) present CommunityBank Mirboo Nor th &District Executive Office,Anne Marie Dieperink and Customer RelationshipsManager,Nicole Smith with adonation aiding the stormrecovery Photograph supplied

Community urged to report illegal firearms

CRIME Stoppers Victoria and Victoria Police have joined forces in anew campaign aimed at removing illegal firearms from the Victorian community.

Thecampaign,‘SaySomething Before It's Too Late,’ raises awareness about the dangersofillegal firearms and urgesthe public to protect themselves and thosearound them by reporting what they know to Crime Stoppers.

Data from the Crime Statistics Agency shows there were 5126 firearm related incidents in Victoria in 2023.

Crime Stoppers Chief Executive, Stella Smith explained why Crime Stoppers was the right organisation to partner with Victoria Police to tackle this important issue.

"Crime Stoppers Victoria plays acrucial role in our community by providing asafeand anonymous way for people to report crime," she said.

"Last year we shared over 1800 firearmsreports

Bang bang: VictoriaPoliceDetective Superintendent, StateAnti-Gangs,Jason Kelly and CrimeStatistics AgencyRepresentative, Catherine Palermowant to see illegal guns takenoff the street. Photograph supplied

to Victoria Police for further investigation, so we know people have informationthey are willing to share.

“Illegal firearms mean dangerous shootings, thefts, and other violent acts that can put you and your family at risk.

"Withover200,000 illegal firearms still in the community, now is the time to say something before it is too late.”

This campaign seeks to stop the harm caused by illegal firearms by encouraging the public to report what they know.

Recent efforts by VictoriaPolice have resulted in more than 1500 illegal firearms removed from the hands of criminals in 2023.

‘Say Something Before It’s Too Late’ aims to assist policethrough community intelligence provided to Crime Stoppers about illicit firearms activity in the community.

"Weunderstand the community’s concernwhen it comes to gun-related violence, and we are taking strong action to target those responsible and prevent further harm," Victoria Police Detective Superintendent, State Anti-Gangs, Jason Kelly said.

The introduction of the Illicit Firearms Squad in 2020 and the VIPER Taskforce in 2022 has enhanced Victoria Police's ability to combat illegal firearms-relatedoffending,particularlyconcerning serious and organised crime.

Last year,VictoriaPolice removed more than 1500 illicit firearms from the streets.

There is absolutely no doubt that some of those seizureshaveprevented people being seriously injured or even killed.

Over the past 12 months, Crime Stoppers Victoria has processed more than 107,000 reports, averaging one new report every five minutes.

“Weneed the community to continue this amazingwork andcome forward with any information they may have on someone with an illegal firearm," Ms Smith said.

Community safety is the main priority,soifyou know or suspect someone is in possession of an illegal firearm, report it to Crime Stoppers Victoria before it’s too late.

CrimeStoppers can be phonedon1800333 000

AGL Loy Yang launch Gippsland Women in Industr yNetwork

By ZAIDAGLIBANOVIC

TO celebrate International Women’s Day,AGL Loy Yang, alongside business partners,hosted the first-ever Gippsland Women in Industry Network Launch on Tuesday, March 5.

Strong women from across heavy industry congregatedatthe AGL Loy Yang Learning Centreto celebrate success, discuss challenges, and discuss the future.

The room was fullofhigh-visibility plaid women, showcasing the growing female workforce in Gippsland.

The day was definitely seenasa celebration and an opportunity -manywomen caught up with old colleagues from old workplaces or took the time to make new connections across businesses.

The discussion was lively and articulate, as the experienced panellists shared their experiences in their respective workforces with the rest of the crowd.

Pepper Coles, Training and Development Coordinator at Loy Yang B, Alinta Energy,said when she started out in the industry,she felt as if peopleperceived her as nothing but arecruitment quota fulfilled.

“When IstartedatYallourn, we came as the all-female recruitment -sothere was alot of stigma attached to that,” she said.

Having been apart of six female recruits,Ms Coles said she was fortunate she had her support base around her to navigate amale-dominated field.

“The expectationwas almost thatwewere going to fail …but then on apersonallevel moving across to proving them wrong, working ourselves to the bone to prove that wrong -probably workingharder than anyone else had to,” she added.

She told the roomthatshe internalised the feeling that “youdidn’t achievethe job on your merit; you achieved it because of your gender."

“To me, Iwork harder to prove that wrong, but withthatbeing said, that’s alot to carry, so it’s about finding that balance -the biggest challenge I’ve faced,” she said.

Inspiring stories of women overcoming gender barriers filledthe room as panellists discussed their careers.

For Siobhan Kinman, afourth-year apprentice electrician at AGL Loy Yang, she loves the variety of jobs she gets to do onsite and the specialised skills she gets to learn in the industry.

“They’re hiring you because you’re right for the job and Ithink that’s something that needs to be

pushed throughtothe newapprentices coming through …you are here because you earned it and you’re here because you’re meant to be here," she said to the other women in the room.

Julia Heslop, Jeeralang Asset Leader at EnergyAustralia, tookthe time to shareher challenges in aleadershiprole when her previous station overseas shut down.She explainedthe troubles she had trying to find her authentic self when leading many men into an uncertain future.

“What Ireally love is setting myself achallenge that’s going to be really, really hard, and striving to overcome all those barriers,” she said.

Linda Austin, the director of educational delivery at TAFE Gippsland, also addressed the crowd, regarding the many exciting opportunities training and developmenthas provided for theseskilled women and how she wishes to see more female representation in heavy industry.

Many women at the event remarked that it was awonderful day and an opportunity to establish those integral networksand have thosetough conversations to help women navigateamaledominated industry.

The industry partners are considering making the networking event areoccurring date on the calendar to help forge women’s equality.

Doctor Louise Mahler was the guest speaker for the event.

One of the leading body language and communication experts in the world, Dr Mahler engaged the audience -teaching the emerging leaders in the roomskills to obtain that 'Gravitas' and remain confident, even in amale-dominated workplace. Attendeeslearnt theart of body language and how to master the handshake.

Tequa Plumbing &Civil's Department Manager, Bernadette Dillonsaidthe Tequa teamthoroughly enjoyed the event.

"The day provided apractical approach with women in the field candidly talking abouttheir experiences and successes," she said.

"Louise, the keynote speaker, with her very lively demonstration, had the room engaging in practical situations. We all walked away feeling positive and confident on conducting ourselves in work meetings."

Many guests remarked that they had never experienced such apositive day to celebrate women in the industry.

The teamatAGL Loy Yanghopes to continue this networking event and facilitate ways to support women at work, not just on International Women's Day, but every day of the year.

Sudoku No.0200

Crossword No.8576

Solutions

Target Time No.0200 aero, aloe, amour,calomel, cameo, carol, carom, cello, celom, cero, clamor,clamour,claro, coal, cola, cole, collar,colure, coma, comae, come, comer,coral, core, corm, euro, loam, local, locale, locular,locum, lore, lour,macro, molal, molar,mole, MOLECULAR, moll, mora, morae, moral, morale, more, morula, moue, mucro, ocrea, ocular,oleum, oracle, oral, orca, orle, roam,role, roll,roue. Target: Average-28, Good –36, Excellent -48+

Special guest: AGL’sDiVan Der Merwe, pictured alongside world-renowned body language exper tDoctor LouiseMahler,ScottMilliner andAGL LoyYang General Manager,Christo Van Niekerk.

Photograph: Zaida Glibanovic

PROUDLY BROU GHT TO YOUBYTHES EPAR TICI PATI NG LOCALBUS INES SES

Day1

The

Day3 (16/3/24)

Open

Day2 (15/3/24)

White-belliedSea-eagles active

RESULTS are in forthe 2023/24White-bellied Seaeaglebreeding survey acrossthe Gippsland Lakes funded through the Love Our Lakes program.

The summer census was the first in atwo year monitoring project of the birds across their breeding season.

Results will inform the next instalment of population surveys in the Gippsland Lakes completed every 10 years that date back to 1978.

The proj ect is bein gc oordi nated by the Department of Energy, Environment and Climate Action in partnership with BirdLife Australia.

Over summer, BirdLife Australia and Birdlife East Gippsland went out in the field and carried out 44 inspections of 29 Sea-eagle nests. Wetland Bird Program Coordinatorfor BirdLife Australia, Dr Bradley Clarke-Wood said the majority of nests wereclosely associatedwith the GippslandLakes, with afew sites identified as far east as Mallacoota.

"Nests were carefully selected basedonprevious recordsand supported by local knowledge," he said.

"Through this amazing effort,12nestswere found to be active withadults displaying behaviour that suggests they are breeding -including nest construction and pairing up or with chicks being seen or heard at the nests."

By December 2023, 16 of the chicks observed had reached asufficient size to fly and leave the nest -what is knowninthe bird world as fledging.

"Thisinterim result sees the population holding steady on the 2010 survey. Afull comparison and final results will be made after the next round of monitoring is complete in 2025," Dr Clarke-Wood said.

"A highlight of the project over the past summer was the significant involvement of BirdLife East Gippsland in the data collection for this project. They worked independently and coordinated a high effort survey of nests local to the Gippsland Lakes. This included arranging access with local landholders, where necessary."

Dr Clarke-Wood also thanked the community for sharing their knowledge of nests and adding their observations to the project.

White-bellied Sea-eagles produce one to two eggs between June and September, which are then incubated for around six weeks.

When the eggs hatch, adult birds regularlyattend

Birdlife: The White-bellied Sea-eagle in their nest. Photograph supplied

the nest to supply the chicks with food. Chicks will fledge from the nest when they are between 10 and 12-weeks-old.

The survey is planned to be repeated in the 2024/25 breedingseason and will conclude the study for this decade.

White-bellied Sea-eagles are endangered in Victoria, which makes these surveys very important in their ongoing conservation.

October to December are the most important monthsfor surveying known nest sites,sothe survey will pick up again then. In the meantime, stay up to date at loveourlakes.net.au

Diverse range of Celtictunes hits Yinnar

POLYTROPOS, the duo of Celtic multi-instrumentalists Rennie Pearson and Oscar West, are coming to perform in Gippsland at ARC Yinnar tomorrow (Thursday, March 14).

The pair has been described as two of the finest young musicians and performers of Celtic music to come out of New Zealand.

Following his tour with 'Half Light' at the end of lastyear,Rennie described their last showat ARC Yinnar as one of the most magical nights of thetour, with acrackling energy that was packed to the gills with enthusiastic locals, many of whom had justbeen gettingwarmed up overthe road at the pub.

Combining the beautiful and spirited interplay of traditional instruments, Polytropos perform tunesand songsfrom Scotland, Ireland,France and Canada. Arranging the sounds of the fiddle, flute, guitar, Scottish smallpipes, mandolin, voice and Irish whistles in curious and adventurous ways, their diverse range of tunes will take the listener around the world of traditional music.

Rennie Pearson and Oscar West are masterful, passionateplayers of Celtic music, arranged in an adventurous, conversational way.

'Polytropos' comesfromancientGreek and appears hundreds of times in Homer’s Odyssey. Itsmany possible translationsrangefrom'muchtravelled'to'many-faced' to 'a thingofmanytwists and turns'.

"Alloftheseconnotations feel perfecttodescribe

the music we seek to create: dynamic, muchwanderingjourneys through tunes, songs and a musicaltradition that had travelled half aworld to reach us in New Zealand".

Polytropos released their first album in 2020. Since theirdebutconcertatWellington Folk Festival in 2011, their unique, charismatic stage presence and playing style has been ahit with audiences at festivals and tours across New Zealand and Australia from tiny churches to big stages.

Polytroposperform at ARC Yinnar tomorrow (Thursday, March 14) from 7.30pm.

Tickets are available from renniepearsonmusic. com

TasteofIreland: Celtic music duo,Rennie Pearson and

West, will perform at ARC Yinnar tomorrow Photograph supplied

School Principal Your 2024

Who leads your child’sschool?

Do you really kno wthem outside of aschool newsletter, or an assembly?

Theprincipals of schools on these pages give you some insight into whotheyare,what drives them, their passions, their focus and importantlytheir leadership expertise,along with their staff,tolead their school to provide maximum educational opportunities for your child.

•

•

School Principal Your 2024

School Principal Your 2024

“Asapassionate educator andlong-time Gippslandresident,itisa great privilegeto lead LowannaCollege. Ihave abackground in science,engineering, teaching, business administration, andofcourse,educational leadership. Icurrently live on acreagein Hazelwood North with my youngfamily,and keep life balanced with apassion forrunning, music, sport, photography, farm life,and importantly,family time.

As Ilook back over my five years at Lowanna College, Iamincredibly proudofthe progress our staff andstudentshave made.From significantgrowth in literacy andnumeracy through our enrichmentprograms, our expandedwellbeingand student support services,toour specialist Sports Academyand our recordNAPLAN results

We remain highly committed to our vision –through high expectations, strongcare andsupport, we ensureall studentsachieve excellence in their endeavours”

AdamHogan, Principal

72-96 Newark Avenue,Newborough

Phone 5127 9200

www.lowanna.vic.edu.au

“Having worked in many schools across Gippsland, Melbour ne and the UK, it is easy to recognise aspecial school community.Lumen Christi is the kind of warm school community that you don’t come across very often. Being asmall school with small class sizes means that every child is known and experiences moreone to onetime with teachers and classroom support staffinorder to cater to each child’sindividual lear ning needs. Iamincredibly proud of the work we have done in my time hereover the past two years as astaff.Wehave introduced a highly effective evidence-based reading program, we have invested time in ensuring that our children receive impactful and engaging lear ning experiences and this year,wewillcontinuetobuild on this as acommitted staffand team. Iam passionate about education and want to make surethatthe children at Lumen Christi experience the very highest quality that we can offer in Student Lear ning, Mental Health and Wellbeing.

Lumen Christi Churchill ll

Everyone is welcome atLumen Christi, we pride ourselves on being an inclusive and safe lear ning environment forall of our children and their families. Children don’thave to be Catholic to attend our school, however our rich Catholic Education fosters asense ofbelonging for each child and family within our school community,one whereevery child is valued for who they are. Children areatthe heart of everything we do here, we have high expectations for all of our staff and students and offer an engaging experience for children to make progress in allareas of theirlearning”.

SallyDarby,Principal

We offer awarmwelcome to anyone interested in joining our Lumen Christi school community.For families holding concession cards,weoffer reduced school fees. Pleasecontact the office on 5122 2231 to arrangea school tour at your convenience.

School Principal Your 2024

It is my privilege to lead theExecutive Leadership team at Traralgon College.

Each of us,drawn together from diversebackgrounds, shareone vision,toimprove educational andlifeoutcomesofevery oneofour students

Ourexecutive team, BelindaLudlow, NarelleLoechel, ClaireGibson, Owen Henderson,and Adam Simsisa passionate, vibrantforce of improvementacrossthe college.Hardworking andempathetic,the teamhaveagenuine hear tfor thecommunity in whichtheyser veourcollege is luckytohavethem!

IamalifelongGippslandresident.IgrewupinChurchill,lived most of my adultlifeinMoe andcurrently reside in Trafalgarwith my teenageson af terthe recent loss of my husbandtoa shor t battle with cancer.Mycareer beganasa medicalscientist,working across Gippsland andinlarge teaching hospitals in the UK.Since commencingmyteachingcareer,IhaveworkedatTrafalgar High School,the Education Departmentand,mostrecently, Ihavebeen Assistant PrincipalatLowanna College, leadingthe numeracyand senior school improvementwork. Iamexcited to be bringingthese experiencesand skills with me to lead ourcollege Iampassionateabout making adif ferenceinthe livesofyoung people. Ibelieveevery childisa success stor ywaiting to be writ ten andthatwhatwedochanges thedestinies of theyoung people with whomwework.

Isee my choiceofprofessionasa calling rather than acareer. Iam excitedfor both thechallenge andsuccess that lies aheadfor us at ourcollege, each of which will push us towardsexcellence.I firmly believethatwithour dedicated, committed staf fand ourpassionate, talentedleadershipteamwewill rise to the challenge, anddeliver our vision goingfor ward

FionaMilkins

Fiona Milkins

Hopes for the future

ASERIES of photographicartworkscapturingthe community’s hopes for the future in the wake of the Hazelwood mine fire have foundanew home in the heartofMorwell,six years on from their creation.

The 28-piece Our hopesfor the futureofMorwell series nowlines the walls of the Latrobe Health Assembly on Morwell’sCommercial Road,on loan from the Federation University Australia Art Collection.

Each of the photographs by artistClive Hutchison feature an object symbolising acommunity group’s hopes for the future of Morwell. The exhibition was an initiativeofthe Community Wellbeing Stream in the Hazelwood Health Study, which is investigating the potential health effects of the mine fire.

In 2017,researchers in the streampartnered with the university and Morwell Neighbourhood

House to invite community groupstoexpress their vision for the town’s future by participating in a photographic session.

The 28 participating groupsand individuals inclu ded Morwell Rose Ga rden volunt eers, Gippsland Roller Derby and Morwell Girl Guides.

The resulting artworks featuring the photographs and accompanying messagesofhope were then exhibited acrossthe statein2017and 2018, including Federation’s Switchback Gallery, Queen’s Hall at VictorianState Parliament, Mid-Valley Shopping Centre and the Ballarat International Foto Biennale.

The Latrobe HealthAssembly welcomes those in the community to drop in and have look at the photos.

HOROSCOPES

by Joanne Madeline Moore

March11- March17, 2024

Aries (Mar 21 - Apr 19)

Are you confused about which path to follow?

Pay close attention to your nightly dreams They are full of creative ideas and symbolic wisdom that can lead you in the right direction Painters, artists, writers, musicians and performers will feel particularly inspired as the Sun, Neptune, Venus and Saturn boost creativity and productivity Some Rams will bump into a lover from the past But do you really want to travel down that rocky road again?

Taurus (Apr 20 - May 20)

Don’t become so focused on the busyness and minutiae of day-to-day life that you lose sight of the bigger picture Look beyond the horizon, Bulls! Being proactive at work setting short-term and long-term goals, dreaming big dreams and socialising with your extended peer group are the secrets to a successful week Beyond that, your motto for the future is from birthday great, singer-songwriter James Taylor: “The secret of life is enjoying the passage of time ”

Gemini (May 21 - June 20)

T Ghere’s a positive Mercury/Pluto link and no less than seven planets are activating your career and aspirations zones So it’s time to have ambitious dreams and set humungous goals Stop procrastinating and, instead, ask yourself an important question: “Do I need to tweak my dreams to make them a more honest reflection of the real me?” Your motto is from entertainer (and birthday great) Liza Minnelli: “Don’t listen to anyone who doesn’t know how to dream ”

Cancer (June 21 - July 22)

Trusting your intuition and helping others are the main themes this week It’s time to think philosophically and feel an essential part of a wider international community Your thoughts are important, your words matter, and your actions can make a real difference Draw inspiration from fellow Cancerian, Princess Diana: “Carry out a random act of kindness with no expectation of reward, safe in the knowledge that one day someone might do the same for you ”

Leo (July 23 - Aug 22)

The Sun (your patron planet) links up with Neptune in the gentle, mystical sign of Pisces So slow down and calm down, Cats! Tap into your imaginative, intuitive, spiritual side Dream a special dream that will propel you into a magical future And aim to surround yourself with family and friends who support your aspirations and encourage your creativity Your motto is from birthday great, Albert Einstein: Imagination is more important than knowledge ”

Libra (Sep 23 - Oct 22)

Venus (your ruling planet) shifts into Pisces, so you’ll be at your flirtatious best as you charm the cynics and dazzle the doubters If you ’ re attached, it’s time to rejuvenate the relationship with some good old-fashioned romance Single Libra – you could meet your soulmate while you ’ re doing routine daily chores, like grocery shopping or walking the dog But be careful your luxury-loving urge to splurge doesn’t spin out of control via a spontaneous spending spree

Scorpio (Oct 23 - Nov 21)

Monday’s Mercury/Pluto link is good for strategizing, organising work projects and planning the domestic week ahead For the rest of the week you’ll feel more inspired than usual as four planets stimulate your self-expression zone Use the power of your imagination to solve problems and soar into higher realms of creativity Your motto is from birthday great Albert Einstein: “Logic will get you from A to B Imagination will take you everywhere ”

Sagittarius (Nov 22 - Dec 21)

Famigly matters and domestic DIY projects are favoured this week, as lucky Venus starts transiting through your home zone Can you figure out a problem that has got loved ones stymied? They’re expecting you to come up with the goods so get creative! For many Sagittarians, good fortune and family are linked You’ll also find the more time and effort you put into local travel, education, communication and social media the more successful you’ll be

Capricorn (Dec 22 - Jan 19)

Finanpcial matters and family conversations are favoured on Monday, and Sunday is a great time for a romantic rendezvous Venus joins the Sun, Saturn and Neptune in your neighbourhood zone on Tuesday, so the rest of the week is wonderful for fostering positive feelings within your local community Your motto is from fellow Capricorn, Michelle Obama: “The difference between a broken community and a thriving one is the presence of women who are valued ”

Aquarius (Jan 20 - Feb 18)

TheqSun, Venus, Saturn and Neptune are all stimulating your cash zone Letting finances take their own course seems tempting but you need to keep up to speed with money matters If you increase your financial literacy then it will pay off handsomely further down the track, as you replace short-term whims with wise long-term strategies With Mars visiting your sign (until March 22) you need to be proactive about personal projects and future plans

Virgo (Aug 23 - Sep 22)

Mondgay favours study, research, intense conversations and solving problems Attached Virgo – is your relationship stuck in a time-warp where it’s been difficult to move forward? This week’s stars bring a shift in perspective, as you view your partner in a promising new light Single Virgo – are you sick and tired of looking for love? Your Prince or Princess is waiting in the wings, but you may have to kiss a few frogs before you finally find them!

