Warrnambool, Australia News

The Australian Farming Institute's 64-page report released today claims the populist motivation of opening up land to urban development as a way of reducing residential land prices left agriculture as an afterthought.

Michael and Dorothy Mattner, members of Warrnambool and District Society for Growing Australian Plants, are having a open garden day at their property Wrenhaven in Cudgee.

The company yesterday forecast a 2012/13 opening price between $4 and $4.30 per kilogram milk solids - lower than this season's opening price of $4.36/kgms. Simon Bromell, manager director of Fonterra Ingredients Australia, told an industry briefing in Warrnambool yesterday it was too early to be more specific given the volatility of the market and ... (more)

SUBSTANTIAL showers have dampened a dry May, but the heavens may have opened a little too late for south-west pastures.

A PORT Fairy fisherman involved in a knife fight with a long-term rival has had a six-month prison term in the community altered to a suspended jail sentence after a road accident.

STATE government efforts to roll out more Sprinter railcars into regional Victoria are nothing new, as research by history buff Bruce Payne shows.

SHOOTERS who illegally enter blue gum plantations in the south-west have been put on notice they will face the full force of the law.

FINE weather and flat seas this week finally allowed Warrnambool to capitalise on the south-west's tuna fishing bonanza which local enthusiasts claim would provide a financial boost to the city's winter economy.

THREE Warrnambool police officers who resuscitated a man in the city's CBD have been praised for their heroic actions.

A MOTHER and her two-year-old daughter holidaying from New Zealand have been the victims of a brazen daylight robbery in Warrnambool's CBD.

Last week we spoke a little about the Southern Grampians draft budget which was approved at last Wednesday's Council meeting and is now out for public comment.

IN an age of nightclubs and late-night liquor licensing, it seems almost quaint that hotels had to close their bars even before the sun went down.

HISTORICAL treasures will be brought out of stark storage boxes into the light as Warrnambool Art Gallery develops an interactive learning centre.

AT the Port Fairy Folk Festival and the Golden Plains Festival last year, there was one thing punters at both events agreed on - Graveyard Train were awesome.

A LACK of specific federal funding for the south-west in this year's budget is nothing new in fact, it is unusual for the region to actually get cash from Canberra.

Detective Senior Constable Richard Hughes, of the Warrnambool crime investigation unit, said a jemmy bar was used to open a door to the pharmacy about 1.30am . "At least two men were identified jemming open the door.

TRANSPORT Minister Terry Mulder hopes a $2 million overtaking lane between Terang and Garvoc will help reduce the risk of head-on crashes.

FORDS are a more common sight than Ferraris in Portland's main street but that has not stopped the city being declared the south-west's most cashed-up location.

Cr Ermacora's comments come on the back of The Victorian Local Governance Association calling for women to step up to local government.

CUTTING state budget has largely spared the south-west with most Spring Street pledges set to be rolled out in the region next financial year.