⏱️ This edition of the West Vic Brolga newsletter is a five-minute read.
👋🏻 Hello Brolga readers, Zara here for your Friday newsletter.
Here’s what’s coming up in today’s edition:
🚬 Police seized 10,000 allegedly illicit cigarettes on Wednesday;
🗣️ Election debate around Victoria’s gas phase-out plan;
💰 Warrnambool Council’s new policy for fee discounts;
🧠 And a look into Ballarat’s new mental health centre.
Quick hits: Darcie has scoped out the best places to get amongst nature this season.
South west stories 🗞️
Police have closed a hotel in Forrest for 90 days after allegedly finding illicit tobacco at the premises.
Officers from the Colac Crime Investigation Unit, Forrest uniform and VIPER Taskforce gained search warrants for one location each in Forrest and Colac on Wednesday (September 30).
Police say they seized about 10,000 cigarettes, 800 grams of loose tobacco and $10,000 in cash.
The second business in Colac was issued a warning.
“The use of the new closure powers sends a strong message that businesses engaging in illicit tobacco offending risk significant consequences, including temporary closure,” VIPER Taskforce Acting Inspector Detective Shane Abson said.
"This result demonstrates our commitment to dismantle illegal activity and hold offenders to account, regardless of whether it occurs in metropolitan or regional communities.”
When Warrnambool City Council offers special deals - such as Stay 5 Nights, Pay For 3 - at its Surfside Holiday Park, it is applying what is known as a "discretionary discount".
The deal might cost the council two nights of lost revenue, but in return it is meant to generate bookings out of peak seasons.
These types of discounts, applied to council facilities, services or events, can be doled out in an ad hoc manner, as there is no framework for council staff to decide which group gets relief on costs others may have to pay.
The September 7 council agenda report stated: “Uncontrolled discretionary reductions to adopted fees may create financial risks, inconsistent outcomes, perceptions of favouritism, conflicts of interest, and may adversely impact the achievement of Council’s adopted Budget and Long-Term Financial Plan."
What happened: Councillors voted unanimously at the meeting to adopt the Fees and Charges Reduction Policy, meaning officers must now adhere to eligibility criteria for a discount or waived fee to be offered.
Under the policy, discounts are limited to five percent of the money the council expects to earn from any fee, and no more than $10,000 a year for each council service or facility. Anything more needs approval from further up the food chain.
What councillors said: Councillor Willy Benter told the meeting “we discovered some irregularities during the last budget, and so we’re just putting some policy in place in regards to that”.
The Brolga sought comment from Benter on the nature of the irregularities, but he did not respond.
Councillor Billy Edis said the framework would ensure reductions in fees were “appropriately authorised, consistently applied, properly documented and most importantly, transparent”.
“This policy’s important because it allows the community … to understand that it's all done according to a fixed policy and therefore passes the pub test, it’s not mates’ rates or anything that's been applied,” Councillor Richard Ziegler said.
Full story below.
Central Highlands headlines 🗞️
Victoria’s planned gas phase-out is becoming a key election issue, with the Coalition and One Nation pledging to wind back plans to stop new homes being connected to the gas pipeline.
But research and local examples show switching from gas to efficient electric appliances can cut household energy bills.
What’s the plan? Introduced in 2022, the Victorian government’s Gas Substitution Roadmap, will require new homes to be all-electric from January 1 2027.
From March 1 2027, if an existing household gas hot water system fails and cannot be repaired, it must be replaced with an efficient electric alternative.
If you own a rental property, that extends to heating as well, should the system break and cannot be repaired.
Local savings: David Unwin lives in Creswick, and purchased his home in 2021. The house was built in the mid 1980s, and a large amount of appliances had been electrified - except the heating.
“I’m one of those people that researches everything to the umpteenth degree,” Unwin told the Brolga with a laugh. “It’s something I couldn’t do in rental properties, so basically when I bought the house it's a journey I wanted to start for myself.”
Environmental impact was another priority for Unwin, stating he “wanted to decarbonise where he could”, but the associated savings were also a big factor.
The costs: Unwin said when he first moved into his home, the gas bill was $1,200, bringing the total gas-electric combined bill to $2,500.
“In the Ballarat region, you’re running the heater for 6 months of the year,” he said. “I was just gobsmacked, and it really made me look at it urgently”.
Unwin elected to make the switch to a reverse-cycle air conditioning unit. Now, his bills are closer to $1,400 for the electricity of the entire home - savings of just over $1,000 per year.
“Upfront costs are the biggest obstacle, but the savings have been huge”, Unwin said, noting a low-interest green loan helped keep upfront costs for a new hot water heat pump system down.
Installing interest: The founder of electrification support company Powrhouse, Tim Johnston, said there was “definitely” an increase in the interest from homeowners and renters in replacing gas water heaters with electric heat pumps.
🗣️ “Everyone is interested in cheaper running costs … and reducing their bills,” he told the Eastern Melburnian.
Expert analysis: Grattan Institute energy and climate change program director, Alison Reeve, said its 2023 research found Victorian households could save between $1,200 and $1,400 a year by replacing gas cooktops, water heaters and heating with efficient electric alternatives.
“The result of unwinding the gas roadmap for Victorians will be a higher cost of living for more households, particularly renters,” she said.
Cost improvements: According to the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis, residential electrification initiatives in Victoria have reduced household energy bills by $185 million since 2023.
Environment Victoria senior climate and energy advisor, Kat Lucas-Healey said research showed replacing an old gas appliance with a new one “locks in high bills for another 15 to 20 years”.
Full story below.
The new Ballarat Youth Prevention and Recovery Centre (YPARC) opened in July, and experts say it’s tailored to youth mental health needs like informality, safety and feeling like you’re just hanging out.
What happened? YPARC opened two years after the multi-million dollar project was first announced.
The Victorian Government pledged to upgrade and build new centres across Victoria, designed to emulate a “welcoming home-like environment” to treat patients between 16 and 25.
The plan also aimed to reduce pressure on hospital admissions.
The set-up: The new centre, located in Newington, has 10 private bedrooms, a shared kitchen and dining space, outdoor gardens and a dedicated visiting area.
The benefits: Dr Margaret Kertesz, a Senior Research Fellow in Social Work at the University of Melbourne, said modern treatments need to focus more on “listening to people with lived experience of mental health problems”.
“You’ve got to think about life stages, being a teenager is very different to when you’re 45, being an adolescent is not an easy thing to be even if you’re in perfect mental health,” Dr Kertesz said.
Dr Kertesz said that when it comes to treatment delivery, teenagers want something “much less formal”, and a “kind of playful engagement that meets them in the language they use.”
“A more homely environment is really important because it’s about being there and creating opportunities to talk, which applies to everyone but especially younger people.”
Dr Kertesz also mentioned that treatment changes as the world changes, and teenagers today are growing up surrounded by rapidly developing technology and news laden with environmental concerns.
A safe place: Often, young people who have experienced trauma “don’t know adults in a safe way”, Dr Kertesz said.
“YPARC, and other facilities, are creating an environment where that safety is there, so they [young people] can have safe relationships, and the work they need to do can start”.
Full story below.
Thanks for reading today’s newsletter folks.
As always, please get in touch with any thoughts, comments, feedback or news tips you have for us. Just reply to this email.
If you want to stay up to date between editions, you can follow us on TikTok, Instagram and Facebook.
Cheers,
Zara