Pisces (Feb 19 - Mar 20)

Perceptive Pisceans have an uncanny sixth sense

And you’ll be using it in spades as the Sun, Venus, Saturn and Neptune all meander through your sign You’ll feel increasingly inspired, compassionate and/or spiritually inclined So it’s the perfect time to break out the paint brushes dance in the moonlight, help someone in need or explore a new spiritual practice Sunday’s Sun/Neptune hook-up particularly highlights romance, creativity and healing

COPYRIGHTJoanneMadelineMoore2024

Thisadvertisingspace couldbe urs

Serving up smiles

Process: Jeremy,Jackand William learnhow to make delicious pancakes from scratch. Photographs supplied

Team effort: Patrik, Max, Jetson and Avacooking up astorm of pancakes for membersofthe St James’ Church.

Howit’sdone: Avayacarefully dishes up apancake under the watchful eye of Diana from St James’Church.

Great care: St Paul’s Year 2 student, Tony carefullyflips his pancakeatthe St Paul’s pancakeraces forShrove Tuesday.

YEAR 6students from St Paul’s Anglican Grammar School recently joined the celebration of Shrove Tuesday at St James’ Church, where they served smiles and pancakes to those in the community.

Students also learnt about the significanceof Shrove Tuesday and Ash Wednesday, and lent a hand to actively engage in pancake-making. The community were also entertained by musical and singing performances by students that enhanced the event. This experience fostered stronger community

Stockdale

Hereyou go: Liam servesup somepancakes to Gray

Together: Communityspirit and connection withDenise, Charvi, Hellen, Avaand Claudette

connection for the students, with educators aiming to instil asense of belonging and responsibility in their students.

Back at school, students enjoyed thrilling relay pancake races, showcasing their enthusiasm and pancake prowessthrough flipping and the occasional dropping.

Thank you to the school’s dedicated Education Support staff who cooked up apancake storm, ensuring everyone was left with full hearts and stomachs.

Road unveil 2024 leaders

STOCKDALE Road Primary School, Traralgon formally announced their student leadersfor 2024 recently.

Leaders were presented at aspecial leadership assembly by Memberfor Morwell,Martin Cameron.

Mr Cameron presentedthe 2024 School Captains, House Captains, JuniorSchool Council, Transition

Leaders and Enviro Leaders with certificates and badges

Eachofthe School Captainshave chosenaspecial project thatthey willcomplete throughout the year, ranging from organising and running special lunchtime activities to starting up Friendship Place for all students within the school to access.

Leadership: Member forMorwell, Martin Cameron, Stockdale Road PrimarySchool Principal Adam Downes,and school captains (front)Tommy, Charli, Mahliand Samuel Photograph supplied

This week my stars are telling me that I’m going to purchase a fantastic bargain YOUBEAUTY!

To advertise your bargains, products or services in this column or forinformation, simply phone JennyMannon 5135 4412 today.

Lowanna student going aboveand beyond

LOWANNA College Year 11 student, Noah

Parkinson was recently awarded the Moe Lions ClubYoung Citizen of the Year Award at the 2024 Australia Day ceremony.

Noah wasrecognisedfor his volunteer workin both sustainability and the environment and has along list of other ventures that made up part of his nomination.

Last year, he represented the Sustainability Awards Event (RSS) in Melbourneand helped run the display stand.

As an ambassador forLowanna, he interacted and explained the program to students, teachers, politicians and other dignitariesfrom other schools. His knowledgeabout the wickinggarden program, and the Student Leadershipfor Sustainability program is extensive, and he was able to engage all people about the program.

He explained how the Lowanna wicking gardens were up to 70 per cent more water efficient than anormal garden, abouthow the program could benefit the community by enablingfood to be grown

at home and therefore increase community food security.

Noah participated in Clean Up Australia Day in 2021, 2022 and 2023. He has also volunteered to supervise other students and help clean up Ollerton Bushland Reserve.

The young Lowanna student has invited Shane Mynard; Commander of Fire Rescue Victoria (FRV), to present six sessions of Emergency Fire and Rescue training at the school.

This is where Noah learned about the effects of fire on the environment, fire rehabilitation, fire extinguishers,and firerescueprocesses, as well as different leadership skills.

As aresult of this training, he decided to join the Yallourn North Volunteer Fire Brigade. Alongside the brigade, he has been trained to become afuture volunteer firefighter. He is learning skills which will help himsavelives in an emergency or afire

Noah also hasCertifiedFirst Aid Training.

The young mangives up muchofhis spare time to help the community. He contributes to amyriad

of working bees, including aquite literal working bee where students made native bee hotels.

Noah is passionateaboutsustainabilityand helped organise an expo all about better living in the community.

The Sustainable LivingExpo heldinNewborough on Saturday, May 21, 2022 was ahugesuccess, as an educational and interactive learning experience for the community. There was many workshops, including soil moisture retention, how to live plastic free and soil regeneration.

Noah contributed to a'student created video' project about methods of saving and or purifying water, with agoal to help reduce water waste at the school. The video was then used in an application for the Global High Schools Zayed Sustainability Prize.

Noahisalsoamember of the VictorianRifle Association and after much practice, he has reached alevel of expertise where he was selected to representthe MoeRifle Clubatthe state championships.

Since2022, Noah has been contributing to community heritage on weekends by assisting the

Recognised: Darren Mitchell awarded Noah withthe ADF Awardatthe 2023 Lowanna College Presentation Night. Photographs supplied

Walhalla Goldfields Railway, which is anot-forprofit group. He has volunteered his time to work as aconductor,supporting the guard to oversee the safety of passengers.

As aconductor, he also assists passengers, checks tickets and cleansthe train prior to passengers embarking and after passengers disembark. Noah also oversees other young trainee conductors to help them understand and perform the duties of their role.

In 2023, Lowanna College teacher’s Daniel Board and DarrenMitchell nominatedNoah for the Year 10 ADF Long Tan Leadership and Teamwork Award, which was awarded to him at the college's annual awards night last December.

The criteria for thisawardwas to ‘recognise students who demonstrate leadership and teamwork within both the school and the broader local community. At the same time, they recognise those whodisplay strongvalues,suchasdoing one’s best, respect for others and “mateship”, characteristics that are integral to Australian society.’

Volunteer: Year 11 LowannaCollege student Noah Parkinson wasawarded theMoe Lions Club Young Citizenofthe Year Awardatthisyear’s Australia Dayceremony.

Community spirit: Noah,picturedwith Lowanna College teacher Judy Stewar t.

Open your eyes to the effectsofglaucoma

THIS World Glaucoma Week (March 10 to 16),

Glaucoma Australia, along with the support of Specsavers, are urging all Australians to have their eyes checked, as it could save precious sight. Glaucomaisa leading cause of preventable blindness worldwide.

It is estimatedmorethan 300,000 Australians have glaucoma, yet 50 per cent are unaware they have it and assume they have healthy eyes.

Whilevision loss due to glaucoma can’tbe restored, early diagnosis and treatment can delay or halt the progression of the disease. This is why early detection is key.

“Booking an eye test is more than just seeing if you need glasses, it also allows us to check the healthofyour eyes and identify any changesto your vision caused by diseases such as glaucoma," alocal optometrist said.

"Early detection and treatmentcan save sight.

This World Glaucoma Week book an eye test, don’t put it off.”

Glaucoma Australia Chief Executive,Richard Wylie echoed these thoughts.

“Australians need to be aware of the‘sneak thief of sight’glaucoma and be reminded to get their eyes checked," he said.

"Forpatients that are suspected of having glaucoma or receive aglaucoma diagnosis, we provide one-on-one emotional and practical support deliveredbyqualified orthoptisteducators and trained health counsellors. The SiGHTWiSE Programhelps patients manage the anxietyaround aglaucoma diagnosisand supports them with their ongoing challenges should they be diagnosedwith the disease.”

Anyonecan develop glaucoma, but the incidence increases with age. About one in 10,000 babies are born with glaucoma; by age 40, about one in 200

peoplewillbediagnosedwiththe disease, rising to one in eight at age 80.

Glaucoma is hereditary in most cases, and you are 10 times more likelytohave glaucoma if you have a direct family member with glaucoma.First-degree relatives of aperson with glaucoma have an almost one in four chance of developing glaucoma in their lifetime, and that risk increases to 56 per cent if their glaucoma is advanced, so finding out your family history of the disease is critical.

Glaucoma Australia recommends visiting your optometrist every two years for acomprehensive eye exam for those aged 50 andover, and if you have afamily history of glaucoma, get your eyes checked every two years from the age of 40.

Whywait: Locals arebeing encouraged to have their eyestested this WorldGlaucomaWeek.

Photograph supplied

Black Dog Ridebreaking downthe mental illnessbarrier

THE Latrobe Valley communityisbeing encouraged to getbehind thelocal armofthe iconic2024Black DogRide, by registeringto rideinthe 'One Dayer'orparticipating in local fundraising to helpstart anational conversation about depressionand suicideprevention.

The Black Dog Ride‘One Dayer’isa short, one day motorcycle ride to be held in more than 40 communitiesacross Australia this Sunday (March 17)

This year’s Latrobe ride will leave from Gippsland Motorcyclist Club, Traralgon and take participants on aride across the region, before ending with an afternoonofchatsand camaraderie at Healsesville

There were 6000 participants across the nationinthe 2023 One Dayer,but organisers wanttoencourage more people to getinvolved in 2024 to makeitthe biggest event yet.

Local coordinator, Robert Brashersaid joining the Black Dog Ride’sOne Dayer was

an enjoyable and meaningful waytohelpthe organisation achieve its mission of starting conversations about depression and suicide prevention.

“More than3000 lives are losttosuicide in Australia every year, and one in five Aussies willbeaffected by mental illness every year, with three million livingwith depressionor anxiety,” Mr Brasher said.

“The tragic loss of loved ones to suicide is what drives Black Dog Ride to builda community cultureofawareness, inclusion and acceptance, and we’d love for more people from the local community to getbehindthat in 2024.”

By participating in the event, locals willhelp to break down the barrier of silence and encourage friends,familyand colleagues to seek help to managementalillnesssothey can lead a meaningful, fulfilling life.

BlackDog Ride Australia General Manager, Lawson Dixon said fostering awareness was the

catalyst for encouraging help seeking behaviour and preventingsuicide.

“We’ve been helping Aussies have conversations about mental health and suicide prevention for almost 14 years and we know that every conversation, every activity,every rideand everypieceofawareness we help create has the potential to changelives for the better,” he said

“Last year we were thrilled to have6000 peopleacross the country registerfor their local One Dayerrides -this year we’recalling on the community to help us register 8000 riders to helpsupport our cause.”

Money raised will help contribute to the Black Dog Ride Australia Community Grants program, which is focused on supportinginitiatives thathelp people who suffer from mental illness, help prevent suicide, and raise awareness of bothmental health andsuicide prevention.

Local schools,clubs,community groupsand

The Range Retirement Village is aretirement living community in Moe, boasting alive-in Manager and high-quality residential villas set inside agated community.

The Range offers elegant new and refurbished two and three-bedroom independent living villas, set in attractive and well-manicured surrounds. Each villa features an open-plan living area, wellappointed kitchen, private courtyardgarden and single or double garage

Plan your social life with your new community.

Youwill have the flexibility and freedom to embrace life with asocialcalendar that includes, billiards, indoor bowls, craft, movie nights, trivia, bingo, cards and many moresocial activities and make use of our community bus to get around our local area.

Now is your time to down size and embrace life at The Range

individualscan also raise awareness of depression and suicide preventionand support the vital work of Black Dog Ride by organising local fundraising activitiesand events

Locals are encouraged to register for the local One Dayer by visiting events.humanitix.com/ geelong-vic-black-dog-ride-1-dayer-2024

The Black DogRidebegan in 2009 as a motorcycle ride to raise awareness of depression, evolving into anational charity involving thousands of Australians who have raised millions for mental health programsand fostered mental healthawarenessaroundthe nation. Gippsland Motorcyclist Club is located at Glenview Park, Traralgon(Traralgon Racecourse)

If you or someone you know is in crisis, callone of the following national helplines: Lifeline 13 11 14

Suicide call back service 1300 659 467

TheGuide

THE EMERALD ISLES WITH ARDAL O’HANLON

PICK OF THE WEEK

Close to home: Sarah Lancashire as policewoman

Catherine Cawood

HAPPYVALLEY

ABC TV Friday 8 30pm

After a seven-year wait, the third and final season of this supreme crime thriller lands on free-to-air Featuring a fascinatingly ordinary protagonist in Yorkshire policewoman Catherine Cawood (played with bewitching emotional dexterity by Sarah Lancashire) this sterling British whodunnit from Sally Wainwright is a masterclass in character-led drama Damaged and dogged Cawood s tragic personal life hasn t clouded her sense of humour, or her innate sense of justice In this thrilling six-episode conclusion, it’s seven years later in Cawood’s chaotic life too, with her grandson Ryan (Rhys Connah) now 16 In a fulfilling twist a gangland crime leads Catherine to Ryans locked-up father (Grantchesters James Norton)

SBS, Sunday, 7.30pm

Irish comedian Ardal O’Hanlon(pictured) whips off any rose-coloured glasses forthis very engaging and witty tour of hishomeland. The Father Tedand DeathinParadisestar is an impeccably playful presenter in this three-partsojourn, airing in full tonight.Heemploys the dubious wisdom of the 1840’s book Ireland,itsScenery,Character,etc by Mr and Mrs Hall to answer his ownquestion: ”Are we really abunch of superstitious, godfearing,whisky-sodden chancers?”Tune in forthisaffectionate and fun travelogue in which O’Hanlonnimblyexplores everything from religion to storytelling in some of Ireland’sunder-the-radar towns.

LIDIA’S KITCHEN

SBS Food, Monday, 6.30pm

WorldWatch. 9.00 Destination Flavour (R) 9.20 MakeMeA Dealer.(R) 10.10 Kew

Gardens: Season By Season. 11.00 Food

4.15 Antiques Roadshow. (PG, R)

5.15 Grand Designs. (R)

6.00

(PG)

8.30 TheWeekly With Charlie Pickering. Asatirical news program.

9.05 This Is Going To Hurt (MA15+as) Adam does his first shift at aposh privatehospital.

9.50 Planet America.

10.20 Adam Hills: TheLastLeg (R)

11.00 ABC Late News 11.15 The Business. (R) 11.35 Rosehaven. (PG, R) 12.30 Grand Designs. (R) 1.20 Tenable. (R) 2.05 Rage (MA15+adhlnsv) 4.30 Catalyst. (PG, R) 5.30 7.30.(R)

6.00 Mastermind Australia. (R)

6.30 SBS World News.

7.30 Australia’s Sleep Revolution. (PGa) Part 2of3

8.30 HiddenVolcano Abyss. (Mal) Takesalook at the devastating 2022 eruption of HungaTonga–HungaHa’apai.

9.30 Kin. (MA15+lv) Bren’s chaos reachesanapex.

10.30 SBS World News Late.

11.00 Blinded (MA15+s)

11.55 The Wall:The ChateauMurder.(Malv)

3.15 22 Kids And Counting. (PGa, R) 4.10 Going Places With Ernie Dingo.(PGa, R)

4.40 Bamay. (R) 5.00 NHK World English News Morning. 5.30 ANC PhilippinesThe World Tonight.

If youdon’t haveanonna in your lifetoi cooking know-how and wisdom,LidiaB below) is thebig cheese. Andevenifyou welcomeaddition to everyone’s stockpi watering cooking shows. Returning with thereare 26 episodestofeaston. From simple “Salt Your PastaWater!” and “Che (with helpful exclamation marks include Beans”, “Southern Italian Favourites”, “Po and “JustBraising”, Lidia leaves no dough In tonight’spremiere, “What’sFor Dinne meals arethe go,with an antipasto rice s highlighting Lidia’s simple ethos.

AARON CHEN COMEDYSPECIAL

10, Tuesday, 9.15pm

NITV (34)

6.00 SevenNews.

7.00 Home AndAway. (PG)

7.30 The1%Club. (PGls) Hosted by Jim Jefferies.

8.30 TheFront Bar (Ml) Hosts Mick Molloy, Sam Pang andAndyMaher takealighter look at all things AFL.

9.30 Talking Footy Alook at the week’sAFL news.

10.30 CrimeInvestigation

Australia: KerryWhelan –Wife ForRansom (Mav,R)

12.00 Parenthood (PGa,R)

1.00 Travel Oz. (PG, R) 1.30 Harry’sPractice. (R) 2.00 Home Shopping. (R) 4.00 NBC Today 5.00 SevenEarly News. 5.30 Sunrise.

mpart invaluable Italian astianich (pictured, u do,she’s a le of cosy, mouthh her ninth season, the keenly eese Please!” d) to “Bread and otato,Potato” h unturned. r?”, easy salad

We’reall impatiently of thehilariously qui homegrown series that has surged to meantime,here’s y your fill of star Aaro left). Thestand-up as amullet-haired p known as the “webm Sydneysider’s popu In this perform

Tipping Point Australia. (PG)

WINNews.

6.00 9News

7.00

IfWerentF WouldBe showcas humour on his f BeenP favour with h yetch minut maki drive cook

awaiting thereturn rkycomedy Fisk,the sfromKitty Flanagan aglobal hit.Inthe your chance to get on Chen (pictured, comedian’s turn probate clerk, master”has seen the ularity skyrocket manceofhis show Filmed,Nobody elieve,Chen seshis deadpan r, albeit with asmile face. The HaveYou PayingAttention? itehas aunique style is deceptively timid hatty set about the tiae of life,including ng friends with taxi ers and learning to konline.

6am MorningPrograms. 8.00 Ent. Tonight (R) 8.30 Neighbours. (PGa, R) 9.00 Bold. (PGads, R) 9.30 Deal Or No Deal. (R) 10.00

To Fork. (R) 10.30 Judge Judy. (PG, R) 11.00 Dr Phil. (PGs, R) 12.00 10 News First: Midday 1.00 Ent. Tonight. 1.30 Judge Judy (PG,R) 2.00 Australian Survivor. (PG,R) 3.00

Farm To Fork. 3.30 10 News First: Afternoon 4.00 Neighbours. (PGa) 4.30 Bold. (PGads) 5.00 News.

6.00

Hosted by Grant Denyer.

6.30

Alook at the day’snews.

7.30 TheDog HouseAustralia. (PGa) Narrated by MarkColes Smith.

9.40 FBI: International (Md) When a basketballer suffers aheart attack,the team investigates the possibility of foul play

12.30 TheProject. (R) 1.30 TheLateShowWith Stephen Colbert. (PG) 2.30 Home Shopping. (R) 4.30 CBS Mornings.

Thursday, March 14

ABC (2) SBS (3) SEVEN (7,6)

6.00 News Breakfast. 9.00 ABC News

Mornings. 10.00 Australian Story.(R) 10.30

Compass. (PG, R) 11.00 AntiquesRoadshow (PG,R) 12.00 ABC News At Noon. 1.00 Whale

With Steve Backshall. (PG, R) 2.00 Anh’s

Brush With Fame. (PG, R) 2.30 Back Roads. (R) 3.00 TheCookAnd The Chef.(R) 3.25

Tenable. (R) 4.10 Antiques Roadshow.(PG,R) 5.15 Grand Designs.(R)

6.00 Back Roads: The Mallee, Victoria. (PG, R)

6.30 Hard Quiz (PG, R)

7.00 ABC News

7.30 7.30 Presented by Sarah Ferguson.

8.00 Foreign Correspondent

Alook at the aftermath of October 7.

8.30 Grand Designs New Zealand. (PG) TomWebster meets aglobetrotter who dreams of converting an old Sunday schoolinto her foreverhome.

