COLIBAN Water’s new chairman John Brooke has stood by board member David Beard amidst another high-level controversy. The metropolitan media last weekend revealed French-owned company Veolia Environment has a 25-year contract with Coliban to build and operate plants that supply water to the region, as well as a contract for reclamation plants at Kyneton and Castlemaine.
full story
AFTER lengthy delays in the planning process, the first sod of soil has been turned for the Bendigo Health recycled water project. The project will save about 60 megalitres (or 200 households) of drinking water annually by switching to class A recycled water for Bendigo Health’s Loddon Linen Service. The pipeline will run from the Epsom-Spring Gully pipeline to the commercial laundry in Mercy Street.
full story
BENDIGO is heading towards its lowest unemployment rate in recent times. Figures based on Australian Bureau of Statistics data point to an unemployment rate in the federal seat of Bendigo of 5.8 per cent in the June quarter this year. The figures were correlated by the federal parliamentary library and obtained by the Bendigo Weekly. The previous low in recent times was in the last three months of 2003 when the unemployment rate hit 5.7 per cent.
full story
THE federal government has announced a $66 million upgrade to keep sections of the Calder Highway. Liberal Party candidate for the seat of Bendigo Peter Kennedy said the upgrade would have immediate benefits for the area.
full story
LIBERAL candidate for the seat of Bendigo Peter Kennedy re-ignited the memories of the recent water crisis during his election launch on Sunday. Victorian Liberal Party president and former federal Minister David Kemp officially launched Mr Kennedy’s campaign in front of more than 100 people at La Trobe University’s visual arts centre.
full story
BUILD it and they will come. That was the message of the federal Labor Party this week as they announced a $5 million plan for the redevelopment of Bendigo’s Primary Care Clinic. The new two-storey clinic will stretch from the Rising Sun car park on Arnold Street, to the ambulance station on the Drought Street corner, providing an agreement can be made about the sale of Lansell Lodge.
full story
THE region’s peak environmental group has called on the next federal government to adopt hard targets for greenhouse gas emissions and energy from renewable sources and a range of measures to improve energy efficiency and speed the adoption of renewable energy.
full story
FOR 12 years, a group of Bendigo ladies have gathered together on Melbourne Cup Day for an afternoon of fun, creative fashion and fundraising. It’s a day which is not about the money.
full story
BENDIGO Health’s Simpkin House hosted a Melbourne Cup carnival on Tuesday. The carnival featured the horse race, animal farm and party atmosphere for residents and friends as part of its innovative Reduction of Psychotropic Medication program.
full story
FOUR exquisite gardens will be on display for Heathcote’s Open Garden Weekend on Saturday and Sunday, November 17 and 18. Elouera, a previous entrant in Australia’s Open Garden Scheme, beganfrom a sheep paddock. After building their house, Ross and Wendy Durrant had a dam built and then planted an orchard of various fruits.
