Featured
-
Protesting anti-protest laws
Victoria’s anti-protest laws targeting forest protectors were contested through a state-wide survey action for threatened flora and fauna on Saturday. Under new laws that came into effect on Saturday, people conducting surveys within a safety harvest zone may receive fines up to $11,095, which they could receive in the mail anytime within the next 12…
-
Pharmacy owners furious over dispensing scheme
Jade JungwirthPharmacy owners across the country have slammed the federal government’s new 60-day dispensing scheme, which will enable patients to buy two months’ worth of medicine for the price of a one-month prescription. The scheme begins on September 1 and will roll out in three stages over the next year. According to Malmsbury Pharmacy owner Beshr Farid,…
-
It’s never too late to gain strength
Jade Jungwirth When someone mentions the word gym, the image of sweaty, muscular men, pumping iron while watching themselves on a wall of mirrors, immediately springs to mind. So it’s a welcome surprise to walk into Real Strength Studio in Castlemaine and be greeted with the smiling faces of an enthusiastic group of women in…
-
‘We can and we must do better’
Actor, comedian and broadcaster, Tom Ballard, will be host and keynote speaker at the invitation of Macedon Ranges Rural Australians for Refugees at Kyneton Town Hall next month. The event, to be staged with assistance from Macedon Ranges Shire and the support of major sponsor Bendigo Bank, will mark the beginning of Refugee Week 2023…
-
A sensory sanctuary
Lisa DennisCastlemaine will host a new arts festival next month to celebrate neurodiversity. Neurodiversity is the acceptance and celebration that different people’s brains work differently to one another’s, especially in relation to conditions like autism and ADHD. The inaugural ‘Sensory Sanctuary’ arts festival (June 24-July 7) is the brainchild of local resident Louise ‘Rockabilby’ Cooper…
-
Finding peace in wilderness
‘First Responders Trek for Health’ is a not-for-profit organisation focusing on the physical and mental wellbeing of emergency services personnel. It was formed in late 2019 by members of the Woodend SES Unit. Founding member Kevin Mcnair said the group facilitated participation in outdoor activities to increase and maintain physical fitness and contribute to the…
-
‘Satellite city’ approved
It’s been dubbed a “reincarnation” of a past failure, now “a satellite city”, but a revised development plan for Harpers Lane is expected to progress. Last week, Macedon Ranges Shire councillors voted 5-3 to approve a 65-lot residential development with extensive conditions for the 24-hectare Kyneton South site. VCAT and council rejected the initial 87-lot…
-
Immortals unveiled in new exhibition
Lisa DennisAn exhibition honouring our World War I diggers was recently unveiled at Maryborough’s new-look Central Goldfields Art Gallery. Featuring the work of Castlemaine artist Clayton Tremlett, Immortals celebrates and connects a shared history for regional communities and brings together a portrait study of the faces of digger memorials throughout Victoria. Through his comparative portrait…
-
Testing world-leading technology
Angela Crawford Kyneton Aero Club is flight testing world-leading Australian-made surveillance technology out of Kyneton Airfield. Pilot Warren Canning has been conducting development trials of the intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance equipment for Ascent Vision Technologies Australia. “The CM234 ISR gimbal (a pivoted support that allows rotation of an object) is the smallest, lightest, four-axis stabilised…
-
Housing in the spotlight
The draft Macedon Ranges Affordable Housing Policy has been released for community consultation before its adoption in June. Macedon Ranges Shire Council’s director of planning and environment, Rebecca Stockfeld, said the new policy built on the 2021 Affordable Housing Interim Policy and put the housing crisis on council’s agenda. “Council adopted its Affordable Housing Interim…
-
‘No uniform existing character in Gisborne’
The applicant behind a development plan for Gisborne’s Ross Watt Road has been asked to resubmit a revised version to the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal. After seven hearing days, VCAT senior member Geoffrey Code found the plan was generally consistent with expectations in the planning scheme. He found it provided an appropriate framework in…
-
‘Unprecedented number of visitors’
Macedon residents impacted by this year’s Autumn Festival visitation crowds have criticised the local council for its management of the event. One resident said the council had closed a section of Honour Avenue for the pedestrians and had crossing guards in place.“Bad luck for the people who live there,” she said. “Along the section of…