9.20 AntiquesRoadshow. (R) Hosted by FionaBruce.

10.20 BetterDate Than Never. (R)

10.50 ABC Late News.

11.05 TheBusiness (R)

11.20 This Is Going To Hurt. (MA15+as, R)

12.10 Grand Designs (R)

12.55 Tenable. (R) 1.45 Rage.(MA15+adhlnsv)

4.00 Catalyst. (Ma, R) 5.00 Poh’s Kitchen. (R)

5.30 7.30.(R)

ABC COMEDY (22)

6am Children’s Programs. 7.20pm Bluey. 7.30 Spicks And Specks. 8.00 WouldI Lie To You? 8.30 Hard Quiz. 9.00 Gruen. 9.35 The Weekly With Charlie Pickering. 10.10 Penn &Teller: Fool Us. 10.50 Whose Line Is It

11.15 Adam Hills: The LastLeg 11.55 Would ILie To You? The UnseenBits. 12.25am Black Mirror

1.10 Live At The Apollo. (Final) 1.40 Louis Theroux: Behind Bars. 2.40 Late Programs.

6.00

MorningPrograms. 10.10

6.00

TEN (10, 5) NINE (9, 8)

KewGardens: Season By Season 11.00

Sunrise. 9.00 The Morning Show. (PG)

Food Markets: In The

Belly Of The City.(PGa, R) 12.00 WorldWatch. 2.10 Curse Of TheMummy.(PGa, R) 3.00

Mastermind Aust. (R) 3.30 ThePoint: Road To Referendum History Bites. (R) 3.45 The Cook Up.(PG, R) 4.15 World’sMost Scenic Railway Journeys. (PGa, R) 5.05 Jeopardy!(R) 5.30 Letters AndNumbers. (R)

6.00 Mastermind Australia. (PG, R) Presented by Marc Fennell.

6.30 SBS WorldNews.

7.35 BettanyHughes: Treasures of Oman Bettany HughesexploresOman.

8.30 StanleyTucci: Searching ForItaly:Piedmont. (PGl) Stanley Tucci visits Piedmont, aregion with an illustrious past that made the dream of unified Italy areality

9.20 TheVanishing Triangle (Malv)

Lisa’s article is leaked, criticising the Gardai for notacting on Amy’sdisappearance

10.15 SBSWorld NewsLate

10.45 TheSpectacular (Malv)

11.45 Unseen. (Mals, R)

3.20 22 Kids And Counting. (PGal, R) 4.15

Bamay. (R) 4.50 Destination Flavour: Singapore Bitesize. (R) 5.00 NHK World English News Morning 5.30 ANC Philippines

The WorldTonight.

SBS VICELAND (31)

6am WorldWatch. 10.00 TheMovie Show Noon

12.30 MOVIE: Feels Good Man: Pepe The Frog. (2020, M) 2.15 The Pizza Show 3.05 WorldWatch. 5.05 JoyOfPainting. 5.35 WorldWatch. 6.15 Brooklyn Nine-Nine 6.40 Jeopardy! 7.35 8Out Of 10 Cats Does Countdown. 8.30 The Curse Of OakIsland. 10.10 Miniseries: Sirius. 11.00 Taskmaster. 11.55 Late Programs.

6am

Fellinopolis. Continued. (2020,PG, Italian) 6.10 Little Women.(1994, PG) 8.20 81/2. (1963, PG, Italian) 10.50 Wildhood. (2021, M) 12.50pm Sacro

GRA.(2013,M,Italian) 2.40

10.00

10.35

11.05

11.25

12.10

6.00

6.30

7.30

11.30

SevenMorning News. 12.00 MOVIE:

Fatal Following. (2021,Mav) René Ashton, Jacey Nichole, Jacob Young. 2.00 Your Money &Your Life.(PG) 2.30 Border

6.00 SevenNews.

7.00 Football. AFL.Round 1. Carlton vRichmond. From the MCG.

10.30 AFL Post-Game Show. Post-game discussion and interviews taking alook back at allthe actionfrom thegame.

11.00 TheAmazing Race. (PG,R) Thecompetitors kick off in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico,where the 13 new teams must participateinaMexican rodeo

12.30 Black-ish. (PGa, R) Junior Jack and Diane go to extralengths to givethe best gift at aparty

1.30 Travel Oz. (PG,R)Takes alook at a variety of holiday destinations, including the Great Barrier Reef,here and abroad.

2.00 HomeShopping (R)

4.00 NBC Today. News and current affairs.

5.00 SevenEarlyNews.

5.30 Sunrise. News, sport and weather

9.30 NBC Today Noon BetterHomes.

6.00 9News.

7.00 ACurrent Affair.

7.30 RBT. (PGl, R) Alookat random breath test patrols.

8.30 Australia Behind Bars. (Malv,R)Takes alook at the2020 Wellington Correctional Centre riot that saw prisoners run rampant

9.35 World’sMostDangerous Prisoners. (Malv) Takesalook at people behind bars.

10.35 Law&Order: Organized Crime. (MA15+av)

11.35 9News Late.

12.00 A+EAfter Dark (Mm, R)

12.55 Tipping Point. (PG, R)

1.45 Explore. (R) 2.00 Getaway.(PG, R)

2.30 Global Shop.(R) 3.00 TV Shop: Home Shopping. (R) 4.00 Believer’sVoice Of Victory. (PGa) 4.30 ACurrent Affair.(R) 5.00

9NewsEarly 5.30 Today

3.00 Farm To Fork. 3.30 10 News

First: Afternoon. 4.00 Neighbours. (PGa) 4.30 Bold.(PGads) 5.00 News

6.00 Deal Or No Deal

Hosted by Grant Denyer

6.30 TheProject Alook at the day’s news.

7.30 TheDog House Australia. (PG) Narrated by Mark Coles Smith.

8.40 GoggleboxAustralia. TV fanatics open up their livingrooms to reveal their reactions to popular and topical TV shows.

9.40 Law&Order: SVU. (Masv, R) In the search for arevenge-for-hire crime ring, Benson and Stabler join forces on acase that has global reach.

10.30 Blue Bloods. (Mv, R) Danny grills feuding crime families.

11.30 TheProject. (R)

12.30 TheLateShowWith Stephen Colbert (PG)

1.30 Home Shopping. (R) 4.30 CBSMornings.

6am Morning Programs. 9.00 6am TheLate Show With Stephen Colbert 7.00 Becker 8.00 Dr Phil 9.00 TheMiddle. 10.00 Rules Of Engagement. 11.00 Becker Noon Frasier 1.00 TheBig Bang Theory 2.00 TwoAnd AHalf Men. 3.00 Rules Of Engagement. 4.00 Farm To Fork. 4.30 Becker 5.30 Frasier 6.30 Neighbours. 7.00 The Big Bang Theory 8.30 TwoAnd AHalf Men. 11.00 Late Programs.

7MATE (73,64)

10

crew memberismurdered

8.25 Endurance: Race ThePole: The TerraNovaExpedition –1910To

1913 Part 3of3.Ben Fogle and Dwayne Fields relivethe trialsand tribulations of the TerraNovaexpedition.

9.20 Queens That Changed

TheWorld: TheRebel Queen –Eleanor Of Aquitaine. (PG) Alook at Eleanor of Aquitaine.

10.15 SBS WorldNewsLate

10.45 Departure. (Mav)

11.30 Devils. (MA15+ad, R)

4.30 Bamay.(R) 5.00 NHK World English News Morning. 5.30 ANC PhilippinesThe World Tonight

6.00 SevenNews.

7.00

AFL: FridayNight Countdown. Alead-up to the Fridaynight AFL match.

7.30 Football. AFL.Round 1. Collingwood vSydney.From theMCG

10.30 AFL Post-Game Show. Post-game discussion and interviews taking alook back at all the action from the game.

11.15 ArmchairExperts. (M) Apanel discussesall things AFL

12.00 MilesInFront. (PGa, R) Alook into the world of Australian horse racing.

2.00 TheArrangement. (Mav,R)Megan connectswithsomeone fromher past.

3.00 Home Shopping. (R)

4.00 Million DollarMinute. (R)Hosted by Simon Reeve

5.00 NBC Today.

6.00 9News.

7.00 ACurrent Affair

7.30 David Attenborough’s Dynasties II: Elephant. (PGa)

NarratedbySir DavidAttenborough

8.40 MOVIE: TheVow (2012, PGalns, R)

After awoman wakesupfrom acoma with amnesia, her distraught husband sets out to rekindle theirlove.Rachel McAdams, Channing Tatum,Sam Neill.

10.45 MOVIE: If IStay. (2014,Ma, R)

Chloë Grace Moretz.

12.50 Tipping Point. (PG, R)

1.40 Pointless. (PG, R)

2.35 TheGarden Gurus. (R)

3.00 TV Shop: Home Shopping. (R) 4.00

Postcards.(PG, R) 4.30 Global Shop.(R) 5.00

TV Shop: Home Shopping. (R) 5.30 Skippy

The Bush Kangaroo.(R)

6.00 Deal OrNo Deal

Hosted by GrantDenyer.

6.30 TheProject Alook at the day’snews.

7.30 Ready Steady Cook.

Hosted by Miguel Maestre.

8.30 TheGraham Norton Show.

Irish comedian Graham Norton presents the first of two compilations of highlights from the recent series, featuring Arnold Schwarzenegger Julia Roberts, TomHanks, Dame Judi Dench, Ncuti Gatwaand many more

10.50 Fire Country. (Mv,R)A delivery truck crashesintothe firestation.

11.40 TheProject. (R)

12.40 TheLate ShowWith Stephen Colbert. (PG)

1.30 Home Shopping. (R)

12.30

R)

1.30 Miniseries: Life Af ter Life. (Mas, R)

2.40 JuliaZemiro’s Home Deliver y. (R)

3.10 Extraordinar yEscapes (PG, R)

4.00 UniverseWith Brian Cox. (R)

5.00 Better Date Than Never. (R)

5.30 Landline. (R)

6.00 Australian Story: CallOf Duty –Anjali Sharma. (R) Profiles young activist Anjali Sharma.

6.30 Back Roads: East Arnhem Land, NT Pt 2. (PG, R) RaeJohnston continues her visit to Arnhem Land

7.00 ABCNews. Alook at the top stories of the day

7.30 Miniseries: Life After Life (Mav) Part 2of4

8.25 Endeavour (Mav,R)Part1

of 3. Agrislydiscovery in acollege garden raises suspicion among a celebrated Oxford orchestra.

10.00 House Of Gods. (PGl, R) Isa struggles to meet his financial commitment

11.00 Happy Valley. (Malv,R)A body is found in adrained reservoir

12.00 Rage. (MA15+adhlnsv)

6.00 WorldWatch. 9.00 Cook Up Bitesize. (R) 9.05 DestinationFlavour. (R) 9.15 Love

Your Garden. (PGa, R) 10.10 Vintage Voltage. (PGl) 11.00 Urban Conversion.(R) 12.00 WorldWatch. 2.00 Gymnastics. Artistic Apparatus World Cup.Highlights. 4.00

France: AJourneyThroughTime.(R) 5.00

Grand ToursOfScotland’s Rivers. (PG, R) 5.35 WWII Women On The Frontline. (PGav)

6.30 SBS WorldNews

7.30 Britain’s MostBeautiful Road. (PGa)Part2of4

8.30 RoyalCrisis: Countdown To Abdication:The Secret Scandal. (PGa)Part1of3

Documents the biggest scandal ever to engulf the British royalfamily

9.30 TheWondersOfEurope: Alhambra, Treasure Of Andalusia. (PGav,R)Part4 of 4. Thestory of the people who built the Alhambra, one the most visitedmonumentsinEurope

10.30 Those Who Stayed. (Mal)

11.10 Cycling. UCIWorld

Tour.Milan-San Remo

3.30 Face To Face. (Ma, R) 4.25 Bamay.(R)

4.55 Destination Flavour:Japan Bitesize. (R) 5.00 NHK World English News Morning. 5.15 France 24 Feature. 5.30 ANC Philippines The World Tonight.

6.00 NBCToday 7.00 WeekendSunrise.

10.00 TheMorning Show: Weekend. (PG)

12.00 Horse Racing. TheAll-Star Mile andChandon LadiesDay

5.00 SevenNews At 5.

5.30 Border Security:Australia’s Front Line. (PG, R) AChinese couple arecaught with food.

SevenNews.

6.00

7.00 Football. AFL.Round 1. GeelongvSt Kilda. From GMHBAStadium, Victoria.

10.30 AFL Post-Game Show. Post-game discussion and interviews taking alook back at allthe actionfrom thegame.

11.00 TheIrrational. (Ma, R) After apassenger plane crashesinto the Potomac River,Professor Mercer and theteam are asked to investigate the pilot’spersonal motivations and piece together cluestoreveal the truth.

1.00 TheArrangement. (Mav,R)Kyle and Megan must weather ahugerumour that threatens to upend both their careers.

2.00 Home Shopping. (R)

4.00 Get Clever. (R) Educational kids’ programinwhich the wonders of maths and science are explored

5.00 HouseOfWellness. (PG, R) Alook at locations that highlight living well.

6.00 Hello SA.(PG,R) 6.30 ACurrent Affair (R) 7.00 WeekendToday 10.00 Today

Extra: Saturday.(PG) 12.00 Surfing Australia

TV 12.30 Great Australian Detour.(R) 1.00

My Way. 1.30 Taronga: Who’sWho In The

Zoo. (PGam, R) 2.30 David Attenborough’s Dynasties II.(PGa, R) 3.30 Renovate Or Rebuild. 4.30 The Garden Gurus. 5.00 9News

FirstAtFive. 5.30 Getaway.(PG)

6.00 9News Saturday.

7.00 ACurrent Affair.

7.30 Space Invaders. (PG) Experts help people declutter their lives.

8.30 MOVIE: Jason Bourne. (2016,Mav,R)Anassassinisforcedout of hiding when one of his old allies uncovers information about his past. Matt Damon, Tommy LeeJones, Alicia Vikander

10.55 MOVIE: Into TheBlue 2: The Reef (2009, MA15+sv,R)Two divers go on an extreme adventure. Chris Carmack.

12.45 Abby’s. (PG, R)

1.10 Renovate Or Rebuild. (R)

2.00 TheIncredibleJourney Presents (PGa)

2.30 Getaway. (PG,R)

3.00 TV Shop: Home Shopping. (R)

4.30 Global Shop (R)

5.00 TV Shop:Home Shopping. (R) 5.30 HelpingHands. (PG, R)

6am MorningPrograms. 9.00 Healthy Homes.(R) 9.30 Food Trail: South Africa. (R) 10.00 To Be Advised. 11.00 Everyday Gourmet.(R) 11.30 Australian Survivor.(PG, R) 12.30 Silvia’s ItalianMasterclass. 1.00 All 4Adventure. (PGl, R) 2.00 WildlifeRescue (PGm, R) 3.00 What’s Up Down Under 3.30 GCBC.(R) 4.00 My Market Kitchen. 4.30 Taste Of Aust. (R) 5.00 News.

6.00 Deal Or No Deal (R)

Hosted by Grant Denyer.

6.30 TheDog House Australia. (PG, R)Narrated by Mark Coles Smith.

7.40 TheDog House. Acouple who dream of very different dogs are searching for apooch they will both agree on.

8.40 Ambulance Australia. (Mad, R) NSW Ambulance crews race to acallfor aslashed throat and perform life-saving CPRonteens.

9.40 Ambulance UK. (Ma, R) With aspikeinstaffillness dueto COVID-19,the ambulance service calls on the militaryfor help

10.55 So Help Me Todd. (PGv,R)Todd seekshelp from hisex-girlfriend.

11.50 FBI:International. (Md, R) 12.30 Home Shopping (R) 5.00 HourOfPower.

6am Morning Programs.

11.30 The 4WD Adventure Show Noon MXTV.

12.30 Timbersports. 1.00 Blokesworld. 1.30 Bossy’sBucketList. 2.00 Motor Racing. Shannons SpeedSeries. Round 2. Race Tasmania. Day 1. 4.00 Supercar Customiser: Yianni. 5.00 Storage Wars: NY 5.30 Storage Wars 6.00

9.30 MOVIE: Bad Moms 2. (2017 MA15+) 11.35 Dating No Filter 12.05am Made In Chelsea. 2.00 Late Programs.

Sunday, March17

ABC TV (2)

6.00 Rage. (PG) 7.00 WeekendBreakfast.

9.00 Insiders 10.00 Offsiders. 10.30 World

This Week.(R) 11.00 Compass. (PG, R) 11.30

Praise. (R) 12.00 News. 12.30 Landline. 1.30

Gardening Aust. (R) 2.30 Dream Gardens.(R)

3.00 Nigella Bites. (R) 3.30 The Cook AndThe

Chef.(R) 3.55 Grand Designs New Zealand. (PG,R) 4.40 Extraordinary Escapes. (PG, R)

5.30 The ABC Of (PG, R)

6.00

6.30 Compass:Homegrown

7.00

7.30 Death In Paradise. (Mv) Aformer children’s home resident is murdered.

8.30 House Of Gods. (Mls) Batul’s politickingisinterrupted by the possibility of motherhood.

9.30 HappyValley. (Malv,R)A body is found in adrainedreservoir

10.30 ALifeInTen Pic tures: Robin Williams. (PGln, R)

11.20 Harrow. (Final, Mav,R)

12.15 Significant Others. (Madl, R)

1.05 Rage Vault. (MA15+adhlnsv) 4.05 Catalyst. (PG, R) 5.00 Insiders.(R)

SBS (3)

6.00 MorningPrograms. 10.10 Vintage Voltage.(PGl) 11.00 Urban Conversion. (R)

12.00 WorldWatch. 12.30 PBS Washington Week With The Atlantic. 12.55 Starblasters Cricket. (R) 1.00 Speedweek. (R) 2.30

Volleyball. Australian Beach Tour.Gold medal matches. 4.30 Cycling. Paris-Nice. Highlights.

5.30 Lisbon &WWII: Spies, Gold And Diplomacy. (PGa)

6.30 SBS WorldNews

7.30 TheEmerald Isles With Ardal O’Hanlon. (PGa)Part 1of3.Irish comedian and actor Ardal O’Hanlon explores the islands off the coast of Ireland.

10.30 Pompeii: TheOrigins. (Mv,R) Explores the development of Pompeii. 11.30 Eg ypt’sLostCity of Canopus (PG, R) Aninvestigationinto Canopus.

12.25 Spain’s Secret Conquest (Mav,R)

2.45 Chernobyl: TheNew

Evidence: Fallout. (PGa, R) 3.40 Grayson Perr y: Divided Britain. (Ml, R) 4.35 Bamay. (R) 5.00 NHK World English News Morning.

5.15 France 24 Feature. 5.30 Al JazeeraNews.

6am

SEVEN (7,6)

6.00 NBCToday 7.00 WeekendSunrise.

10.00 The MorningShow: Weekend.(PG)

12.00 House Of Wellness.(PG, R) 1.00 To Be Advised. 3.30 Border Security:America’s Front Line.(PG,R) 4.00 Better Homes And Gardens. (R) 5.00 SevenNewsAt5

5.30 Border Security: Australia’s Front Line. (PG, R) [VIC] Sydney Weekender

6.00 SevenNews.

7.00 Australian Idol. (PGl) Hosted by Ricki-Lee and Scott Tweedie.

8.30 Lockerbie. (PGav) Part 1of4

Documents the events surrounding the 1988 bombing of PanAmFlight103 overLockerbie, Scotland, focusing on the investigationintothe tragedy on bothsidesofthe Atlantic

10.30 QuantumLeap. (Return, Mav)

Ben finds himself in 1978

11.30 AutopsyUSA: Gilda Radner (Ma)

12.30 MOVIE: Jesse Stone:DeathIn Paradise. (2006,Masv, R) TomSelleck

2.30 Home Shopping. (R)

3.30 Million Dollar Minute. (R)

4.00 NBC Today.

5.00

SevenEarly News 5.30

NINE (9,8)

6.00 Fishing Australia. (R) 6.30 ACurrent Affair.(R) 7.00 WeekendToday 10.00 AFL Sunday FootyShow.(PG) 12.00 Wide World Of Sports. (PG) 1.00 FishForever. (Premiere)

TEN (10, 5)

12.00 Australian Survivor.(PG, R) 1.00 PlanetShapers. (R) 1.30 Cook WithLuke. (R) 2.00 4x4Adventures (PGl) 3.00 Taste Of Aust. (R) 3.30 Farm To Fork. (R) 4.00 My Market Kitchen.(R) 4.30 GCBC. (R) 5.00 News.

6.30 TheSunday Projec t Panellists dissect, digest and reconstitutethe daily news, events and hottest topics.

7.30 Australian Survivor (PG) With onlydaysremaining, someone’s in thefiring line andanothermust makeanimpossiblechoice.

8.40 NCIS:Hawai’i. (Mv,R)After ransomware is usedtocause the controls on adam to malfunction, Ernie and a team of hackers are tasked with finding theculpritresponsible before power and wateriscut off to the island.

