Bendigo, Australia News

AGL Energy has proposed a total buyout of the Loy Yang Power station in Victoria, although some shareholders have characterised AGL's offer as "opportunistic". The gas and energy retailer owns 32.5 percent of the power generator and has entered into an agreement with Tokyo Electric Power Company to acquire the Japanese company's 32.5 percent ... (more)

Regional lender Bendigo and Adelaide Bank has increased its standard variable mortgage rate 15 basis points to 7.45 per cent, becoming the latest lender to hike interest rates outside the Reserve Bank's interest process.

Wayne Swan says the latest rate rises shows the banks are out of touch with their customers.

THE life of a Bendigo woman who lost her life to ovarian cancer will be celebrated at a fundraising event on February 25.

Unions will resume pay negotiations with the Bendigo and Adelaide Bank at the end of this month after winning concessions in December.

The Federal Government says any funding bid by the Bendigo Council for a new aquatic centre in the city is likely to face some stiff competition for money.

Bendigo South East College is leading the way as the first Australian school to partner with the world's leading academic camp program for teenagers.

PREMIER Ted Baillieu has intervened to try to save the jobs of 600 workers at Alcoa, as Victoria's manufacturing crisis deepens.

THEY'RE big boots to fill, and it's not the 1980s but Mariner Corporation chief Darren Olney-Fraser has no qualms citing legendary corporate raider Sir Ron Brierley.

Regional galleries are stepping out from the shadows of their city rivals through generous gifts from high-profile artists, ambitious acquisitions and a fresh creative focus, writes STEVE MEACHAM.

MOST Victorians will wake today to a total fire ban, as authorities crack down on potential arsonists during the state's latest hot spell.

A union representative says workers at a central Victorian defence manufacturing plant are devastated by the news of further job cuts.

SOCIAL care workers in Bendigo say a wage increase for the community sector will provide long-term benefits for the community.

Thales Australia employs about 250 people at its plant in Bendigo, where it makes the Bushmaster vehicle for the Australian Army.

BENDIGO and Adelaide Bank could be the next target for Australia's biggest ever class action, seeking $652 million in unfair bank fees, litigators say.

TENS of thousands of residents trying to bring persecuted family members to Australia on special humanitarian visas stand almost no chance of success this year, with the program cut to just 750 places.

Tim Ellmanns from Brighton, Melbourne; Zac Clarke from Bendigo, Victoria; and Daniel Quill from Brisbane, are among the newest group of Australians training to become airline pilots with CTC Aviation Training Limited in Hamilton, New Zealand.

The Education Department says it is continuing to see a sharp decline in the number of students attending small, rural schools in Victoria's Loddon-Mallee region.

A NATIONAL campaign is calling for an overhaul of the aged care system, as local Bendigo services continue to increase facilities to meet a growing demand for aged care places.

ARMY Reserve soldiers who recently finished training in central Victoria have been farewelled at an official parade ahead of their mission to East Timor.