⏱️ This Wednesday edition of our newsletter is a six-minute read.

👋 Hello Gippslanders, it’s Jacob here.

🎉 Before we dive into some news stories, I want to say a quick welcome to the 61 newsletter subscribers who signed up in the last week - you helped us reach over 15,000 email subscribers!

Thanks to everyone who opens and reads these weekly newsletters. If you know anyone who might enjoy them I’d be stoked if you sent this on to them.

👀 Looking ahead. In this week’s newsletter we’re talking about:

  • ♻️ Why Wellington Shire tossed a 3,000-strong petition in the bin;

  • 🚔 The pitch to turn West Sale Airport into a police academy;

  • ⚡️ A Traralgon teen’s journey from admin to a wind farm;

  • 🗳️ Gippsland’s battleground electorates;

  • 🍕 Which eateries Warragul locals rate, and;

  • ☢️ Where Australia stores its nuclear waste.

🎊 WHAT’S ON THIS WEEK 🎟️

🧺 FARMERS MARKETS 🥧

⁉️ It’s round 12 of the Gippsland Monitor’s Quiz. Test your knowledge of the region with our five weekly questions about everything Gippsland. The answers will be in our Friday newsletter.

Feel free to email questions you think may stump our readers to [email protected].

✍️ GIPPSLAND QUIZ QUESTIONS ❓

  1. What is the name of the large freshwater lake near Sale that is popular for boating and fishing?

  2. What native animal, famous for producing cube-shaped droppings, can be found in parts of Gippsland?

  3. What is the name of the national park near Mallacoota, known for remote beaches and wilderness?

  4. Which Gippsland town is home to a desalination plant built to help supply Melbourne with water?

  5. Which Gippsland waterfall is Victoria’s highest single-span waterfall?

🚀 Alright, let’s jump into the Monitor’s latest yarns!

🔍 HEARD THIS WEEK👂

🚮 Wellington tosses 3,000-strong petition into the bin, pointing to 40% cut in landfill

Wellington Shire councillors voted on Tuesday to reject a 3,000-signature petition calling for weekly red bin collection, saying the change to a fortnightly service had cut landfill by 40 percent.

What happened: The councillors voted to stay with the fortnightly general waste and weekly food organics and garden organics (FOGO) model adopted in June.

  • Of all the signatories, 2,259 verified they lived in Wellington Shire, which is approximately 6.1 percent of the shire’s population, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics 2025 data.

Councillor Liz Foat moved to decline the petition, saying the evidence didn't justify charging every household more.

"Returning to weekly red bin collections would add about $125 a year to every household's charge. I don't believe [in] asking everyone to pay more when the evidence indicates that most households do not need the extra collection.”

Read the full story here.

👮 Police Academy Gippsland: Wellington pitches old airport and TAFE as new training ground

Wellington Shire wants future generations of police officers to be trained at a purpose-built facility at the former West Sale Airport and TAFE site.

What’s happening: At a council meeting last week, Wellington Shire councillors unanimously agreed to lobby the Victorian Government to locate a new Gippsland regional police academy at the former West Sale Airport and TAFE site. 

Mayor Cindy Madeley told the Monitor the 180-hectare old airport at Fulham would be ideal: “As it was previously a TAFE site, it already has a number of buildings, classrooms and a pool that can be used for training. It could be brought up to standard for a lot cheaper than building a new facility.”

Read the full story here.

⚡️ From admin to a job on a wind farm: A Traralgon teen’s journey into the new economy

Traralgon 19-year-old Grace Harding knew she wanted to do something practical when she entered the workforce.

When a family member sent her a link to a six-week TAFE Gippsland course designed for women looking to enter the growing clean energy workforce, she saw it as an opportunity to step out of her comfort zone.

Read the full story here or check out a video about it below.

🍕 Which eateries do Warragul locals rate?

From Vietnamese staples to bustling cafes, check out which spots are regularly visited by these Warragul locals in the video below.

LOOKING NATIONALLY 👀

Australia produces roughly 40 cubic metres of nuclear waste every year, so where does it all go?

My colleague Archie Milligan from the National Account made a video about how Australia is dealing with storing its nuclear waste.

Check it out below.

🎥 Watch: Gippsland’s crucial election battlegrounds

Redbridge pollster Kos Samaras told the Monitor that polling suggests tight races in the electorates of Bass and Gippsland East could play a key role in whether the surge in One Nation translates to the party playing any part in governing Victoria.

Read the full story here or check out a video below.

Thanks for catching up with us this week at the Monitor. I hope you enjoyed this issue of our newsletter.

Cheers,
Jacob & the Gippsland Monitor team

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