10.40 FBI:International. (Mv, R) Theflyteamchasesatech tycoon.

11.30 TheSundayProject (R) Alookatthe day’snews.

12.30 Home Shopping. (R) 4.30 CBSMorning s.

Monday,March 18

ABCTV (2)

6.00 News Breakfast. 9.00 ABC News

Mornings. 10.00 Landline.(R) 11.00 Antiques

Roadshow.(PG, R) 12.00 ABC News At Noon.

1.00 Australia Remastered (R)

2.00 Parliament Question Time.

3.00 TheCook AndThe Chef (R)

3.25 Tenable. (R)

4.10 Antiques Roadshow. (PG, R)

5.10 Grand Designs. (R)

6.00 Back Roads. (R)

6.25 Hard Quiz. (PG, R)

7.00 ABCNews.

7.30 7.30 Presented by Sarah Ferguson.

8.00 Australian Story.

Presented by Leigh Sales.

8.30 Four Corners. Investigative journalism program exposing scandals, firingdebateand confrontingtaboos.

9.15 Media Watch. (PG)

Hosted by Paul Barry

9.35 Q+A. Presented by Patricia Karvelas.

10.40 ABCLateNews.

10.55 TheBusiness. (R)

11.10 TheWeekly With Charlie Pickering. (R)

11.45 Planet America. (R)

12.15 Grand Designs. (R) 1.05 Parliament Question Time. 2.05 Tenable. (R) 2.50 Rage. (MA15+adhlnsv) 4.30 Catalyst. (R) 5.30

7.30.(R)

6.00 WorldWatch. 9.00 Peer To Peer.(R)

9.30 MakeMeADealer.(R) 10.20 Kew

Gardens: SeasonBySeason. 11.10 Food Markets: In The Belly Of TheCity.(PGa, R)

12.10 WorldWatch. 2.00 Blitz Spirit With Lucy Worsley.(PGav,R) 3.45 The Cook Up.(R)

4.15 World’sMost Scenic Railway Journeys. (PG, R) 5.05 Jeopardy! (R) 5.30 Letters And Numbers. (R)

6.00 Mastermind Australia. (R)

6.30 SBS WorldNews

7.30 Finding Your Roots:Rising From TheAshes. (PGa)Hosted by Henry LouisGates,Jr.

8.30 The2010s: TheSocial Media Boom. Takesalook back at howsocial media seemed to fulfil the promise of the internetconnecting people.

9.20 24 Hours In Emergency: Something Changed. (Ma) An elderly man is admitted to St George’s Hospitalafter being found struggling to breathe at home.

10.15 SBSWorld NewsLate.

10.45 Blanca. (Final, MA15+v)

11.50 Darkness: Those WhoKill. (MA15+av,R)

3.25 GraysonPerry’sRites Of Passage. (Mas, R) 4.20 Bamay.(R) 5.00 NHKWorld English News Morning. 5.30 ANC PhilippinesThe World Tonight

6am

6.00 Sunrise. 9.00 TheMorning Show. (PG)

11.30 SevenMorningNews

12.00 To Be Advised.

1.30 MotorbikeCops. (PG, R)

2.00 TheChase. (R)

3.00 TheChase.

6.00 SevenNews.

7.00

Home And Away (PGad)

7.30 Australian Idol. (PGl) Anationwide search for thenextsingingsuperstar continues with the top six performers.

8.30 TheIrrational. (Mav) Alec agrees to testifyasanexpert witness in awrongful death trial for afriend of Kylie. As he faces an old nemesis, he discovers competing emotions around an accidentalshooting.

10.30 TheLatest: SevenNews.

11.00 S.W.A.T. (Mav) An auction house gets robbed.

12.00 MOVIE: Farewell, My Love. (2000,MA15+lv,R)A woman avengesher parents’murder. GabrielleFitzpatrick, Phillip Rhys.

2.00 Home Shopping. (R)

4.00 NBCToday News and current affairs.

5.00 SevenEarly News

5.30 Sunrise.

6.00 9News

7.00 ACurrent Affair

7.30 MarriedAtFirst Sight. (Mls)

It’stimefor the homestays as the remaining couples experience life in their partner’s home environment.

9.00 To Be Advised.

10.00 Footy Classified. (M) Footy experts tackle the AFL’s big issues.

11.00 9News Late.

11.30 CourtCam. (Mv,R)A judge’s temper gets the best of him.

12.00 TippingPoint. (PG, R)

1.00 Pointless. (PG, R)

2.00 HelloSA. (PG)

2.30

4.30 Bold. (PGasv) 5.00 News.

6.00 DealOr No Deal.

Hosted by GrantDenyer.

6.30 TheProject Thehosts and guest panellists takealookatthe day’snews, events and hot topics.

7.30 Australian Survivor (PG)

With only thefinalfour contestants remaining,tensions are on the rise as deals areexposed.

8.40 FBI:MostWanted. (MA15+v,R)

Theteam races to prevent more killings as its search foranembezzling businessman who is wanted for his wifeand daughter’s murder.Jesstakes advantage of his empty nest to properly court Sarah.

11.30 TheProject. (R) Alook at the day’snews.

12.30 TheLateShowWith Stephen Colbert. (PG) Hosted by Stephen Colbert.

1.30 Home Shopping (R)

4.30 CBSMornings.

7MATE (73,64) 6am

6am

9GO! (93, 82)

Tuesday, March 19 ABC

Tonight. 1.30 JudgeJudy.(PG, R) 2.00 Australian Survivor (PG, R) 3.00 GCBC. 3.30 10 NewsFirst: Afternoon 4.00 Neighbours. (PGa) 4.30 Bold. (PGav) 5.00 News. 6.00

6.00

Hosted by GrantDenyer

6.30 TheProject.

7.30 Australian Survivor (Final, PG) After 45 days of battling it out in Samoa, the final three are pushed to their limits.

9.15 AaronChenComedy Special. (PGal) Astand-up comedy performance of Aaron Chen’s IfWeren’tFilmed, NobodyWouldBelieveshow

10.15 NCIS. (Mdv,R)The NCIS team investigates the deathofaUSNavy commander whotrained athletes.

12.00 TheProject. (R)A look at theday’snews.

1.00 TheLate ShowWithStephen Colbert. (PG) Hosted by StephenColbert. 2.00 HomeShopping (R) 4.30 CBS Mornings.

Rail Trail PetWalk

THE next pet walkfor Companion

Pet Care-The Ted Basarke Mercy Foundation, will be held this Sunday (March 17).

This is aleisurely walk on the MoeYallourn Rail Trail starting at 9.30am from therotunda in the Moe Botanical Gardens (near the tennis club).

Access is via Botanic Drive which is left from Dinwoodie Dr.

Everyone is welcome to attend withorwithoutpets, and the gold coin donation we collect goes directly towards the foundation.

Thewalkoffers agreat opportunity for social interaction of ownersand dogs alikeand goes along the trail to Old Sale Road, before returning to the gardens.

This is approximately at hreekil ometre rou nd trip ,h owever participants can choose the distance they wish to cover and walk at their own pace.

Morning tea is provided at the conclusion of the walk.

The Ted BasarkeMercy Foundation Inc is acharitableorganisation operating in the Latrobe Valley.

The foundation recognises the very important role of companion pets in promotinghuman health and wellbeing, and social inclusion.

The registered charity assists owners who are financially vulnerable by subsidising veterinary care.

Any donations to support the Foundation would be greatly appreciated, and canbemade by direct depositinto the Bendigo Bank account

The Ted Basarke Mercy Foundation (BSB 633000, Acc No. 132483561).

That's awrap

HAZELWOOD Rotary Club has finalised the proceeds of its annual Christmas Wrap stand at Mid Valley.

Atotal of $6328 has been distributed to the 10 charities and local groups who took part.

Thanks to Mid Valley and the many customers.

The clubalsosent the $800 proceeds of it sl as tB unnin gs ba rbe cue to

Mirboo North relief efforts.

Gippsland Orchid Club

OUR next club monthly meeting will be held on Thursday, March 14.

The meetingwillbeheld at the Angl ican Hall, 100 Grey Str eet, Traralgon.

Meetingsare held each month on thesecond Thursday of the month, commencing at 1.30pm.

Last month,the topicfor discussion wasDeflaskingOrchids

The Cymbidium Orchids werecarefully removed from the glass flask, separated and potted into small pots.

The conditions requiredfor the flasks were discussed, followedby question time.

The monthly show of members' plants were of ahigh standard, with vouchers being presented to the four winners.

This month, there will be an order form available to enter members potting mix requirements.

There are five different sizes of potting mix available, and there will be samples of all sizes.

The club welcomes new members. If you are attending, please bringalonga small afternoon contributiontoshare. Tea and coffee are supplied.

For further information, ring Pat on 0407 741 621.

Field naturalists

THE presenter for the next meetingof the Latrobe Valley Field Naturalists' Club on Friday, March 22 will be our vice president,Ken Harrisonhis favourite topic -Lacewings.

The meeting, which starts at 7.30pm willbeheld at the Moe Library and also viaZoom.

The presentation will follow our annual general meeting.

Lacewings are an order of insects, Neuroptera, with long slendermostly transparent wings with anetwork of veins giving alacyappearance.

The ya re pre dato rs, especi ally

as larvae,feeding mainly on other insects. Some green lacewings are sold as eggs or adults and often used to attack pests such as aphids. They rangefrom awingspan of just 5mm to as much as 90mm. The larger species, known as Antlions, have larvae who build aconicalpit and wait at the bottom for insects such as ants to slide down the steep sides of the pit.

For our excursion on Saturday, March 23, we will meetat7pm for an evening of light-trapping for insects (hopefullyincluding lacewings) at a privateproperty beside the Morwell National Park.

Visitors are mostwelcome, both to the meeting andthe excursion

For more information, phonethe secretary, Rose, on 0410 237 292. Visit our website lvfieldnats.org to register if you wish to use Zoom to join the meeting.

Ballroom dance lessons

LATROBE Valley Dance Promotions

Inc are holding their weekly Thursday night lessons at the Girl Guides Hall (18 Margaret Street, Morwell). Starting at 7pm and finishing up about 10pm. Cost is $5 per person each Thursday. Join us to learn anew skill, have some fun, dancing, revision, friendships, exercise, and socialising.

Follow us on our Facebook page at Latrobe Valley Dance Promotions Inc. Contacts are Norm on 0428 543737 or Lynda (0428 489 041).

Easter photos

TRARALGON Neighbourhood

Learning House has partnered with Little Shutter Bug Photography to offer Easter photosfor children and pets.

Prints start from $15 plus a$5sitting fee for the neighbourhoodhouse. Please book via the link at littleshutterbug.square.site/ Boo kings are av aila ble fro m Monday, March 18.

All-inclusive gathering

JOIN us for an inclusive gathering at the TraralgonRSL,where people of all abilities can come together over a meal and drinks. Whether you’re coming alone, with afriend, support worker,orfamily member, all are welcome.Thisisa fantastic opportunity to make new friends and enjoy achatinawelcoming environment.

The event will take place Thursday, March 28 from 12pm RSVP to Phillip Chalker by March 25 indicating the numberofpeople attending. You can reachPhillip on 0400 603 367 or via email at all.abilities.social.group@gmail.com

Clean up effort

FRIENDS of Tyers Park took part in Clean Up Australia Day on Sunday, March 3.

Agroup of 10 volunteerscollected more than 10 cubic metres of rubbish in the park on Clean Up Australia Day

This was more than enough to overflow the two large rubbish skips provided by Latrobe City Council. All the rubbish had been illegally dumpedinthe park, mostofitover the past year. Apart from household rubbish, car tyres, car parts and whitegoods were the main items collected. Rubbish not only looks unsightly but can adversely effect wildlife,contaminate waterways and, in the case of garden waste, spread invasive weeds.

Garden club

NEXT meeti ng of the Traralgon Garden Club will be at 2pm next

Tuesday (March 12) at anew venue: the Traralgon Racecours e( 110 McNairn Road, Traralgon).

New membersand visitors welcome.

Further information is available from Bryan Corkran on 0408 598 016.

Super scones

MARC HiswhenCWA branch es acrossVictoria come together in a scone baking competition to celebrate their birthday.

This competition started during COVID, as the CWA tried to raise money that they would normally obtain from the Royal Melbourne Show.

It has now turned into an annual event.

CWA Morwell Evening branch has held the scone trophy for the first three years. Can they make it four in arow?

We will find out on March 23 when Morwell CWA have their big yellow marquee set up on the Morwell Historical Society lawn, (12 HazelwoodRoad).There, they will be sellingtheir famous plainand dates scones that will be supplemented with abakesale and CWA recipe books.

To make sure you don’t miss out on the day, pre-orders are recommended and can be placed via Trybookingtrybooking.com/CPRTT

Moreinformationisavailable on the CWA Morwell Evening Facebook page.

Youcan be apartof

Community Corner

IF you are acommunity groupand have any news items you need publicised, feel free to email us at news@ lvexpress.com.au

You can address the correspondence to Editor, Liam Durkin.

Please write 'CommunityCorner' in the subject line and nothing else.

Deadline is Friday 9am to appear in the following Wednesday issue.

The Latrobe Valley Express,

Knowhow:

Driving down costs with nuclear energy

IN his zeal to hose down any possibility of nuclear power being used to ease Australian's rising cost of living, DanCaffrey ('Nuclearnon compliant' Latrobe Valley Express Opinion 06/03/24)attempts to demonstrate how expensive it would be to adopt Small Modular Nuclear Reactors [SMNR] as his working example.

Unfortunately, Mr Caffrey fails to tell the whole story.

In Victoria,depending on our distributionnetwork, we pay anywhere between 29.3 and 35.8c per kilowatt hour for electricity.

In Russia, they pay just 6c akwh, in China it's 8c and in the USA 18c.

So how do they achieve such low rates?

Seventeen per cent of Russia's electricity[20 Gigawatts] comes from its 31 nuclear power plants, 60 per cent is derived from fossil fuels, while hydro provides 18 per cent.

In China, 62 per cent of their power comes from coal. They currentlyhave55nuclearplants producing 57 GW, and 22 new nuclear plants are under construction and another 70 are planned.

So Mr Caffrey's claim that only one SMNR is presentlyoperating in China, with no further ones in sight, is misleading.

Hisargument that nuclearisnot carbon neutral as fossil fuels are required to mine the uranium overlooks the fact that the same could be said of the metals needed to construct the solar panels and wind turbines,and the huge amounts of fossil fuels required to transport these components to their Australian sites from e.g. China.

Nuclear itselfwill not solve all Australia's energy problems, but as part of amix of sources including so called renewables, our country can return to the days of cheap, reliable, round the clock power which in turn will drive down the cost of living and make our own industries more competitive in the world's markets.

Greg Hansford

Newborough

Unqualified and spurious

WHY do people write to newspapers?

Iwould havethought for allsortsofreasons, but Neil Reid,(‘What acatch’,LVE Opinion 06/03/24), seems to think OliverBergensmight do it to "catch afish", resulting in a"gotcha" moment for Oliver and much glee for Neil.

Or is the "catch" simply aby-product?

I've never been afisherman, but if my primary aim is to catch afish, then perhaps any baitis fair game.

Does this mean Oliver may use disingenuity to achieve his goal,orshould we takehim at face value?

Either way, is Neil satisfied with this, and does apositive reader response not engender quite the thrill of a"gotcha" moment?

Oliver is certainly keen to encourage people to respond, and apparently negatively. Go figure!

Personally, my reasons do not include any expectation of any kind of response, but Irealise Imay cop awhack.

Ihave no objectiontothis,aslong as the respondent does not distort or misrepresent what I've written, or display unwarranted bias.

Unfortunately, Neil Reid does just this, and not for the firsttimehehas completely missedthe point.

Ihave no argument with Oliver'spolitics, just his disgusti of addressing those who

views, but there are regular correspondents with whomIgenerally disagreepolitically, withoutcomment, but who treat opposing voices with respect, eg. Greg Hansford, so it is possible. Nor does Neil address the other major point of my letter, the matter of local issues by local correspondents.

The referral to Patricia Correa, by the way, is related to her previous implication that she doesn't need adictionary to read Oliver's letters, unlike mine.

Neil, when you describe my letter as a"negative, smug and vitriolic tirade/rant", but Oliver's effort gets an uncritical and gleeful tick of approval, you forfeit any right to advise me to "lift your game by not playing the man/woman".

Furthermore,your repeat assessment of my demeanor is again unqualified, spurious, personal and inaccurate. Please desist.

Ithank you for your more positive feedback, but my motivations for furtherletterswillcertainly not include trying to live up your expectations.

John Duck Trafalgar

Same old

ITHOUGHT Imight help out our local MPs with political slogans that might help the public when it's time to vote at the next election.

"A vote for me, is awasted vote", "I am here for my community once Ihave lookedafter myself and my party and if Ihavetime, youwill be my priority", "A vote for me will get you lots of talk, but no action", "Vote for me and Iwill never be seen or heard in the electorate".

Seriously, we need politicians who are prepared to fight for us, we have enough politicians who promise us the world, but nothing changes.

As acommunity, we are over-governedand in my opinion, not oneofour localpoliticians has been able to justify their salaries with real results.

Iurgepeople to hold our politicians to account and not accept that an opposition member cant achieve results -they can if they fight and that is what we as acommunity are lacking -fighters.

These slogans apply equallytocouncillorsand MP's.

Patrick Ansell Morwell

Wateroff aduck's back

LOVED your article Neil Reid (LVE Opinion 06/03/24 ‘What aCatch’).

You are so right Neil, if the bait is enticing enough to grab and swallow, then as you so eloquently put it, "hook, line and sinker" is the final siren.

Everything you stated in your article was spot on my friend

Brian Mahwinney, Greg Hansford, Patricia Correa, Dan Caffrey and Nicholas Tam also hit the ball out of the park.

Sadly,inthisday and age of so called 'modern society', the world and more importantly,the beautiful country we have the privilege of livingin, has become stale, bland and 'exit stage left' boring

The 'extreme lefties' have taken the reins and are ruling this country with an iron fist.

Witheveryday issues, such as, political correctness gone completely mad, imbecile, moronic activism, and disgusting behaviour, our 'accomplished and tough justice system' (which we all know is 'just-a-system') over the top Indigenous rights and boring, mundane rituals, too much zealots

of society who willstopatnothing to follow this fictional path.They comprehensively refuse to believe that the world is actually round. Those who will fighttothe death to prove thattheiropinion is the only one that matters and should be believed.

Others will put their opinion forward and back it up with the real truth and facts, not something from aworld of fantasy.

If someone disagrees with something that you say, you don't lose any sleep over it and you don't give arats proverbial.

In fact, Ifind it very humorous and my friends and Iget ahugelaugh out of the rubbish that is written by certain subscribers.

You just keep your head over the ball, focus and keep batting on and belting out the truth. If you're notout at the end of the days play and I'm sure you will be, then you have triumphedoverthe lesser lights, the unbelievers, those who wish to drag you down. But, the most rewarding part is you stick to your guns and keep on keeping on.

As the old saying goes, 'The truth always hurts' and for some, thisisatruth they can'thandle!

Oliver Bergens

Dandenong

Balance in commissioning

MR John Cameron can surelyclaim some expertise in the domain of forestry, and has seemingly enjoyed along and successful career in that industry.

All power to him Isay,but, as the great novelist (and journalist) Upton Sinclair once observed, "It is difficult to get aman to understand something, whenhis salary depends uponhis not understanding it."

There are many Latrobe Valleyworkers (most Iimagine far less well remunerated than Mr Cameron has been) who are no doubt frightened and angry at the impact that climatechange policy is having on their livelihoods.They deserve the community's attentionand support. What they do notdeserve is being led up the gardenpath by Mr Cameron'spseudo-scientific adventures in your newspaper's 'comment' section.

He seems to think, for example, that the fact that the earth is to have once been much warmer is of any kind of significance. But climate scientists are well awareofthis fact -itistheirmethod,after all, which has helped to demonstrate it. What concerns them is that this kind of change in the earth's temperature, which in the past took many tens of thousands of years to occur, and so afforded life a long time to adapt, is right now happening in the space of just asingle century.

If you must publish Mr Cameron's efforts as 'comment', could you not at least, in the name of Upton Sinclair, invite ascientist to provide a 'comment' in reply?

Joe Pugh Warragul

Traf turf turfed

BAW Baw Shire West Ward Councillor, Danny Goss claims that there needs to be asignificant purchase of land on theoutskirts of town(s) where multiple sporting clubs could play to fulfil his vision. Savingsof2mand abullet on this project don't come around everyday, but Ihaveone.

Centraltothe Latrobe Valley andinthe Baw Baw shire is the town of Trafalgar, this is just a reminderfor ourcouncillors in the Central and West Wards.

It is the same town where amassivenew development 'Waterloo' is coming to fruition which will almost double the size of our town.

