Newsletter: Council wants more money

Plus: Farmers market and gig guides for December.

Author

Jacob Wallace
November 28, 2025

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

👋 Hello Gippslanders, it’s Jacob here.

In this newsletter we’ll be covering:

  • Latrobe City Council’s request to the state government for more funding from the sale of the valley’s water;

  • A Moe Botanical Gardens asbestos memorial to the workers who were exposed to the toxic building material in Gippsland’s power plants;

  • Misrepresented figures on the shift away from fossil fuels, and;

  • Lists for gigs and farmers markets in December.

📸 First of all, take a look at this picture I took of Loch suspension bridge on a sunny afternoon walk. The silhouetted figure at the end of the bridge is a wooden statue memorial to local servicemen and women.

💧 I spoke to Senior Organiser for Environment Victoria, Hayley Sestokas, about how Latrobe Valley energy companies are seeking to fill retired open cut mines with water from Gippsland’s river systems. Latrobe City Council and multiple local groups have expressed concern that these plans will damage the valley’s waterways.

❝

[Gippsland’s lakes and Latrobe Valley’s river system will] be starved of the water they desperately need in a drying climate. That isn’t just water for a healthy environment. It’s precious water that our communities, farmers and tourism industries depend on.

Senior Organiser for Environment Victoria, Hayley Sestokas

🎊 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👂

Latrobe City council has a message for the state government: if you're charging for our water to fix your coal mines, the money stays here.

What’s happening with Latrobe Valley’s water?

As Latrobe Valley’s aging coal-fired power stations retire, the energy companies that run them are seeking to extract vast quantities of water from the region's river system in order to rehabilitate the open-cut mines.

All three mine site operators (Engie, AGL and EnergyAustralia) are planning to fill, or are already filling, their open cut mines with water in an effort to rehabilitate them.

To put the following figures into perspective, a gigalitre is one billion litres:

  • Hazelwood (Engie) closed in 2017 and is already being filled with water; it will require  637 GL to fill.

  • Yallourn (EnergyAustralia), which will close in 2028, will require 630 GL.

  • Loy Yang (AGL), to close in 2035, will need 1,087 GL.

This is an estimated total of 2,354 GL of water that could be removed from the Latrobe Valley river system over three decades - enough to fill Sydney Harbour four-and-a-half times.

How much will these energy companies pay for water?

The state Minister for Water Gayle Tierney is currently considering a submission from AGL to access water for its rehabilitation of Loy Yang. EnergyAustralia is yet to submit an application to use water to fill Yallourn.

Tierney is set to decide on a price between $200 and $260 per megalitre of water used to fill the Loy Yang mine pit.

A decision by the minister is expected in “late 2025”.

Senior Organiser for Environment Victoria, Hayley Sestokas, told the Monitor it’s expected this decision will dictate how much EnergyAustralia will pay to rehabilitate the Yallourn mine.

🎨 DECEMBER EVENT GUIDES 🕺 

There’s plenty of live music, dancing and fun to be had in Gippsland this December. Here’s our list of the best local gigs this month.

With so many Christmas festivities, exhibitions and festivals in Gippsland, the Monitor has compiled a list of the biggest events in the region throughout December.

There are plenty of markets across the region providing fresh produce, scrumptious food and handmade arts and crafts through all the seasons.

Gippsland markets provide a great opportunity to support local businesses and community endeavours while often paying less for produce and products than what you would normally pay in a supermarket.

LOOKING NATIONALLY 👀

There are so many “facts” and figures thrown about regarding the shift away from fossil fuels, it’s often hard to seperate truth from fiction. I found this piece put together by my colleague Archie Milligan at The National Account to be really informative.

Take a look at the story below.

Instagram Post

🎥 Watch: Latrobe City Council unanimously backs asbestos memorial

Between 1920 and 1980 around 140,000 Latrobe Valley power station workers were exposed to asbestos, according to the Asbestos Council of Victoria. CEO of Gippsland Asbestos Related Disease Support Inc, Vicky Hamilton, told a Latrobe City Council meeting she has been to hundreds of funerals for asbestos victims.

Take a look at the video I made on the history of asbestos in Gippsland and the announcement of a new memorial below.

Instagram Post

Thanks for catching up with us this week at the Monitor. I hope you enjoyed this issue of our newsletter. I’ll be back in your inbox next week with more stories, local gossip and important news.

As always, if you’d like to share a story with us that you think is important and needs coverage then feel free to send us an email at [email protected]

Have a great weekend.

Cheers,
Jacob & the Gippsland Monitor team