💎 Mayoral bling mystery

Plus: State races and windfarm works.

Author

Jacob Wallace
May 22, 2026

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

👋 Hello Gippslanders, it’s Jacob here.

It’s been another busy week here at the Monitor covering everything going on in Gippsland.

🎤 I spoke to Alex Terranova from TAFE Gippsland about how the institution is working alongside offshore wind farm company Star of the South to prepare workers for the maintenance of the emerging industry.

The project is expected to create 600 local construction jobs and 200 permanent jobs.

❝

We meet regularly with them to get project status updates. [We’re talking to them about] who the contractors and the manufacturers are, so that we are working with them to understand what we should be training for.

The head of Department for Emerging Industries and Trades at TAFE Gippsland, Alex Terranova.

Take a look at the story I wrote about Star of the South’s development milestone here.

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

  • 💎 The mystery of Bass Coast Shire’s missing $50,000 mayoral chains;

  • 🗳️ The two Gippsland electorates that will definitely have new faces after the November state poll;

  • ⚡️ The offshore wind project in Gippsland that just hit a major milestone, and;

  • 🏚️ Whether changes to negative gearing will help renters get repairs.

🎊 WHAT’S ON THIS WEEK 🎟️

🧺 FARMERS MARKETS 🥧

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

🔍 HEARD THIS WEEK👂

The last time Bass Coast Shire’s mayoral chains were photographed was way back in 1984, when then Mayor Brian O’Garey got a picture with Prime Minister Bob Hawke.

Since then, rumours and hearsay about the location of the missing Bass Coast Shire ceremonial regalia have been circulating local news outlets for decades.

The expensive ceremonial chain of office had been inherited by Bass Coast Shire from the Borough of Wonthaggi, which existed from 1911 to 1994.

The Borough of Wonthaggi mayoral chain was manufactured by Blashki and Sons in Rowville, and is estimated to be worth more than $50,000.

Take a look at a video explainer about the missing necklace below.

Gippsland’s most developed offshore wind project has reached another milestone on the road to constructing up to 147 turbines in the Bass Strait, and TAFE Gippsland is already underway preparing the expected 800 workers required to complete the country’s first offshore windfarm.

What happened: Star of the South, one of Gippsland’s nine proposed offshore windfarms, has released two environmental reports for public consultation. The reports mark a major milestone in the development of Australia’s largest offshore wind zone.

What is Star of the South?

The company behind the project, Southerly Ten, says it proposes to install up to 147 turbines between 10 to 40km off Gippsland’s coast, roughly between Port Albert and Woodside Beach.

Star of the South’s offshore wind licence area.

Once completed, the project is expected to provide 2.2GW of electricity, which is enough to power 1.2 million Victorian homes.

  • Southerly Ten claims that one spin of an offshore wind turbine can power an average Australian home for 48 hours.

Why now? According to the state government, Victoria will need 25.5 GW of large-scale power generation (from traditional power plants or large scale wind and solar farms) by 2035.

  • There are nine windfarm projects proposed for Gippsland’s Offshore Wind Zone; they're expected to provide 25GW of power once completed, according to the federal government.

If the approvals go ahead for Star of the South, the company expects construction to begin in 2030 and completion of the project to take between four and seven years.

Gippsland East Nationals Victorian MP Tim Bull has announced he will not recontest his seat in the November state election after 16 years in parliament.

What happened: Bull’s decision, announced on Tuesday, leaves two Gippsland electorates - Bass and Gippsland East - open to fresh faces at the upcoming state election.

Bass Labor MP Jordan Crugnale announced she would not seek reelection in October last year.

What’s the difference: In 2022, Bass was narrowly held by the Labor Party while the Nationals won Gippsland East with a two-party preferred vote of 73.92 percent.

With two starkly different seats looking for new MPs, the Monitor has put together a short list of who is stepping up to run in Bass – and what the polling looks like in Gippsland East six months before polling day.

LOOKING NATIONALLY 👀

Did you know that one in ten renters in Australia live in homes that require urgent fixes?

My colleague Archie Milligan from the National Account looked into how the recent reforms in the federal government budget will impact renters who are desperate to have their property repaired.

Take a look at Archie’s video on the topic below.

Thanks for catching up with us this week at the Monitor. I hope you enjoyed this Friday issue of our newsletter. If you liked what you read, please feel free to send this email on to friends or family.

☎️ Call out: Next week I’m looking to write a story on how much electrical vehicles are saving Gippslanders at the pump. If you’re an electric vehicle owner and you’re happy to talk to me about charging up your car in Gippsland, I’d love to chat.

✉️ Feel free to reach out to us at [email protected].

I’ll be back in your inbox next week with more local news, interviews with Gippslanders and fun videos.

Cheers,
Jacob & the Gippsland Monitor team