Also located within its boundaries are acricket and footballoval which hashad no significant upgrade since the early 90s.

But Cr Goss, here is the great news attached to this reserve is an unused 22 ha land just begging for facilities to be built.

It was purchased by the shire originally to build anew greyhoundtrack. When this project was scrapped, amasterplanfor this space was developed.

The original masterplan has room for four extra ovals, parking, indoor facilities and even awetlands and it's just 15 minutes out of Warragul.

Iwas in astate of melancholy after Ilearned you (Cr Goss) and your fellow councillors from the Westand Central Wards at the lastcouncil meeting voted to redirect the money for the creation of anew oval at Trafalgar to aredevelopment of an oval in Drouin. This confuses me because this redirection of funds creates nothing new and was not arecommended project by the Sports and Recreation Teamatthe shire when submissions went to council.

It also perplexes me that this project is not costed where as the Trafalgar oval is.

How can you morally vote for that?

It is not lostonmyself and my fellowrecreational facility users that it is an election year and there may not be any value in anew oval in Trafalgar for you.

That's ashame because there is potentially plenty of value for the youth and sportspeople of both the BawBaw Shireand the wholeLatrobe Valley. All youhave to do is 'think big'.

Scott Moorhouse

Trafalgar

Have your say

THE Latrobe Valley Express welcomes letters to the editor.

Preferencewillbegiventobrief, concise letters which address local issues.

The editor Liam Durkin, reserves the right to edit letters for reasons of space and clarity, and may refuse to publish any letter without explanation.

The Express does not publish letters from anonymous contributors.

Letters mustinclude aphone number, email address and the author's hometown for purposes of substantiating authenticity. Readers are entitled to aright of replytoa letter directed at them.

While healthy debate is encouraged, the editor will use his discretion if he believes letters are becoming slagging matches between writers.

The views expressed in letters to the editor are thoseofthe writers, and do notnecessarily reflect the views of Latrobe Valley Express management or staff.

The letters section is designed to allow people to have their say, and not be hijacked for political agendas.

Email letters to news@lvexpress.com.au and include 'letter to the editor'inthe subject line. Deadline for letters is Thursday 3pm.

Ambitious education reformtoset the tone

COMMENT

By PROFESSOR DUNCAN BENTLEY

THE Universities AccordFinal Report has set the tone for an ambitious reform of higher and vocational education in Australia.

As we await the federal government’s response to its findings, we should not delay in embracing thecore tenets of the report, whichoffer our sector aonce-in-a-generation opportunity for change.

We must commend the federalgovernment for establishing the panel to investigate what changes mustbemadetopost-secondaryeducation so thatwecan rekindle the aspirationsoffuture generations.

The report sets atargettolift the tertiary attainment rate of all working-age people, with at least one CertificateIII qualification or higher, from the current level of 60 per cent to at least 80 per cent by 2050.

To achieve this, the system will needtomore than double the number of Commonwealth-supported students in universities from860,000currently to 1.8 million by 2050. This will evidently require amajor overhaul of the entire education sector spanning from early childhood to higher and vocational education.

This target may seem ambitious given reports that domestic higher education enrolments have dropped by 13 per cent since 2016. Yet while enrolments for bachelor’s degree are declining, enrolments in work-based training and apprenticeships have increased in recent years. In Victoria, this can be attributed to the state government’s leadership in delivering Fee-Free TAFE.

This shows us that with the right initiatives and

equitablesupport,wecan also turnthe tide on universityenrolments among our domestic cohort.

As adual-sector university, we are seeing this trend at Federation University and often, once the door to post-secondary education is opened through TAFE, studentsare better prepared to continue their education journey with further vocational or higher education qualifications.

In his addresstothe NationalPress Club last year following the release of the Accord’s interim report,the Minister for Education, Jason Clare, supported acloser alignmentofvocational and higher education as one of the key changesneeded to help address the skills shortage.

Minister Clare also noted that astrongconnection between TAFEand higher education can result in innovative education offeringsthat will help us meetemerging skillsdemand in the workplace, citing Federation’s dual Electrical qualification thatcombines abachelor’s degree with aCertificate III in Electrotechnology which we developed with the National Electrical and Communications Association.

This modula ra pproach to post-second ary education will provide the innovation and agility Australia needs to rapidly upskill its workforce and combine the practical and theoretical skills many technology-driven sectors require. Supporting greater mobility between vocational and higher educationisone measure to help us reach the 2050 target, yet the most important recommendation in the Accord final report is the need to raise post-secondary education attainment among disadvantaged students.

Lowsocioeconomic statusstudents are predominantly located in regional, rural and peri-urban communities, and while they make up 25 per cent

of our population, this cohort only represents 17 percent of higher education enrolments.

At Federation, we alreadymeet this target in our student body. Our aim is to build on our capability to reach evenmorelow socioeconomic status students in our communities. As anation, it will require much bolder actions, which is why regional universitieslike Federation doingthe heavy lifting need the proposed university levy to deliver on the national promise.

As well as being comparatively disadvantaged, regional students are more likely to have carer duties, while being located further from places of learningand employment than theirmetropolitan counterparts. Undertaking unpaid placement work with such constraints can sometimes be ahurdle toogreat to overcome.

Mandatory paidplacementsisone recommendation in the final Accord report that could address this issue.

This is ameasure Federation is already implementing through our Co-operative Education Model, and being able to earn while you learn can be the difference in astudent from adisadvantaged backgroundnot just deciding to enrol but being able to complete their degree.

We cannot say with certainty which of the final report’s recommendations the federalgovernment will choose to adopt, but we can be certain that the Accord panel have provided ablueprintfor how our sectormust reinvent itself to deliver an experience that our students and employerswant, and support the skills needs of our nation.

Professor Duncan Bentley is President and ViceChancellor of Federation University, Australia.

Storm-affected farmerspleadingfor relief funding

By ZAIDAGLIBANOVIC

FARMERS hit by recent wild weather have continued to plea for government support as they pick up the pieces.

Murray Watt, the Federal Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry and Minister for Emergency Management, visited Gippsland last week, but gave no indication of any future federal assistance for disaster-impacted farmers.

The Minister visited the Ellinbank SmartFarm to praise the farm's innovation visiting Vietnamese delegates, butwhiletheytouredthe green pastures in Ellinbank, farmers just40kilometres away continued to suffer after the February storm.

"I’m very conscious that this part of Victoria recently experienced thoseterriblestorms, particularly Mirboo North, but Iknow the region in general was affected," Minister Wattsaid when questioned about relief measures to struggling Mirboo North farmers.

"There has been asignificant amount of support already provided by the federal and Victorian governments to this region, as there has been to Western Victoria with the bushfires that they’ve experienced recently," he added.

The stat ea nd feder al gover nment have implemented arange of supports following the devastatingstorm in February, including the Prolonged Power Outage payment for small businesses and homes without power for longer than seven days.

The state and federalgovernment havealso announced local government financial assistance and ahead contractor to assist with the post-storm clean-up.

On February 25, the federal and state

governments announced that disaster-affected councils would share in a$21 million support package through the Disaster Recovery Funding Arrangements.

The package includes $13.1 million towards a Clean-Up Program to remove hazards and waste for impacted and uninsured residents. Baw Baw, East Gippsland and Wellington Shires are among the 29 councils who will share $8 million to help restore community assets and facilities.

But when it comes to the agriculture and horticulture industry, farmers are still waiting for assistance.

"What we do when natural disasters hit is look at immediate support in the days following, but as the weeks and months roll on further support is provided to communities as the impactsbecome clearer,"MrWatt said.

Some farmers in Mirboo North are facing cleanup bills of around $100,000 for fencing and tree removal, feeling left behind by the lack of government financial support.

The Cummaudo Farm in Mirboo North told the Express they will struggle coveringthe cost of their 30-odd acres lost from hail damage, let alone forking out thousands of dollars on fencing and clearing costs.

Victorian Member for Gippsland South, Danny O’Brien, said it was understandable that local farmers feel as though they have been forgotten about.

Mr O’Brien said he had written to the state Minister for Agriculture,RossSpence, askingthat funding be made available for these farmers as a matter of priority.

In Mirboo North, potato farms and asnow pea farm were heavilydamaged, and so was the Mirboo North nursery, which told the Express it had lost

95 percent of stockduring the recent storm event

Mr O'Brien is urging the government to make clean-upgrantarrangementsavailable likethatof the large storms in June and October 2021.

State Minister for Energy and Resources, Lily D'Ambrosio, during her visit to Mirboo North last month, said the government was using the 2021 storm event as aguide,but had yet to announce similar funding grants.

Mr O’Brien said the problemwas caused by criteria in the current disaster funding arrangements, which require acertain percentage of aregion to be directly affected by the natural disaster before clean-up assistance from the state and federal governments will be provided.

The Victorian Farmers Federation (VFF) has opened donations for the Disaster Relief Fund (DRF) as farmers continue to struggle to pay the bills after the recent storms.

VFF President, Emma Germano said many regional communitieshad beenleft reelingafter aseries of devastating naturaldisasters

“Farmers have lostfarm sheds, kilometresof fencing, stock, machinery and that’s just from early assessments.Weknowthere will be more, so we’re getting on the front foot and opening our disaster relief fund applications,” she said.

Storm-impacted Mirboo North potato farmer, Paul Giardina, said it was ironic that the government was happy to boast about local crops but wouldn't offer any support.

"Unfortunately,we'reina situation where we aren't getting looked at -we're bypassed," he said.

"It'susrunning around trying to do what we can to tryand help ourselves."

The Latrobe Valley

Path forward: Federation UniversityPresident and Vice Chancellor, Professor Duncan Bentley has outlined ways to see higher number bachelor enrolments File photograph

Forefront: Murray Watt,the FederalMinister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestr yand Minister forEmergencyManagement,during his trip to Gippslandlastweek.

Photograph: Zaida Glibanovic

of a

March 2024

at 7pm

The purpose of the meeting is to nominate no less than three (3) or more than nine (9) persons as the Committee of Management for the Yallourn North Hall &Recreation Reserve for aterm of three years. The current committee's term will expire on 4th April 2024.

All positions will be declared open and nominations will be accepted prior to or on the night.

Nominations from women, Aboriginal people, and people with disabilities, young people and people from culturally diverse backgrounds are encouraged. Further information, nomination forms and nominee declaration forms may be obtained by contacting your local Department of Energy, Environment and Climate Action (DEECA) office or at the meeting. For further enquiries please contact the Secretary, Bernie McKenzie on 0427 771 121.

PROPOSAL

1.

2.

as a Low-imp act Facilit yu nder the Telecommunications (Low-impact Facilities) Determination 2018 ("The Determination"), the based on the description above. The proposed infrastructure will comply with ACMA EME regulatory arrangements.

3. In accordance with Section 7ofC564:2020 Mobile Phone Base Station DeploymentCode 2020, we invite you to provide feedback about the proposal. Further information and/or comments should be directed to: Vanessa Wan at Service Stream Limited, 0447 240 015, Optus.Submissions @servicestream.com.au or Zenith Tower B, Level

3,

4.

by 5pm, Thursday 28 March 2024.

you would like to know more about this site, further information can be obtained from www.rfnsa.com.au/3844001

Cash in Hand! d!

Letusdothe hardwork

for you -advertise in both print and on-line

It’s easy, just call 5135 4455 4 45 5 55 5 and a annd put an ad in the paper today! ayy!

BOARD DIRECTOR VACANCY

YALLAMBEE TRARALGON

VILLAGE FOR THE AGED INC.

Yallambee is anot-for-profit community owned organisation, providing services that accommodate and support aged members of the Latrobe Valley and Gippsland community.

Yallambee's facilities are conveniently located in the heart of Traralgon near popular amenities and advanced health facilities.

With 90 Independent Living Units in our Yallambee Retirement Village and 120 beds in our Margery Cole Residential Care Service.

Yallambee prides itself on providing individual choice, independence, and quality of life.

The Board of Directors is committed to the provision of strong leadership with focus on fiscal and clinical governance to ensure Yallambee is well positioned to respond to the increasing demands within this growing and challenging Aged Care sector.

Yallambee currently has one vacancy on our voluntary Board of Directors. If you are interested in becoming part of adynamic Board, can add diversity in thinking and share our vision and mission in making adifference in the lives of our residents, we would be pleased to hear from you.

Yallambee is seeking applicants with Legal, Accountancy, Risk Management, Project Management, Business Governance, and who have previous board experience.

We encourage applicants from diverse backgrounds, such as those with adisability, CALD, Aboriginal /TSI, LGBTQIA+ community and people of different age groups with different lived experiences.

Yallambee offers support for Directors wishing to undertake education.

The Yallambee Board Director PD is available from https://www.yallambee.com.au/current-jobvacancies/

Applications can be emailed to:

pa@yallambee.com.au marked Confidential to:

Mr Victor de Beer Board Chair /Chair Nominations Committee

Yallambee Traralgon Village for the Aged Inc.

Applications close 5pm, Monday, 25 March 2024.

The Latrobe Valley Express welcomes photos of your newest arrival

Parents are welcome to email a copy of your newborn photos for publication to our editorial staff - news@lvexpress com au with the subject line baby photo’

Please include the following details:

Baby’s first and middle name/s

Baby’s surname D O B

Mum’s maiden name

Mum and Dad s names

Location of Hospital Hometown

Business Opportunities •

Would you liketodeliver the Latrobe Valley Express newspaper to individualhomes on Tuesdayand/or Wednesdayafternoons in Traralgon, Morwell and Newborough.

Please apply to: The Circulation Manager 0456 000541

Please note: Children must be 11 years or over as we will need to apply for agovernment Child Employment Permit. Children younger than 11 cannot or will not be accepted.

Adult deliverers also welcome

GP1 632593

CareersatLatrobe

LatrobeCityCouncilhasexcitingopportunitiesforenthusiasticand forward-thinkingindividualswithapassionforprovidingexcellent servicestoourcommunity

• SeniorStatutory PlannerPlanner -Permanent Full Time

• EarlyChildhood Mentor –Berry Street Education Model-Temporary Part Time

• Social Inclusion Action Group - ActionGroup -Volunteer

• RatesOfficer - fficer -Permanent Full Time

• Senior Librarian– Collections - niorLibrarian –Collections-Permanent Full Time

• PerinatalMentalHealthClinicianPerinatalMentalHealthClinician -Fixed Term Part Time

• Maternal andChild Health Nurse- rnal Nurse-Permanent, Part Time &Casual

• Fitness Instructor- tness Instructor -Casual

• LearntoSwimInstructor- Multiple Casual Positions

• Childcare andPreschool Educators–Cert3and re school DiplomaDiploma-MultipleCasual Positions

Forfurtherinformationincludinghow toapply,positiondescriptionsand applicationclosingdates,pleasevisitour websitewww.latrobe.vic.gov.au/careers

Pleasenotesuccessfulapplicantswillbe requiredtoapplyforandsatisfactorilyobtain aNationalPoliceCheckandWorkingwith ChildrenCheck

www.latrobe.vic.gov.au/careers

Expression of Interest CommunityAdvisoryCommittee Members

GippslandPHN is part of anational networkof31Primary Health Networks across Australia. PHNs arefundedto work towards the objectiveofmeeting the health needs of the most vulnerable people in the community or those most at risk of poor health outcomes. Gippsland PHN works closely with community and the primary health sector to identify opportunities to improve health outcomes in Gippsland, through better coordination and support of health services and by commissioning newservices to address identified health needs Gippsland PHN is seeking expressions of interest for CommunityAdvisoryCommitteemembers to commence1 July 2024 for athree-year term. We arelooking for individualswho would like to provide input and advice on improving health careservices for consumers in Gippsland.

Gippsland PHN is seeking Committee members from arange of backgrounds, with different perspectives of the health sector:

Areyou aconsumer, carerand/or patient of the primaryhealth caresystem?

Do youhave livedexperience of adisability or care for someone witha disability?

Areyou Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander?

Do you havea multiculturalbackground?

If you areinterested, we wouldlove to hear from you. Howtoapply

All potential nominees should review theonline informationand completethe ExpressionofInterest link available at https://gphn.org.au/about-us/caceoi/ Formoreinformation, pleaseemail company.secretary@gphn.org.au

ApplicationsClose: Sunday, 17 March 2024

OWNER DRIVERS

We are asuccessful, family-owned transport company based in Traralgon, looking for Owner Drivers to join our team. We are looking for people with 12 or 14 pallet tautliners with full size tailgates.

We are also looking for people with long wheelbase transit vans.

Successful applicants will be offered consistent work acrossthe

Gippslandregion.

Vehicles must be of suitable age and appearance.

The successful contractors would already be set up as a registered company with appropriate insurances for yourself and your vehicle.

GP1668426

Successful applicants would be able to provide:

● Atrolley jack and all other related safety and pers onal protective equipment

● Flexibility in your work hours when required

● Good communication and presentation skills

If you are interested, please contact Ben on 0419 569 433 or 5176 2244

Vic Marino's Painting

Current JOB OPPORTUNITIES

At RTL Mining and Earthworks RTL is currently seeking applications for the following positions:

TRANSPORT TRUCK DRIVERS

For further information and to apply, visit: http://www.rtl.com.au/careers.html

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Deaths

•

BELL (Laird), Penelope Jo Anne (Pene). Passed away peacefully at Latrobe Regional Hospital Traralgon, 5March 2024 surrounded by her loving family. Aged 67 years Dearly loved wife of Tony (dec.). Much loved mother and mother-in-law of Tristan and Jenny, Jared and Brooke, Lachlan, Celeste and Dylan. Adored Nanny Pene to Chelsea, Zavier, and Jaxx.

BEYER, Grant William. Passed away peacefully surrounded by loving family, at the Victorian Heart Hospital on Monday 4March 2024. Aged 71 years Loving husband of 51 years to Kerry. Much loved father and fatherin-law to Claire, Damien and Luke (dec.). Grandpapa to Evelyn and April. Forever in our hearts

CAMILLERI, Les. Asad farewell to our esteemed member of Morwell Senior Citizen's club. Our condolences to his family and friends. Morwell Senior Citizen's Club.

CAMILLERI, Les. Les, you were my best friend and I'll miss your humour and laughter. I'll miss going to watch the Bombers together. Forever in my Heart Tony Marino.

CAMPBELL, Malcolm. Heartfelt sympathy to Marita and family on the passing of Malcolm. From Management, Drivers and Staff at Latrobe Valley Taxis.

CHESSUM

DAVEY, Graham Bruce.

18/9/1958 -8/3/2024.

Passed away peacefully at home, on the hill, in the arms of his loving wife of 45 years, Maria. Loved and loving father of Michelle and Adam, Ryan and Candy. Devoted Tapa to Evelyn, Ida, Darcy and Paxton. Loving son of Ray and Betty Davey (both dec.) and son-in-law of Mario (dec.) and Olwyn Vitale. Family was everything, he will live on in our hearts forever.

DAVEY, Graham Bruce. My brother, my mentor, my best friend, our uncle and lifelong cheer leaderyou will leave agiant hole in all of our hearts as we remember the truly gentle, kind, generous, community man full of love and passion for all his people whether it be family, friends, the Saints and hometown of Trafalgar. Forever in our hearts.

Love always Shirl, Kellie and Jack, Troy and Claire, Maya and Fletcher, Gus and Elouise.

DAVEY, Graham Bruce. We are deeply saddened by Graham's passing, he will always be remembered. Loved brother of Ian and Julie, fond uncle of Katie, Jessica and Paul and Stuart. Great uncle of Oliver and Jack. Abrother is afriend given bynature

FULLWOOD, Nanette. We have so many happy memories. You will be forever in our hearts. We miss you more than anybody knows Love Jan, Barry and family.

HENDERSON (née Reid), Cora. Passed away at Mitchell House Lodge, Morwell on 7March 2024. Aged 90 years Loving wife of John (dec). Sister of Dorothy. Much loved mother of Brenda (dec.), John and Karen. Loved gran of Robert, John, Matthew, Heather, Kim, John and partners. Loved great-gran of 13 great grandchildren. At Peace with Dad

JONES, John Frank. Passed away at home surrounded by his loving family on 10 March 2024.

Aged 86 years Loving husband of Isobel for 60 years.

Much loved father of Carol-Anne (dec.), Jennifer and Amanda. Beloved father-in-law of David. Lovedgrandfather to Jaymee, Lori and Aaron. Doting great grandfather to Caylei, Chloe and Taylor. At peace in the garden with Carol-Anne

In our hearts forever

KUROSINSKI, Hans (Peter). Passed away Wednesday, 6March 2024. Loved and loving husband of Barbara (dec.). Stepfather of Vanessa and Peter. Brother-in-law of Joan, Keith and Mary. Rest In Peace

MOHR (Schroeder), Irmgard.

Born 20/1/1924 in Breslau Germany. Died peacefully at Baw Baw Views, Moe on Sunday, 3March2024.

