User Profile

Michael
Giles

Farmers’ picnic photos: Drought and council rates’ challenges cloud rural outlook

THERE was a sense that the Bass Coast Shire Council has simply kicked the can down the road again by allocating $35,000 in the recent budget for yet another review of the differential rate on farming properties in the shire. Cr Tim O’Brien...

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Michael Giles

11 hours ago

News

Huge interest in Erin Patterson verdict as jury retires

THE jury has retired to consider its verdict in the marathon mushroom murder trial at Morwell. They were released by the judge, Justice Christopher Beale at 1.02pm on Monday this week, June 30, but not before he delivered a full morning of...

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Michael Giles

12 hours ago

News

Bendigo Bank to close branches at Yarram and Korumburra

AFTER reversing a decision to close its Bendigo Bank branch in Korumburra in June 2021, following a concerted local campaign, the bank has again announced this week that the branch will close. Bendigo Bank is also closing its branch at Yarram. The...

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Michael Giles

26 Jun 2025

News

DEECA fuels Inverloch ‘retreat’ fears with latest erosion update

CONTRACTORS for the Bass Coast Shire Council, to its credit, have been working day and night to replace sand eroded from both sides of the geotextile bag wall defending the Inverloch Surf Lifesaving Club from the ravages of the latest high tides and...

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Michael Giles

26 Jun 2025

News

On and on and on it goes… mushroom trial to go into 10th week

THE judge in the marathon mushroom murder trial in the Supreme Court in Morwell has told the jury in the case that they won’t commence their deliberations until after lunch on Monday next week, June 30, 2025. Justice Beale announced to the jury on...

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Michael Giles

26 Jun 2025

News

‘Farmers Picnic’ this Sunday at Ventnor: See you there!

FARMING this year has been anything but ‘a picnic’ especially with the extended dry conditions not breaking until it was too late for autumn growth. The result has been that many started feeding out early, and they haven’t stopped, in most...

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Michael Giles

25 Jun 2025

People and Lifestyle

Wrong price tag on ‘Carnival Land’ rezoning, they say

IT IS recommended in the Phillip Island Recreation Reserve Master Plan that the 33-hectare site in Cowes, owned by the Bass Coast Shire Council for the development of sporting facilities on the Island, be rezoned to ‘Public Park and Recreation...

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Michael Giles

25 Jun 2025

News

Erin Patterson’s good character worth something, says Justice Beale

ERIN Patterson is a 50-year-old woman without a criminal history. Turns out good character is something you can fall back on. Over the course of many years, the court was told this week, she has been caring, generous and loving to her estranged...

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Michael Giles

24 Jun 2025

People and Lifestyle

It’s not a house, it’s a home, says Aileen Hughes

IF THE outcome of a bureaucratic process, in the middle of a serious housing crisis, is to issue a local pensioner with an order to “cease occupation”, then there’s something seriously wrong with the process. But that’s the situation that...

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Michael Giles

24 Jun 2025

News

Last days of mushroom murder trial start this week

FIFTY-year-old Leongatha mother two, Erin Patterson, charged with the murders of three of her in-laws and the attempted murder of another, will be back in court today, Tuesday, June 24. It’s only been four days since the Supreme Court last sat at...

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Michael Giles

24 Jun 2025

News

Wood’s words of wisdom echo loud and clear against ESVF ‘tax’

OPPOSITION to the Victorian Government’s most unpopular-ever tax, the Emergency Services and Volunteers Fund (ESVF), isn’t going away. A well-attended farmers’ rally at Apex Park on Friday, June 13 kept the issue on the boil locally. And at...

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Michael Giles

23 Jun 2025

News

He said, she said… mushroom murder trial wraps up in Morwell

IT’S effectively the last day of the so-called mushroom murder trial in the Victorian town of Morwell that has so captured the attention of people worldwide. After a marathon eight weeks of hearings, all of the evidence is in and this week the...

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Michael Giles

19 Jun 2025

News

Last bite of the cherry in mushroom murder trial

IT’S the law that the defence gets the last say in a criminal trial, the last ‘bite of the cherry’ if you will, as Crown Prosecutor Dr Nanette Rogers SC meant to say during her closing address on Tuesday this week. Oh, Dr Rogers wasn’t...

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Michael Giles

18 Jun 2025

Michael Giles

Farmers’ picnic photos: Drought and council rates’ challenges cloud rural outlook

Huge interest in Erin Patterson verdict as jury retires

Bendigo Bank to close branches at Yarram and Korumburra

DEECA fuels Inverloch ‘retreat’ fears with latest erosion update

On and on and on it goes… mushroom trial to go into 10th week

​​​​​​​‘Farmers Picnic’ this Sunday at Ventnor: See you there!

Wrong price tag on ‘Carnival Land’ rezoning, they say

Erin Patterson’s good character worth something, says Justice Beale

It’s not a house, it’s a home, says Aileen Hughes

Last days of mushroom murder trial start this week

Wood’s words of wisdom echo loud and clear against ESVF ‘tax’

He said, she said… mushroom murder trial wraps up in Morwell

Last bite of the cherry in mushroom murder trial

Michael
Giles

‘Farmers Picnic’ this Sunday at Ventnor: See you there!