Newsletter The best lamb pie in Gippsland?

Plus: Youth homelessness in Latrobe and coastal protection works.

Author

Jacob Wallace
December 03, 2025

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

👋 Hello Gippslanders, it’s Jacob here.

In this week’s newsletter we’re talking about:

  • A new Latrobe City community outreach program to help stem youth homelessness and anti-social behaviour;

  • New coastal protection works getting underway at Inverloch Surf Beach;

  • How Latrobe Valley’s energy companies are looking to purchase thousands of billions of litres of water to rehabilitate local mine sites;

  • A roast lamb pie at Aperloo’s Family Bakery in Warragul, and;

  • My colleague at The National Account, Archie Milligan’s report National Party leader David Littleproud’s use of figures on Australia’s shift to net zero.

📸 First of all though, look at this picture I snapped of Quigley down at the dog beach at Inverloch, with a view of Venus Bay in the background.

📧 If you have any pictures you’d like to share of Gippsland beaches or scenery then feel free to shoot us an email at [email protected] and maybe your picture will end up an edition of this newsletter.

✍️ Last week I published a story on Latrobe City council asking the state government for more money from the sale of the valley’s water to the energy companies that run the Hazelwood, Loy Yang and Yallourn open-cut mines.

🎥 Yesterday I pushed my acting ability to the limit by filming a short video explainer of that story. You can check that video out by clicking here, or there’s a link to it towards the end of this email.

❝

We're really keen to see some of that money flow back into council so we can put it into community assets. We don't want to see it disappear into the general revenue in Spring Street.

Dale Harriman, Latrobe City Mayor

🎊 WHAT’S ON THIS WEEK 🎟️

🧺 FARMERS MARKETS 🥧

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🚀 Alright, let’s jump into the Monitor’s latest yarns, local interviews and silly videos!

🔍 HEARD THIS WEEK👂

When Gippsland Youth Spaces co-chair, Jewel Burchell-Robbins, told a council meeting that young people in Latrobe Valley are stealing food because they have nothing to eat, the chamber fell silent.

What happened: Latrobe City Council has unanimously backed a plan to provide $30,000 for a community outreach model that aims to reduce anti-social behaviour in Latrobe’s CBD after hearing emotional testimony that young people are stealing food to eat.

🗣️ “There’s been a massive spike [in youth homelessness], especially around our region,” Burchell-Robbins said. “Young people don’t have safe spaces to go to a lot of the time.”

  • Burchell-Robbins helps run Gippsland Youth Spaces’ Re-Engage Program, which assists young people who are skipping school regularly across the valley in returning to secondary schooling.

  • There are currently 2,200 people signed up to Gippsland Youth Spaces who can access the space for basic amenities, free meals and new clothes. Members of the public don’t need to be signed up to access the space either.

🗣️ “Many of the young people that come into our space are likely to be on the streets,” Burchell-Robbins said.

  • Gippsland Youth Spaces hands out over 100 meals weekly to young people.

Burchell-Robbins told the council the organisation requires four staff members to operate the space and undertake outreach programs, but that “due to budget cuts and funding from the government being very scarce, we only have three staff members at the moment”.

🏝️ New coastal protection works start at Inverloch

In an attempt to save the Surf Life Saving Club, a 110-metre-wide sandbag wall will be constructed along the beach. Take a look at the short video I made below.

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🥧 Aperloo's Family Bakery roast lamb pie review

While following some other stories in Warragul, I stopped into Aperloo’s Family Bakery to try out the roast lamb pie. Take a look at the video review below and let me know in the comments what your favourite pie in Gippsland is.

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LOOKING NATIONALLY 👀

Over the weekend National Party leader David Littleproud did an interview on ABC’s Insiders. Littleproud was asked about his use of a $9 trillion figure when referring to the renewable energy transition. My colleague Archie Milligan from The National Account has broken down why that figure is incorrect in the video below.

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🎥 Watch: You want our water, you have to pay: Latrobe’s message to Spring Street

💰 Take a look at the video explainer I filmed about Latrobe Valley energy companies (Engie, Energy Australia and AGL) looking to access huge quantities of Gippsland’s water to rehabilitate their open-cut mine sites.

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🙌 Thanks for catching up with us this week at the Monitor. I hope you enjoyed this Wednesday edition of our newsletter. If you’d like to share any local gossip, important stories or fun historical facts from Gippsland with us then feel free email us at [email protected].

I’ll be back in your inbox on Friday with more fun videos, food reviews and pictures of Quigley.

Have a great week.

Cheers,
Jacob & the Gippsland Monitor team