Loved wife of Martin (dec.). Treasured mum of Birgit and mother-in-law of Darryl. Adored Oma of Madeleine, Eleanor and Josh.

Alifetime of beautiful memories, forever in our hearts

SIMPSON, Beverley Dawn (Bev). Passed away peacefully surrounded by her loving family at LRH on 5March 2024.

Aged 88 years Loved and loving wife of Kevin for over 49 years. Much loved mother and mother-in-law to Dawn and Cliff, Graeme and Rosemary, Ian and Pam. Adored Nan to Garry, Glenn, Kenny, Stephen, Katherine, Zoe, Trent, and their families.

Forever in our hearts Beverley Dawn (Bev). Love of my life for 59 years. Ilove you so much and always will.

Miss you Bevie

Love Skeet.

TURRA (Arboit), Ines Angelina.

Passed away peacefully at Andrews House, Trafalgar on 4March 2024.

In her 82nd year

Dearly loved wife of John for 63 wonderful years.

Much loved mother and mother-in-law of Niva (dec.) and Stewart, Bruno and Maria. Loving Nonna of Daniel, Adrian, Rachel, Sandra and their partners. Cherished Great Nonna to her great grandchildren. Reunited with her beloved daughter Niva

Now In God's loving care We would like to express our sincere gratitude to the West Gip psla nd Hospital and all the staff at Andrews House for their wonderful care and kindness.

The Funeral Mass to celebrate Ines' life was held on FRIDAY (8 March) at St John's Catholic Church, Trafalgar, followed by aBurial at the Trafalgar Cemetery.

WHITTAKER, Raymond. Passed away on Tuesday, 5March 2024.

Much loved husband of Lillian (dec.). Loving father of Tracey and Peter, Coralie and Tony, Brett, Darren and Rebecca. Greatly loved grandfather and soon to be great grandfather.

Now At Peace

Funerals •

7March 2024. Aged 77 years Loved and loving wife of Cliff. Loved mother of Michael and Brendan and motherin-law of Melissa and Natalie. Cherished and adored Nan of Stephanie, Ashleigh, Emily, Jack and Beau. Forever in our hearts and memories

Iwill miss our long phone chats and our Friday lunches and your no nonsense attitude to life. You will always be in our hearts. Adored mum to Dawn and Cliff. Nan to Garry and Doug, Glenn and Lauren.

Nana Bev to Ella, Molly and Charlie.

We were so blessed to have you in our lives and just like adiamond you were resilient, strong, precious, beautiful and rare. You were the jewel in our crown that will live on in our hearts forever. Ian and Pam, Zoe and Jacob, Trent, Janelle and Archie.

BELL. The Funeral Service and Committal for Cremation for Mrs Penelope (Pene) Bell will be held at Saint John's Catholic Church, Waterloo Road Trafalgar THURSDAY (14 March 2024) commencing at 11am.

Pene's Service will also be livestreamed, to view the livestream please visit: latrobevalley funerals.com.au and click on livestreaming.

MOE-MORWELL-TRARALGON MOE 5126 1111 Place your tribute on latrobevalleyfunerals.com.au

CHESSUM.

DAVEY. AService to remember and celebrate the life of Graham Davey

HENDERSON.

The Funeral Service of Mrs Cora Henderson will be held at Springvale Bot ani cal Ceme ter y, Wilson Chapel, 600 Princes Hwy, Springvale, Victoria 3171 on MONDAY (18 March 2024) commencing at 10.45am.

At the conclusion of the Service the Funeral will leave for aPrivate Burial.

MOE-MORWELL-TRARALGON MOE 5126 1111

Place your tribute on latrobevalleyfunerals.com.au

HEWITT.

The Funeral Service and Committal for Cremation of Mr William Lind 'Bill' Hewitt will be held at Gippsland Memorial Park -Rose Chapel, Cemetery Drive, Traralg on on THURSDAY (14 March 2024) commencing at 10.30am. Bill's service will also be livestreamed. To view the livestream, please visit our website.

MOE-MORWELL-TRARALGON

TRARALGON 5174 2258

Place your tribute on latrobevalleyfunerals.com.au

MOHR.

The Funeral Service and Committal for Cremation for Mrs Irmgard Mohr will be held at Latrobe Valley Funeral Services Chapel, 6Ollerton Avenue Moe on MONDAY (18 March 2024) commencing at 11am. Irmgard's Service will also be livestreamed. To view the live stream please visit latrobevalley funerals.com.au and click on livestreaming.

MOE-MORWELL-TRARALGON MOE 5126 1111 Place your tribute on latrobevalleyfunerals.com.au

SIMPSON. The Funeral Service and Committal for Cremation for Mrs Beverley (Bev) Dawn Simpson will be held at Latrobe Valley Funeral Services Chapel, 260 Princes Highway Traralgon, WEDNESDAY (13 March 2024), commencing at 10.30 am. Bev's Service will also be livestreamed, to view the livestream please visit our website.

MOE-MORWELL-TRARALGON

TRARALGON 5174 2258 Place your tribute on latrobevalleyfunerals.com.au

Private cremation to follow.

MOE-MORWELL-TRARALGON

5174 2258

WHITTAKER. The Funeral Service and Committal for Cremation of Mr Raymond Whittaker will be held at Gippsland Memorial Park, Rose Chapel, Traralgon on FRIDAY (15 March 2024), commencing at 1.30pm. In lieu of flowers donations to GARDS would be appreciated. The Funeral will be livestreamed. To view the livestream, please visit our website and follow the prompts.

MOE-MORWELL-TRARALGON MORWELL 5134 4937 Place your tribute on latrobevalleyfunerals.com.au

Local wins at Stony Creek

HORSERACING STONY CREEK

BY TOM HAYES

PERFECT conditions fell down on the Stony Creek Racing Club for the Stony Creek Cup Day on Sunday, March 10.

Maybe conditions were too perfect, as the heat reached 36 degrees, forcing patrons to seek for shade.

Anine-race card was scheduled, and the track was graded aGood 4tostart proceedings, upgrading to aGood 3ahead of Race 2, then once again to aFirm 2justbefore Race 6.

AFEW local runners were spotted throughout the afternoon.First was Redskin Jimmy for Sale’s Troy Kilgower, who ran last in the Race 1Viatek Maiden Plate over 2100 metres.

Shamrock Bay from Moe’s Paul and Tracey Templeton’s stables secured atop three finish in the Race 4CPK McLaren MotorBody Maiden Plate (1100m). Afterleading for virtuallythe whole race the three-year-old fillygave waybut held onto third. Pindari Point for Sale’s Paul Worthington ran last for the entire race.

Moe’s Darryl Blackshaw had his first runner in the Race 5Fish Creek Hotel 0-58 Handicap (1000m). Hazard AGuess claimed fourth for the Moe stable, behind the firm front three.

Blackshawwent one (or three) better in Race 6’s Dr Michael Bourke OAM Memorial BM64

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Handicap (1100m), when Takin’ The Mickey stole the win. The five-year-old gelding showed class as he paced on the outside of the track to win by half alength. Juice Box came third for Sale’s Rebecca Kelly, dropping back from the pace position.

Sale’sKerry Farrugia would’ve been holding his breath as Wiesenbach led for most of Race 7’s DannyO ’Brien 0-58 Handicap (2100m) Wiesenbach still impressivelyfinishedinthird Shilajit for Sale’s Adam Hanley came from along way back but could only muster asixth-placefinish Worthington had achanceinthe final race of the day, the Race 9Brandt Leongatha 0-58 Handicap (1600m), with Night Eruption coming third. Peppinofor Sale’s Damien Walkey had less luck, unable to make an imprint on the race, finishing eighth.

IN the Ladbrokes Stony Creek Cup for Race 8, only six horses made it to the barriers -one of them, Schweinsteiger for Walkley.

It was going to be atough ask, but with only six horses in the field anything can happen.

It essentially came down to the front four, which Schweinsteiger wasn’t apart of, with Confrontational for Cranbourne’s Jason Warren taking the cup.

It came down to the wire though, as Confrontational only just got there first, winning by ahead to Fam Gorman -the well-backed second favourite.

The favourite, Starspangled Baby, came third, almost two lengths from the lead.

Harriers celebrate IWD

HARRIERS

By GARYFOX

LAST week's (March 7) Harriers Thursday night run was held on the Morwell/Traralgon walking track.

We started at the Latrobe Regional Hospital heading towards Morwell, then turned north to Old MelbourneRoad, andthen East towards Traralgon before returning to the hospital. The six kilometre course is generally flat with a few undulations closer to Traralgon.

We had agreat turnout with atotal of 76 runners in perfect conditions.

Great running by Peter Cutler saw him first home in an impressive time of 21:03, closely followedbySav Mavrofridis (21:43), and Dempsey Podmore(23:16).

Excellent running by Molly Irvine saw her first as the lady home in 27:12, followed Karen Graham (27:40), and Sally Theobald (28:47).

The club provides awelcoming environment for all, so it was fitting that the Harriers celebrated International Women’s Day (IWD).

IWD is aday to celebrate the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women.

It’s acall to action for accelerating gender parity, and an acknowledgment of how far we’vecome, but also of how much work there is still to do. Gender equality benefits everyone. The Harriers embrace and embody these goals.

Support: Harriersmembersacknowledging International Women’s Day. Photographs supplied

Familiar: Even FederalMember forGippsland, Darren Chester(right) turned up to theevent.

There were afew activities organised by our femalecommittee leadership, and members embraced the day by turning out in purple, the official IWD colour!

Har ri ers are loo king forw ard to the DFP Recruitment -Latrobe City Community Fun Run and Walk, to be held on Sunday, March 24 at the Kernot Hall precinct.

Registrations are now available at traralgonharriers.org.au

The event is agreat social occasion, with food and drink stalls and over $3000 worth of spot prizes for registered participants.

Nextweek’srun is ahillyCochranes Roadcourse. Get in contactwith Harriers via the website at traralgonharriers.org.au or visit the Harriers’ Facebook page.

Full Results for Thursday, March 7: Pet er Cutle r2 1: 03, Sav Mavr ofr idis 21: 43 , DempseyPodmore 23:16,GlennGraham 24:24, Clinton Jolly 25:29, Jay McGown26:29, Trent Kooyman 27:10, Molly Irvine 27:12, Dave Mann 27:39, Karen Graham 27:40, Jason Odlum 28:03, AdrianSutcliffe28:11, David Barr 28:36, Sally Theobald 28:47, Warren Shields 28:50, Ryan McLeod 28:50, Geoffrey Francis 28:56, Andrew Broberg29:08,Chris Van Unen 29:14, Glenn Crawford 29:19, Peter Fairbairn29:28,Wally Lappin 30:00, Ron Verschuur 30:02, Nicholas Talerico 30:22, Gary Fox 30:42, Giuseppe Marino 31:00, Seth Bomers 31:05, Greg Semmler 32:00, Stephen Mcleod 32:17, Toby Grzmil 33:16, Ree Graham 33:40, Andrew Legge 34:00, Darren Chester 34:11, Angelo Gaudiano 34:17, Meg Macumber 35:50, ClaireMacumber 35:56, Kate Mayer 36:10,Phillip Mayer36:10,Kat Kent 36:46, Megan Scott 37:30, Collette Hofmann 37:45, Mark Fairbairn 38:09, Fiona Syme 38:16, Samantha Riddle 38:16, Tania Whitehead 38:31, Paul Smith 39:38, Catherine Leonard 40:20, Amelie Dalton 41:10, Kate Cumming 44:00, Kaye Livingstone 44:00, Mattias Preston 44:50, Rob Preston 44:50, IanHeafield 47:16, Timothy Graham 49:20, Luke Witham 49:50,Matilda Lappin 50:18, DesDalton 53:37, Kristina Creighton 54:20, Rayne Wills 55:45, Maggie Wills55:45, Andie Wills55:45, John Reisinger 55:45, Lea Francis57:06, Kylie Warner 58:28, Ella Warner 58:28,LyndaJones 1:00:00, Danelle Wright 1:02:46, Michelle Colwell 1:03:16, KathyQuinn 1:03:16, Callie Cook 1:04:26, Annie 1:06:00, Kylie Murray 1:06:00, Nicky Semmler 1:06:00,Kylee Earl1:06:00,CassFrancisNTR, Nick Hodson NTR.

Girls: MariekaRielly, Kate Mayerand Molly Ir vine organised the International Women’s Day event forthe Harriers.

Local AFLstars begin season

FOOTBALL AFL EXPORTS

BY TOM HAYES

AFTER 158 long days without AFL, it’s now finally that time of year again.

Opening Round got the 2024 season underway, which saw four games in the two rugby league states of New South Wales and Queensland.

THE only onesthat took to the field was the local trioonthe Gold Coast, who hosted Richmond at Heritage Bank Stadium.

Boy, were the Suns impressive.

They have appealed to pundits as the side that will improve drastically, and they look to have given the right impression.

Under the eyes of triple premiership coach for the Tigers, DamienHardwick,Gold Coast had all of the tricks up their sleeve to get past their coach’s old mob.

Richmond opened the scoring with aflashy goal to Shai Bolton within the first two minutes. That wouldbetheir only goal for the best part of an hour.

The Suns went on arampage, kicking the next five goals to close out the opening term 28 points ahead It onlygot worse for the Tigers in the second quarter, when the Suns continued to powerthrough them.

At one stage toward the closingmomentsof the half, Gold Coast had a67-point lead, leaving Richmond on one of their lowest scores in ahalf

in almost 30 years, stranded on 1.1 (7). The Tigers dobbed the last goal of the second quarter to avoid that feat but were still over 10 goals off the pace.

The tide shifted somewhat in the third quarter, as it was then Gold Coast beginning to look shaky. Richmondscored sixgoals to nonetobring the margin back to within four goals, and suddenly there was agameonour hands.

Holding a26-point lead at the final change, the Suns were resilient enough to bring the four points home, closing out the win by 39 points, 14.15 (99) to 9.6 (60).

Although only eight teams featured in Opening Round,Gold Coast will enter Round 1ontop of the ladder.

Moe’sSam Flanders was accumulativeasever, as were anumberofthe Suns’ midfielders, collecting 26 disposals. He added four marks, three tackles and two clearances to his tally too.

He wasone of seven Suns to collect more than 20 disposals, all outdone however by Matt Rowell, who will surely get three votes after collecting 33 disposals (26contested), 20 clearances and five tackles.

Morwell’s Ben Ainsworth had 13 touchesfrom the half forward flank, with six marks and two goal assists and abehind to his name.

Moe’s Bailey Humphrey played admirably, but was outshone by his teammates,hemanaged nine disposals, twomarks and two tackles.

IN other Opening Round matches Sydney hosted

Photographs:

D.T.L: 1. J. Blizzard76, 2. L. Brent 77

Putts: K. Skinner 28

N.T.P: 3rdS.Caldwell, 5thS.Turner,12th S. Caldwell,14thS.Gosling

Sunday, 03 March 2024 OPEN Sunday

Medley

Melbourne at the SCG in the first gameofthe season. The Swans defeated the Demons in a dominant last quarter to win by 22 points, 12.14 (86) to 9.10 (64).

Carlton was the only interstate side to record awin, knocking overthe Lionsbyapoint after being more than seven goalsdown in the second term at the Gabba, getting revenge over Brisbane who ended their season in aPreliminary Final last season, 13.8 (86) to 12.12 (85).

GWS also got revenge on Collingwood, who also endedtheir premiership hopes in aPreliminary Final last year, taking careofthe Magpies at Engie Stadium, 18.6 (114) to 11.16 (82).

Morwell's Tew Jiathwasn'tincluded in the Magpies squad at the weekend, as it is suspected that he will continue to try and work his way into the team.

THIS weekend, Round 1gets underway, with aseveral exports set to start their 2024 season.

Traralgon's Tim Membrey should most definitely get arun for St Kilda when they play Geelong at GMHBA Stadium.

Both Duursma's, Foster's Xavier and Zane will be in the mix for their new clubs.

Xavier and Essendon take on Hawthorn at the MCG, whileifZane is picked for the Kangaroos, he would be set to play against the tough-looking Giants at their Engie Stadium.

Concussion protocols at countrylevel

FOOTBALL

By TOM HAYES

STRONGER concussion protocols have been announced by the AFL, which affect country league football.

In the announcement, theAFL said it would retain their mandatory12-day return-to-play concussion protocol at AFL level yet would enforce prolonged periods for any levelbelow AFL or AFLW.

The decision sees concussions at any level below AFL or AFLW level must administer to a21-day return-to-playprotocol. To clarify, a player would be able to return to play on the 21st dayatthe earliest, meaning they would miss two weeks of football.

Not only does this include VFLand VFLW, but also the Gippsland League, North Gippsland Football-Netball League,and Mid Gippsland FNL.

The AFL’s new protocols align with the recommendations made by the Australian InstituteofSport’s Concussionand Brain Health Position Statement regarding concussion guidelines.

From alocal perspective, it begs the question:how will it be enforced at acountry level?

Conversations with AFL Gippsland would suggest that it would be put on the clubs to administer to someone would has received a head knock, meaning concussiontraining will be expected to be essential across all clubs.

From there, players would be checked by amedical professional as soon as possible, and if they have suffered aconcussion, they would enter concussion protocols.

It is understood that clubs fromthe Gippsland League, NGFNL, and MGFNL have, or will, undergo meetings with AFL Gippsland to better understandthe situation. More to come.

Hole: S. Allison

Eagle: P. Draper 15 th

Birdies: M. Brereton 5th, L. Anderson 12 th

Monthly Medal Tuesday5thMarch 2024.

Medal Winner: K. Skinner 72 Nett

Scratch: C. Cunningham 100, K. Skinner

Grade AWinners: Petkovic,George (14) 41

Grade BWinners: Young,Bailey(22) 43

Place Getters: Puddy,Jacob 40

Sunday, 03 March 2024 OPEN Sunday9

hole Stableford

Grade AWinners: Moon, Craig (27) 20

Wednesday, 06 March 2024 WOMEN'S

STROKE -MONTHLY

Overall Winners: Borg, Kathy(21) 69

Grade AWinners: Borg,Kathy(21) 69

Grade BWinners: Beath, Joy(33) 74 C/B

Place Getters: Fitzpatrick, Robin 71, Middlemiss,Kaye72, Weaver,Lee 74 C/B

Great Score: KarenShawBirdie @6,Joy

Beath Birdie @8

Nearest to Pin: 4th KathyBorg, 8th Robin

Fitzpatrick, 14th Christine Elliot

Target Hole: Marj Lang

Myster Sixes Winner: KathyBorg

Putts: Linda Bates A28PUTTS,Chris

Birrell 33 PUTTS C/B

Wednesday, 06 March 2024 Twilight

Stableford

Winners; K. Borg21

Birdies: 14th -G.Wilson

Thursday, 07 March 2024 OPEN Medley

Stableford

Grade AWinners: Devent, Anton (7) 37 C/B

Grade BWinners: Scammell, Mark(13)40

Grade CWinners: Jenkins,Andrew (15) 42

Grade DWinners: Tatterson, Gary(20) 43

Place Getters: Grant, Callum 39 C/B

Walshe,Michael 39,WOODALL, Shane 38 C/B,White, Darren 38 C/B,Hall, Bill 38, Frei, Harry37, Babet, Alain 37 C/B,Borg, Shannon 37 C/B,BRADSHAW, Terry37, Spiteri, Paul 36 C/B,Gosling,Craig 36 C/B, Taylor,Brayden 36 C/B,Matheson, David 36 C/B,King, Rob36C/B,Donnison, Terry36 C/B,Johnson, Tony 36, Tacey, Neill 35 C/B

Great Score: Thomas Beveridge (Eagle) @1,Laurie Veenman (Birdie) @14, Mark Scammell (Birdie) @4,Craig Gosling (Birdie) @4,Shane WOODALL (Birdie)

@4,Paul WOODALL (Birdie) @4,Anton Devent (Birdie) @4,Anton Devent (Birdie) @14, Karl Eastaway (Birdie) @8,Tony Johnson (Birdie) @4,John Pisa (Birdie)

@14

Nearest to Pin: 4th Kenneth Jennings,8th Karl Eastaway,14th Malcolm Payne

Saturday,09March 2024 MENS Stableford

Grade AWinners: Spiteri, Paul (9) 39

Grade BWinners: Donaldson, Murray (12) 37

Grade CWinners: Puddy,Jacob (22) 41

Place Getters: Allen, Ray39, Borg, Manny38C/B,Shaw, Geoff38C/B,Van

Der Meulen, Luke38, Babet, Alain 37, Ayton, Kevin 36, Stephens,Peter 36 C/B Donnison, Terry36C/B,Wilson, Graeme 36 C/B,Laukens,Ryan36

GreatScore: Andrew Pickard (Eagle) @12, WallyWilkinson (Birdie) @14, Paul Spiteri (Birdie) @14, Tony Johnson (Birdie) @4

Nearest to Pin: 8th Aaron Bassman, 14th

WallyWilkinson

Saturday, 09 March 2024 WOMEN'S

SATURDAY STABLEFORD

Grade AWinners: Middlemiss,Kaye(16) 36 C/B

Place Getters: Tate,Sandy (24) 36

Great Score: Kaye Middlemiss (Birdie) @8

MORWELL

Women's 6th March 2024 -Stroke

Medal Winner: DVuillermin 68 net

DTL: LFrench 72 net

NTP: 2nd DVuillermin 8th NTePaa 11th E

Lau15th NTePaa

Count Putts: DVuillermin 25 putts

Birdies: 2nd DVuillermin 15th NTePaa

TRAFALGAR

Tuesday05/03/2024 -Stableford

Players: 30

Winner: Graeme Harris (22)

Runner Up: SteveLawrence (20 c/b)

DTL: Frank Edmonds (20), RichardGould (19), BevKeily(19), SteveKlemke(19), SteveGould (19) Mystery3 (3,6,8): Graeme Harris,Steve Lawrence,Steve Gould, SteveKlemke(7)

NTP: SteveGould (5)

Bradmans: RodPollack

Thursday: 07/03/2024 Stroke-Monthly

Medal

Players: 57,Women21, Men 36

Women’s Winner: BevKeily(30 c/b)

ScratchWinner: June Tickell (39)

Runner Up: JanGriffin (30)

DTL: Beth Landsdown (32), Christine Payne (33), Sue DeVries (33), KarenSwingler (35)

NTP: Sue Williams (15)

Bradmans: Aileen McNair

Men’s Winner: RonKeith (28)

ScratchWinner: PatO'Connell (30)

Runner Up: SteveKlemke(42)

DTL: Chris Barfoot (33), PeterCooke(33), SteveGould (34), Graeme Grant (34), John Robinson (34)

NTP: NormMether (15)

Bradmans: Allan Gray

Wednesday6th March:Stroke/Monthly

Medal

Medal Winner: Nola Fordham (28) with 71

nett Medal Runner-Up: Aileen McNair (34) with 72 nettc/b

DTL: Di Moody,Karen MacGregor with 72 nett, Donna Mellon with 73 nettand Lyn Powell with 75 nett

ScratchWinner: SamCaldowwith 87

Putting: Di Moody with 30 putts c/b

NTP: 5th –Bev Keily11th Sue Klemke

9-Hole Winner: Aija Owen (24) with 35 nett

9-Hole Runner-Up: Sue Tabuteau (32) with

39 nett

DTL: Lorna Risol with 40 nett

Gobblers: LynPowell on the 3rdand Jenny Evison on the 4th

Friday, March 8th2024, Open Men’s&

Ladies Stableford

AGrade Winner: PeterHobson 41 pts

BGrade Winner: Dane Ellwood 44 pts

DTL's: Ales Geogiadis 42, CamHobson 40, Chris Griffin40, Shane Dwyer 39, Peter Heathcote39, PeterPankhurst 39, Clinton

Brooker 38, David Wilson 38, Jarrod West 38, Roger Matheson 38, Sue De Vries 38, Iain Luck38

Birdies: 5th: Dane Ellwood, Greg Evison, David Woodall 11th:Kyle Bevridge,Tony

Gray 13th: Dane Ellwood, David Winfield

15th: Chad McKie,Finn McDonald

Saturday, March9th 2024,Stableford

AGrade Winner: John Tabuteau 37 pts

BGrade Winner: Neil Rankin 40 pts C/B

DTL’s: Graeme Harris 40, Andrew Cochrane

39, MarkJackson 39, Hank Fiddelaers39, Vic Hill 38, RobSaunders38, PatO’Connell

38

NTP’s: 5th: PatO’Connell 11th:Jack

Marshall –Charlie Killeen 13th:Trevor

Perkins 15th:Wayne Robbins

Eagles: 16th:Reno Borg

YALLOURN

Tuesday27 February 9Hole Stableford

Div 1: Heather Ware 17pts

Div 2: Sue Caldow19th

Thursday29 February 9Hole Stableford

Loretta Booth 18 pts

Friday 1stMarch YGC ladies 2024 Bowl 18 hole Stableford

Winning team Trafalgar Golf Club

Sue Klempke(14):3 7pts

Cheryl Deppeler (22):37

Di Moody (18)25:109 pts

Div 1Individual winner: Lola Carter (18)38

Yallourngolf club on c/b from ShirleyTurner

Churchill/Monash Div 2Individual winner: Viv Reiner (44) 38

Sale Golf Club NTP: 2Sue Gillespie

ChurchillMonash: 8Lola Carter Yallourn 14 Kylie Golding Warragul.

Tuesday5th March 9holeStableford

Div 1: Sue Caldow22

Div 2: Sue Riches 19

Thursday7th March MarchMonthly Medal and count putts

Winner: Sue Caldow104-32::72 on c/b from Evelyn GraskeLola Carter

Count putts: Sue Caldow

PISTOLS

Mon 26/2/24 Air pistol

BGrade: BKelly539-53-592.

CGrade: JStringer 486-84-570. JSmith 438-105-543.

DGrade: AUrban 455-113-568. DChandler 439-122-561.P Shields 433-120-553.

Visitor: RPage 433.

Wed28/2/24 Standardpistol

BGrade: BKelly441-98-539.

DGrade: CBenelli 448-101-549.

Sat 2/3/24 standardpistol

BGrade: BKelly431-96-527

DGrade: AUrban 423.

Visitor: RPage 376.

Form: Morwell’sBen Ainsworthwas handy forthe Suns on thehalf forwardflank,providingtwo goal assists.

Flash: Moe’s BaileyHumphrey evades atackle from Richmond’sJosh Gibcus

AFL Photos

Four teamsleft standing in Prem A

CRICKET CLVPREMIER A

BY LIAM DURKIN

AN extreme contrast saw the inaugural regular season of Cricket Latrobe Valley finish the opposite of how it started.

Where rain had wiped out the first monthof Premier Aaction back in October, playersbattled oppressive heat at the weekend just gone, as temperatures soared into the high 30s.

The weather pattern appeared to be running two monthsbehind schedule, as conditionsusually reserved for summer made their way to autumn.

Ultimately, the heat provided aminor nuisance as results and ladder positions were finalised following the completion of Round 14.

In the end, there was also agreat sense of anticlimax.

The top four was virtually set before Day 2had even started, while the same could be said for the bottom two sides, who succumbed to relegation.

Former Traralgon District powerhouses Ex Students and Glengarry showed just how strong they really are, finishing well clear as one and two at the top.

Their opponents for this weekend's semi-finals will be Moe and Raiders respectively.

Raiders, runner-up lastseason in Latrobe Valley District (Trarlagon District and Latrobe Valley District merged this season), face aGlengarry side many consider the strongest in the competition, while the Lionsare up against aclub many consider the strongest in all of Gippsland.

While Moe will be long-odds to win, there is perhaps some poetic justice associated with their finals qualification, having got in one spot ahead of Morwell.The Tigersbeatthe Lions in ahotly contested and equally controversialLatrobe Valley Districtsemi-final lastseason,pulling offa reverse outright before going on to win the flag.

CATS meanwhile ended the season in sixth position, well clear of both finals and relegation.

The team fromTraralgon South have managed to stayinthe topflight the lasttwo seasons, seemingly negotiatingtheir availability as best they can from week to week in order to do so.

At the foot of the ladder, Churchill and Mirboo

North finished equal-last on 19 points, the consequence of which means they will both be heading down the grade next season.

The Tigers can possibly count themselves alittle unlucky, as this will be the only season that sees two teams from Premier Ademoted (to allow eight teams in each division).

On the other hand, Toongabbie can consider themselves extremely lucky to have avoided relegation, as the Rams finished amere one point ahead of Mirboo North.

Churchill and woodenspoon in the samesentence is not something you would say too often, in any sport, unless you were to go back to Churchill's football days in the Gippsland League.

The Gippsland League is the only major football league in the region.

No doubt Cricket Latrobe Valley officials will be hoping to reach asimilar standing during summer.

MOE cracked the first winning beer/soft drink well before 3pm.

The Lions only took the best part of 20 overs to get the remaining five wickets they needed against CATS, who were knocked over for 107 in pursuit of 148.

With virtually nothing to play for once afirst inningsresult was reached (keeping in mindit was 37 degrees), both teams were happy to shake hands and call it aday.

CATS, needing to win outright to be any hope of featuring in finals, fell away rapidly after the dismissal of returning batsman Josh Moore.

Moore departed with the score 6/57, which became 9/98 before too long.

Paul McGill joined Moore at the crease to start the day, andwas the last wicket to fall, making 34 after sticking around for 84 balls, most of which were recorded on Day 1.

Moe used five bowlers, all of whom chipped in with wickets.

Aaron Johnstone set up the win with three on Day 1, in eventual figures that read 3/36.

BennZomer nabbed2/7, Reverend ClintonTaylor 2/16 and Callum Grant 2/23.

The Lions are now preparing for another finals series. Moehas hadlittletrouble makingfinals either side of the last decade, missing only twice in the last 10 seasons (ironically those two times saw them finish last).

Moe's run since 2019/20 deserves anod of approval, having gone runner-up, runner-up, premier/promoted, narrow semi finalloss, and now qualifying for finals in an expanded league.

RAIDERS got agood hit in before finals.

Chasing 208 against Mirboo North on Yinnar Turf, the home side got the job done for the loss

of only four wickets in the last week before finals.

Perhaps most pleasingly for Raiders captain Liam Maynard, histop and middle order spent more than 60 overs out in the middle.

Runstoopener George Cheshireprovided astable base to set up victory,and his56off 107 balls served anumberofpurposes.

Mirboo North remained asneaky chance after getting three wickets in relatively quick succession to leave the scoreboard reading 4/143.

Raidershowever appearedtohave just theright number of resources,and were helpedbyhandy contributions from most of the top order.

Youngster Ben Burrows batted through until the winning runs were hit, making 41 not out, while Tom Robertson did similar, scoring an unbeaten 38.

Mick Higgins added to his career tally, knocking off 28 runs, and Boyd Bailey got his hit in last week, making 25 before being subbed out.

Darin Matthews was the pick of the bowlers for Mirboo North, finishing with 2/28.

Raiders have provenperhaps the surprise packet of Premier A, finishing the regular season in third, well ahead of teams identified in preseasonas likely finalists such as Morwell and Toongabbie.

While the Raiders narrative every season revolves around them being tooold,the fact of the matteris players like Higgins are still churring out handy runs and bowling more than handy overs.

Adding Rob Webber at Christmas has added even more experience, while getting Bailey as a diplomatic recruit provided someone who offers something in both departments.

Whether or notitisenough to beat Glengarry remains to be seen,but one expects Raiderswill have to bat for as long as they did in this game, and then some, if they are to be any chance.

The desolate lookonMaynard'sfaceafter the Grand Final last season when his team lost after needing only 40 to win with six wicketsinhand will surely provide motivation trying to get back on the big stage.

For Mirboo North, the Tigers will be back in the lower division for the second time in four seasons.

Such an outcome should make them more competitive in theory, although the jury could still be out on the whole promotion/relegation structure.

Granted this is the first season in an expanded league, the danger lies in the gap between the two divisions becoming too wide.

If that happens, there is agood chance the same teams will just keep going up and down.

BOTH teamsgot whatthey wantedinthe match between Toongabbie and Glengarry.

The Magpies got the win, and the Rams avoided relegation.

PREMIER A



AGRADE

 Rovers vs Imperials  Centrals vs Gormandale

LOWER GRADES (all onedayers) (Saturday, March16)

PREMIER B

 Ex StudentsvsToongabbie

 ThorpdalevsMorwell

............................8

TRobertson not out 38

Sundries (0w 1nb 5lb 3b) 9

TOTAL4 wickets for210 (60.1 Overs)

MIRBOO NORTH 1STINNINGS BOWLING

AThomas 14.1-3-35-1, WLawrey11-1-46-0, DMatthews13.25-28-2, DBanks 10-1-33-0, ZHollis 7-0-36-1, DDavis 3-0-17-0, BHeath 1-0-7-0

TOONGABBIEVGLENGARRY at Toongabbie Recreation Reserve GLENGARRY1ST INNINGS (RESUMED 8/276)

BMayberrylbw bHughes. 18

MMertonnot out..................................................................................3

CDunn bHughes..................................................................................4

Sundries (0w 2nb 2lb 4b) 8

TOTAL281 (90.3 Overs)

TOONGABBIE 1STINNINGS BOWLING

KHughes 36.3-5-86-4, THood7-2-38-1, MStoddart3-0-190, SRyan6-1-24-1, MBarry29-9-79-1, TDunn 9-0-29-1

TOONGABBIE 1STINNINGS

DBarryb Graham...................................................................................4

TDunn cB Marks bMerton. 9

SPickles cB Marks bGraham ............................................................0

MStoddartcAllen bGraham ....3

JVeneman retired 15

KHughes cB Marks bFreitag.............................................................8

GMcIlroy cClark bJenkin 13

SRyanlbw bAllen .................................................................................2

THoodnot

Chasing close to 300 was probably always going to take something extraordinary from Toongabbie, and in afinal scorecard that read 9/82, that was perhapsall that was needed to indicatethe mindset of the two competing teams.

Glengarry have finals, and really aflag, to worry about. Toongabbie had more than likely checked out on the season before the day even started.

The Rams bowled for acouple more overs at home on Saturday, taking the last two wickets to be presented with atotal of 281.

The home side was never in the hunt, and seemed happy to hit out or get out as Mad Monday loomed.

There was more getting out, so much so Toongabbie only last 37.5 overs, and were bowled out for 82.

NathanAllen continued on hiswicket-taking ways, finishing with 3/11, while new ball operator Cam Graham took 3/14.

MORWELL won by nine wickets.

The Tigers had an emphatic end to the season, althoughunfortunately forthem, last Saturday was exactly that -the end of the season.

Chasing 156 againstChurchill at Keegan Street, the home side got the required runs for the loss of only one wicket.

Needing to win outrightand rely on CATS beating Moe to play finals, the Tigers went at arate-ofknots, winning on first innings in justover40overs.

However, keeping an eye on scores, it became clear fairly quickly CATS were not going to beat Moe, so Morwell ended their game as soon as a first innings had been achieved.

It was better late than never for Blair Clymo, as the Morwell opener finally made asizeable contribution with the bat, remaining not out on 80.

That he scored 80 not out in one hit and made 154 runs for the season perhapssummed up the horrorseasonheendured.

Cyrus Shafihelped the win with 57 not out off 110 balls, allowing the rest of the Morwell card to put their feet up

Churchill meanwhile failedto make more than one inroad, and will now head down the grade for the first time since promotion/relegation has been aroundLatrobe Valley cricket.

There will be adegree of interest connected to how long the Cobrasremain in the 'lower' division, and if it will in fact prove detrimental in their efforts to recruit international or even gun local players. Regardless, has anyone had time to consider JK in AGrade? That could be absolute carnage.

EX STUDENTS had the bye.

BGRADE

 CATS vs Imperials

 Traralgon West vs Raiders

PREMIER C

 Ex StudentsvsMorwell

 CATS vs Mirboo North

CGRADE

 ImperialsvsChurchill

 Toongabbie vs Jeer-Boolarra

THE end of the Cricket Latrobe Valleyregular season finished in some anticlimax, with the top four in AGrade remaining virtually unchanged from the start of the round.

While there wasanumber of hypotheticalson the cards leading into Round 14, therewas no last-gasp efforts that came to fruition.

In the washup, Rovers finished on top of the ladder, while Centrals securedthe other home final on offer.

Gormandalehad afinals berth sewn up heading into the round, but could go no higher than third owing to abye in the last round.

Imperials meanwhile rounded out the top four, winning avirtual elimination finalagainst Willow Grove to make sure of it.

The Wolves dropped to second-last in the finish, meaning Traralgon Westwas the only real 'mover' afterthe round, endingseason2023/24one spot outside the top four.

In asomewhat farcical ladder,the Eagles won thesamenumber of games as Imperials,yet fell awhole six points short of going equal with them.

At the other endoftown,Centralsfinished second on five wins, one less than Gormandale.

Points however were divvied up during the homeand-away campaign,withsome outrights and even reverse outrights thrown into the mix.

WOULD you be worried if you were Centrals?

While the Lions finishedthe home-and-away season secondonthe ladder,anotherbatting failure at the weekend will surely carry fears it is

the same old story as the semi-final approaches.

What made last Saturday's loss to Rovers even more bizarre was the fact Centrals started the day having already won the game.

TheLions won on first innings by one solidary run,but fell apart completely in their second innings to hand the visiting Rovers side arelatively easy reverse outright.

Starting Day 2atApex Park 3/19, the Lions failed to build much of alead, and werebowled out for just 78.

If the total wasn't enough to send alarmbells off, the sight of the entire Centrals top order and middle order going out bowled or lbw surely was.

Only Mark Rawason, with another Mark Rawsonlike 32 made any contribution, as an astonishing seven batsmen fell leg before.

Ewan Williams did the damage for Rovers, taking 3/5 off 10 overs. He was ably supported by first innings villain Simon Duff (3/22), Oliver Hannam (2/11) and Lachlan Patterson (2/28) againsthis old side.

Giventhe one-run margin on first innings, the scoreboardwas essentially nil-nil whenDay 2 started, and come Rovers' second innings,they found themselves needing only 79 to win.

Hannam and Dougal Williams ensuredsix points for areverse outright, making 33 and 28 not out respectively, securing notonly the win but the minor premiership as well.

Tyron Gamage took 2/6 in the second digfor Centrals.

IMPERIALS won outright via more conventional means.

Travelling to Moe Racecourse Turffor Day2, Impstook care of Willow Grove, giving themselves

agood warm up for this weekend’s semi-final in theprocess.

Resuming at 6/131, the technical visitors had a 20 over slog and took their score to 215.

Shane Galea led all comers with 65, while Scott Aitken and Todd Mann both made 28, the latter smacking two sixes.

For someone who has publicly said he hates batting, Mann goes alright at it -hehas afew A Grade tons to his name.

Young gun pacebowler Dylan van der Stoep was able to end his season on ahigh, taking exceptional figures of 6/31 off 15 overs for Willow Grove.

The Wolves batted again and made 144 in just under 50 overs.

Luke Payton again shouldered most of the burden, making 40 off 51 balls, while veteran Anthony Wilkes peeled off 36 batting at number 11.

Dilshan Thilakarathne nabbed 4/29 in the second dig, while Manntook his seasontally to 50 with 3/53. Scott Aitkenalso chimed in with 2/38.

Imperials got maximum points quickly,getting the 50 or so runs needed in 5.1 overs, thanks mainly to James Skingle scoring 29 not out off 23 rocks.

Imperials are set for an enjoyable weekatthe club, as it has all three senior teams in finals.

The team from Catterick Crescent reported a huge buzz during preseason, which it attributed to theformation of Cricket Latrobe Valley.

Withall threeteams nowabout to play finals, Imperials will surely view their decision making as overwhelmingly positive.

From afirst grade point of view, Imperials will play Rovers for aplace in the Grand Final.

Given the form lines of each, and notwithstanding the fact semi-finals are generally the hardest games

to win, pundits could mount acase for whoever wins this weekend will just about win the premiership.

TRARALGON WEST ended the season with awin.

The Eagles got the job done against Latrobe, and were able to celebrate not only ateam victory, but acouple of individual performances as well.

Chasing 194 at PeterSiddle Oval, the visitors got through relatively unscathed, losing six wickets on the run home.

Openers Hayden Kimpton and Ben Edebohls put on 97 for the first wicket, broken when Kimpton fell for 45.

From then, the innings largely belonged to Edebohls, who fell just five runs shortofanA Grade century.

Nevertheless, it was 95 made rather than 100 lost for the veteran all-rounder, who got his side to 212 before declaring.

Ahighlight for Latrobe waswoman’s cricketer Stacey Rockliff taking two wickets.

Needed to win outright to be any such chance of playing finals, Traralgon West sent Latrobe back in.

The Sharks played some shots in their 15 over stint, getting to 3/74 before it was decided to call it aseason.

The end of the game marked the end of another season for Anthony Bloomfield, who despite being well into his 50s, is still making plenty of runs.

Bloomfield made 28 off just 18 balls in Latrobe's second dig, while Ronnie Chokununga made26 off just 14.

Legspinner Adam Thow finishedwith figures of 2/16 off five for Traralgon West.

GORMANDALE had the bye.

Raiders strike gold at the top

CRICKET

CLV

BY LIAM DURKIN

NEXTtimeyou go for ahit in the Duncan Cameron Reserve, Traralgonnets, just know they are named after four living legends.

The names of four greats of the Rovers Cricket Club,who call Duncan CameronReserve home, now hangproudlyinfour separate lanes insidethe nets

The new nets have been in use for anumber of weeks now, with the namesakes revealed at a special presentation recently.

Fittingly, Rovers formally announced the 'netsakes'atthe tea interval of ajunior game on Sunday, March 3, giving the club's youth the chance to look up in admiration of their senior heroes.

The new nets feature three 'private'and one public lane, which is atraditional cage net accessible any time of the day.

Taking naming honours for this net was David

Little, asix-time Rovers CC champion and Traralgon District CricketAssociation (now Cricket Latrobe Valley) life member.

Having Little's name attached to the public net was seen as quite appropriate, as he has contributed countless hours to ground works alittle further the road at Terry Hunter Oval (Traralgon Recreation Reserve).

His surname itselfofferssomething of acontradiction, as with 249 games and close to 400 wickets, hisservice to Rovershas been anythingbut 'little'.

Fellow200 gamer SimonDuff wasalsohonoured with alane named after him.

Duff, who is still playing AGrade,isaformer A Grade captain, and one of only two Rovers players to play 200 first grade games.

His modern day contemporary, Dougal Williams joined Duff in having anaming honour bestowed upon him.

Williams has captained Rovers for five seasons and been club champion twice.

Rovers clearly see agreat role model in Williams, so much so they decided to name something after him at just 25-years-of-age. Giventhis,hemay well be the youngest person in Latrobe City to have a permanent structure named after them.

Rounding out the honourees was Steve Carney.

Carney is aRovers life member and seven-time club champion, who, like Little,Duff andWilliams, has dedicated an extraordinary amount of workto thelifeand timesofthe club.

Withnew nets and finalsbeginning this weekend, and with Rovers sitting atop the Cricket Latrobe Valley AGrade ladder, aRovers premiership would surely go some way to justifying the hours spent by the quartet behind the scenes.

CRICKETLATROBEVALLEY

CRICKET

AN event more than 110 years in the making took place in Walhalla at the weekend.

For the first time since 1911, women's cricketmatches were played at thepicturesque Walhalla Cricket Ground.

The host club put together ateam, and took on Raiders,Warraguland Sale-Maffra based Bundalaguah for the 'Gold Mine Cup’.

The tournamentwas used as aPink Stumps Day, raisingmoney for the McGrath Foundation.

Games wereplayed as twenty20s,and saw the Latrobe Valley-based Raiders Cricket Club bring home the 'gold'.

Raidersdefeatedthe local Walhalla contingent in their pool match, before going to to beat Bundalaguah in the final.

Grace Sanders and OliviaSpeairs took two wickets each in the win,asRaiderschased the 74 set thanks to an unbeaten 30 from Zoe Quinsey-Munro.

Walhalla Cricket Club plans for Raiders to play amatch against Coldstream Cricket Club (located near the Yarra Valley)ina re-enactmentofthe first women's match played at Walhalla in 1911.

The Walhalla CricketGround sits atop a mountain above the Walhalla township, and is accessible via adirt track, or by hiking 'up thehill' -areturn trip or around 40 minutes.

Honourees: Rovers CricketClub has named thefour lanesinits newnetsafter four of its club greats.Theyare,pictured from lefttoright: David Little,Steve Carney,Simon Duff andDougal Williams. Photograph: Liam Durkin

United readytotip off 2024 season

BASKETBALL

BIG V

BY TOM HAYES

TIPPING off the basketball seasoninthe right directionwas Gippsland United,who launched season 2024 on Sunday, March 3atthe Traralgon Bowls Club.

Players and coaches came together with sponsors, friends, and family to announce what the next 12 months will look like for Gippsland United.

“A lot of things havehappened over the last sixmonths,which I’msure everyone is aware about. But, from my perspective, what Ithink is exciting for us is that it’s all blackand green in here,” Gippsland United BoardMember, Brad Charles said.

During the afternoon, it was frequently mentioned that Gippsland United have enough to be playing in the Big VChampionship next season, with aims to earn promotion for the second time in three years.

To enhance that opportunity, Gippsland United have renewed anumber of partnerships, while adding new ones with thelikes of Gippsland Physiotherapy Group, Traralgon Bowls Club, STADIUM 34, CME Installations, and Gippsland Motor Group all now apart of the club.

The addition of ayouth leagueteam in the VJBL will only provide apositive to the club, with those in that squad available to back-up the men’s side if needed,providing aseamless transition to the toplevel if the opportunity arises.

“What’s happening in the VJBL space, as well as the Big Vspace is all very exciting. Introducing a YouthLeague (team), there’sonly one person in this room that made that happen -and that was Scott McKenzie,” Charles said.

“Right now we can see that it’s actually come to

fruition. Scott has got avision, the club has got a vision, and we know that we’ll fully support that.”

Gippsland United have begun discussions with local associations, in hopes to get them on board, including the likes of Moe and Sale. Identifying Gippsland as alocation between Orbost, Pakenham, and Wonthaggi -there is quite avast land area to be covered.

“We’re starting to get traction as aclub, to ensure thatwe’re sustainable for along time…and that’s what is gonna make this work,” Charles said.

“It’s people power that is gonna makeus. Without people we’re nothing. We have afuture, it’s gonna be along future.”

Unfort un ately, the cha mpion shi pw in ning Division 2women’s side from last year will not be taking to the court in Division 1this season.

“Looking in thisroom, we’vegot some lovely females that were apart of ajourney -they were (Division) 2champions last year -wewill recover that,” Charles said.

“Weunderstandthere was certain reason why we landed where we landed, so we’ve takenareset, and as people will see were introducing an Under 23 youth team, and there’s no other reason that it won’t grow into asenior team in the future.”

The men’s program will enter Year 3with aspirations to excel into championship level.

“I’vegot apassionfrom when we started this two years ago, coming into our third year now that from the men’s program primarily our aim is to get into Championship level by Year 5,” Men’s Coach, Scott McKenzie said.

GippslandUnited Men were promoted in Division 1intheir first season in the Big V, and made big impressions in their opening shot in Division 1.

McKenzie has been with the club since its inception and has improved as the years have gone by.

“With the group that we’ve got together this year,

and then with the back-up of the new youth league guys, the men’s program is in really good stead going forwardand should stay that way for another few years,” McKenzie said.

“Withoutthat togetherness and withoutthat unity betweeneveryone, we don’t have success. So,I wouldbeexpecting success becausethe unity betweenthese guys is awesome.”

Gippsland United import, JalinWimberly is excited to get the seasonstarted,and see what the Australian basketball scene is all about.

“I’m mostly looking forward to playing with the guys for the first time, it’s gonna be abig experience playingwithabunchofnew guys so I’m really looking forward to justplaying and get some dubs,” Wimberly said.

Wimberlyhas made aseemingly easy transition into the team and states he has felt welcomed from day one.

“These guys loveme, Ilove the guys -it’slike we’ve been playing for years, it’s been good,” he said.

With aspirations of taking out the whole championship, Wimberly hopestoadd another spark to Gippsland United, and looks forward to “cause some chaos” in the league.

Stephen O’Brienstepped into the co-captaincy role alongside Jordan Canovan for 2024, after spendingthe last two seasons in the leadership group. He too is looking forward to seeing what season 2024 has in store.

“I think that the team felt like we underachieved last year, we felt likewewere one of the better squads, got knocked out in the semi (final) which wasdisappointing.Sothis year, we’vedefinitely rest, refocussed, and are pushing to go for another championship.Anything elsewill be adisappointing season,”O’Brien said.

Specifically, Gippsland United have looked at deficiencies from seasons past, and looked to

vacate those spots with people who can fill those deficiencies.

O’Brien named Korumburra’s Joel Winderlich who is expected to give some extra scoring punch, as well as Warragul’s Riley Morehu, who will add some depth at point guard.

Stepping into the co-captaincy role, O’Brien doesn’t think it will change much, but instead will extract the thoughtsofthe whole team through one voice.

Councillor Sharon Gibson shared her excitement during the launch, expressing how thrilled she was for the season to get underway and wishes all teams nothing but success.

The season is scheduled to tip off this weekend on March 16 and 17, with Gippsland United hosting two home games, against Whittlesea (March 16) and Altona (March 17).

Division 1Men’s Squad

Ben Barlow, Callan Brooks, Jordan Canovan, Rohan Demczuk, Caleb Fallon, Jordan Gooiker, Riley Morehu, Stephen O’Brien, Thomas Portbury, Koby Tibba lls, Joel Winderlich, Jalin Wimberly, Scott McKenzie (Coach).

VJBL Youth League Men's Squad

Zac Bezzin a, Mitchell Bruerton, Ty er Buurman, RohanDemczuk, Heath Johnson, Ash ton McAl len ,J ack son McEw an, Ril ey More hu, Ty ler Ri cha rds, Cal lum Ross, LachyTankard, William Tankard, Koby Tibballs, Daniel Whitfield, Finbar Carey (Deve lop ment), Joshua Keeg an (Development),Jack Rawlings (Training), Seth Lear (Training), Riley Tolley (Training), Jayden McMillin (Coach).

Tough start to VNL life for Gippsland Stars

NETBALL VNL

BY ZAIDA GLIBANOVIC

IT was atoughnightfor the Stars last Wednesday, March6,asthe Stars lost their first-ever game, 74-32, to last year's Victorian Netball League Grand Finalists, North East Blaze.

Though Blaze had the first centre pass, they managed to secure possession and went five goals up to none after the Gippsland team couldn’t force theballinto their shooting circle.

The Blaze were awell-oiledmachine transitioning the ball into attack as if it were second nature.

Vice-captain Myah Healey got the ball rolling at around the four-minute mark, sinking abeautiful shot from mid-rangetoget the Stars on the board.

For much of the game, it was all one-way traffic in the Blaze’s direction, as the Stars found it difficult to bring the ball down the court due to the Blaze's full-court pressure.

Blaze’s DeeDee Lambert and Sale Magpieinthe Gippsland League were unstoppable for the opposition. Lambert was the goal scorer of the match, sinking 32 shots with 91.43 percent efficiency.

Traralgon’s Sophie Lecchino worked well to

assist Healey in the goal ring, lobbing aballinto the perfect space, which saw the stars get their third goal.

The Gippsland t team began to handle the pressure from their fierce opponent and forced some errrors late in the first quarter, but the leead was already too far gone. The Blazze had 20 goals to the Stars seven by y the first break Mor well ’s Chl o e R a d f o r d a n d Bairnsdale’s Paris s Dunkley ran the centre well, but there was nothing she could do; the Blaze had their years of training together, c complete with set plays and systeems

Healeywas instrumental in most of the Star's goals, holding strong desppite the score being atarget t in the goal circle.

The Stars defenders were under the pump all game as the ballkeptflying back to attack.

In the second quarter, Heyfield’s Jayde Parsons took the court for the first time in goal keeper with her work cut out for her against Lambert. The Stars found some rhythm and scored goals a little easier than they did in the first term Going 12 goals to 24 around four minutes into quarter two.

Though Blaze wasimpressive, the Stars never gave upand foughtuntil the very end Vibeswere high, and the on-court talk was still there.

By halftime, it was North East Blaze 40 to the Stars’ 14.

Karingal’s Emma Felsovary scored the first goal of the t h i r d t e rm, but again, Blaze took control of the ball andkept increasing the margin.

Inthe final term, T he Gippy Stars show ed go od

signs of perseverance, scoring 12 goals in the last 15 minutes.

Healey was named the player of the match for her outstanding effort in goal attack and goal shooter.

Stars head coach Jo Ballingersaidthe Under 23 side has had issuesstarting games in the preseason practice matches but has always managed to finish strong.

The Blaze, whowere Division 1’s Grand Finalists losing out of the premiership, are hungry to go all the way in this brand new VNL season.

But for theStars, their journey has only just begun.

The Stars will now take on fellow VNL newcomer the Bendigo Strikers tonight (Wednesday, March 13) at the State Hockey Netball Centre.

Last Week, the Strikers losttoWilson Storage Southern Saints 65 to 27, dropping them to the bottom of the ladder.

The Strikers and Stars game will be aregional rumble so expect to see alot of fight from the team in thisexciting match-up.

Done and dusted: TheGippsland Starshad their firsthit out as a club lastWednesday. Photographs supplied

Sporting royalty: Bairnsdale’s ParisDunkley, cousin of Yarram’sAFL superstar Josh and Suncor pnetballer Larainthe Gippsland Stars’ firstgame

Impressive: Traralgon’s Myah Healeywas the Stars’ best in the Round 1loss against NorthEastBlaze.

Next level: TheGippsland UnitedMen’s side for2024, including coaches and staff Photograph: TomHayes

Mission: Co-captain Jordan Canovanshares the goals forthe team this season

Photograph: TomHayes

Rising stars: The Gippsland United VJBLYouth League team for season 2024.

Photograph supplied

Traralgon bowling backtothe top

LAWN BOWLS

WEEKEND PENNANT

BY MICHAEL HOLROYD

SATURDAY was forecast to be hot and Strzelecki North Bowls Region declared an early start to try and beat the heat on Grand Final day.

Unfortunatelyonly two games were completed priortothe temperaturereaching 36 degrees.

 DIVISION 1

WHEN play was abandoned for the day at Newborough Bowls Club, Traralgon held ahandy 14-point lead with 11 ends to play in Division 1. Play resumed on Sunday morning with more hot weather and Traralgon managed to maintain their overnight lead to finally grab apremiership after fourrunner-up finishes behind Newborough. Great jubilationfrom thewinning players and Traralgon Player-ManagerMichael Yacoub spoke of howrelieved the team were to achieve amuch deserved win,and thankedNewborough for providing tough opposition and great greens to play on in such hot weather.

Michael Yacoub and his rink of Pat Trewin, Phil Mustoe and Jame McCausland led the way with a 22-9 win over Neale Houston and his rink of Fran Clark, Tony Knipping and Matt Leicester.

Matt Ferrari and his rink of Nick Turnbull,Shane Chapman and Matt Eccles had an 18-15 win over Kevin Lovett and his rink of Barry Daley, Jo-Anne Michaels and Josh Kennedy.

Newborough had winners in ScottJones and his rink of Brian Carpenter, Alan Ryan and Paul Sherman, who defeated Wayne Lynch and his rink of Michael Morgan, Ian Hilsley and Ian Kirkup 22-18, and Rod Lewis and his rink of Bob Goldie, Debbie Kennedy and Alan Grubb who defeated James Scullin and hisrink of Matt Ogilvie,Ron Sherlock and Chris Ward 19-18 leaving Traralgon thewinners by 11 shots.

Traralgon 76 defeated Newborough 65.

 DIVISION 2

LONGWARRY reversedtheir semi-final result

At last: Afterfour yearsofNewborough domination,Traralgon got the betteroftheir counterparts,winningthe Division 1premiership Photographs: TomHayes

Embrace: Traralgon’s Division 1teammates congratulateeach otherafter their triumph in the Grand Final.

over Traralgon (2) to book aplace in Division 1next season at the expense of Moe, after holding anarrow lead when play was abandoned and returned on Sunday to complete the win.

Ken Towt and his rink of Craig Cousin, Robert Proctor and Barry White had adefining victory over Austin Gapper and his rink of Dick Glossop, Al Hegarty and Dave Currie 22-13.

John McCarthy and his rink of Ken White, Peter Lieshout and GlennPask had a21-19win over Abe Roederand hisrink of Clint Jones, Bill Francis and Maurie Sutcliffe.

Trevor Kitchin and his rink of Hank Metselaar, Col Finger and Ian Peterson had a17-16 win over Kevin Enguell and his rink of Tom Irvine, Bill Kirby and Kathy Smiles.

Traralgon(2) had awinner with Cary Locke and his rink of Jedd Ladgrove, Ian Bloomfield and Trevor James defeating Jason Lieshout and his rink of Grant Pask, Jasmine O’Shea and Russell White 17-15.

Longwarry 78 defeated Traralgon (2) 66.

 DIVISION 3

TRARALGON (3) completed their victory over a valiantBoolarra just as the heat topped36degrees. Brendan Smilesand his rink of Elaine Swan, Ron Baker and Rosie Lorenz had a19-13 win over Steve Davey.

Roger Davey and hisrinkofIan Boyes,Robert Marsh and MayCrossdefeatedTerryParker 25-18, and Graham Cross and his rink of Gary Bassett, Bill Munday and Paddy Francis had a19-18 win over Joel Anderson.

For Boolarra, Jorma Takanen and his rink of Bruce Davey, Eddie Dudek and David Caldwell had a30-17 win over Col Mayman.

Traralgon (3) 79 defeated Boolarra 68.

 DIVISION 4

MOE (2) gotover the line against Yallourn North at Morwell Bowls Club before the heat stopped play.

PaulRead andhis rink of Martin Dyt, Shane Hope and Rod Dixon had a25-15 win overGreg Maidment.

Jim Lawrence and hisrink of IanCaines, Les

Drought-breakers: Hi-fives allround for Traralgon in Division 1.

Stolarik and Val Griffiths had a20-15 win over Rob Matthews, and Brian Rodgers and his rink of Robyn Dodd, Val Rodgers and Rex Price defeated Ricky Hearn 18-14.

For Yallourn North, Darren Fry and his rink of Dale Raven, David Hibbert and Craig Speake had a19-16 win over Lorraine Horton.

Moe (2) 79 defeated Yallourn North 63.

 DIVISION 5

LONGWARRY (2) 68 defeated Neerim District 54 with Graham Woolstencroft and his rink of Dale Weller, Debbie Parker and Col Finger defeating Ray Watts 30-16.

Gerard Mitchell and his rink of Natalie Cousin, Sharon Twite and Mark Serong had a27-16 win over John Rochford.

For Neerim District (2), Jim Schroeder defeated John Majkut 22-11.

 DIVISION 6

DROUIN (4) 40 defeated Longwarry (3) 30.

Ian Haughton and his rinkofAda Baxter, Maureen McMillan and Vincent Mancarella had a19-16 win over Hayden McCarthy, and Merv Appleyard and his rink of Jim Purvis,Louis McDonald and Maria Wans had a21-14 win over Simon Counsel.

Almost there: Traralgon’s completed rinks watching thefinal bowlsbeing bowled in the Division1 GrandFinal.

Traralgon

Team effort: Traralgon Player-ManagerMichael Yacoub gives awinning speechtohis Division 1side

Justtwoclubsremainineachdivision

LAWN BOWLS

MIDWEEK PENNANT

BY MICHAEL HOLROYD

MIDWEEKpennant bowls completed their preliminary finals on Tuesday, March 5atMorwell Bowls Club.

 DIVISION 1

WARRAGUL'S Gaye Renn and her rink of John Vickerman,Lynda Morrison and Robert Renn defeated Jan Aubrey and her rink of Louise McDonald, John Bickerdike and Graeme Aubrey 26-16 to set up the win as Drouin won the other tworinks

Denise Hamilton and her rink of David McIlfatrick, Dino Hone and Dennis Throup had a 17-16 win over Margaret Ratcliffe and her rink of Bernie Mitchell,Glynis Mitchell and PaulSimmons. Mary Firth and her rink of Ron Westrup, Elaine Thorpe, and Les Firth had a15-14win overPat

Hammond and her rink of Matt Draisma, Lynne Thomas and Peter Gallasch.

Warragul 56 defeated Drouin 48.

 DIVISION 2

NEERIM Districtweretoo strongfor Newborough (2).

Pat Fraser-Aurisch and her rink of Heather Guppy, Jim Schroeder and Steve Halligan had a 29-14 win over Ann-Mary Ryan.

Chris Hogan and her rink of Graeme Wingrove, John Rochford and Kay Cousins had a21-14 win over Carmel Goss.

Karren Sheers and her rink of Neville Cousins, Thelma Schroeder and Robert Cook drew 19-all with Bev Luck to leave Neerim District as convincing winners.

Neerim District 64 defeated Newborough (2) 42.

 DIVISION 3

TRAFALGAR (2) 56 defeated Traralgon(3) 50 with

Lyn Hill and her rink of Gillian Crighton, Robert Connell and PeterWatsonhavinga26-11 win over Cheryl Reynolds.

ForTraralgon(3), Carolyn Roscholler defeated Margret Moss 20-15 and JoyceHales defeated Lynne Sephton 19-15.

 DIVISION 4

YINNAR (2) 43 defeated Traralgon (5) 38 with Leanne Emond and her rink of Ray Davidson, Peter Canavan and Liddy Davidson having a21-18 win over Jan Catherwood and Jann Summerhayes and her rink of Francis Cassar, Anne Lirsch, and Ray Tanti defeated Jill Beck 22-20.

The Strzelecki North Midweek PennantGrand Finals were playedonTuesday, March 12 at the Newborough Bowling Club.The results were unknown at the time of print.

Flag: Longwarrygot the betterofTraralgon (2) in the Division 2Grand Final.

Twofa:

(3) made it twopremierships forTraralgon, defeating Boolarrainthe Division 3Grand Final.