🦎 What to do this long weekend?

Plus: Gippsland charity march.

Author

Jacob Wallace
April 03, 2026

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

👋 Hello Gippslanders, it’s Jacob here.

🍫 Happy Good Friday and long weekend to everyone who is opening this email over the Easter break. I hope you’re all able to spend at least some time relaxing with family and/or friends this weekend - if you’re working or not in great spirits then I wish you the best.

🎙️ I plan to head into Melbourne for a couple of nights and watch some Melbourne International Comedy Festival shows, including Garry Starr’s Classic Penguins show on Saturday night at the Malthouse. It won Most Outstanding Show award at last year’s festival.

Enough about my weekend, though, let’s jump into some yarns.

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

  • 🎖️ The more than 300 Gippslanders who walked 96km for veterans in March;

  • ⚡️ How coal workers are shifting to renewable energy in Latrobe Valley;

  • 🎉 Gippsland events in April, and;

  • 🎰 Australia’s obsession with gambling.

🎤 This week, I spoke to Energy Australia’s David Burt about how the company is preparing over 450 workers at its Yallourn coal-fired power station for new jobs as the company is set to close the power plant in 2028.

Burt told me he thinks there’s heaps of opportunity in Gippsland for people working in the energy sector, but added it’s more important than ever for young people to plan their careers carefully.

❝

There's a really good opportunity for young people to forge out a career in the energy sector, particularly in the valley.

Project Engagement Lead - VIC/SA at Energy Australia, David Burt.

🎊 WHAT’S ON THIS WEEK 🎟️

🧺 FARMERS MARKETS 🥧

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

🔍 HEARD THIS WEEK👂

Leongatha resident Vivian Carroll’s father Dr John Carroll was 19 when he was sent to war in Vietnam in 1966.

“I wasn't born when dad came home from Vietnam,” Vivian told the Monitor. “But I was old enough to remember when dad got into a disagreement with someone on the steps of state parliament about recognition.”

The Vietnam War ended with the fall of Saigon in April 1975, and by that time most Australian troops had already been withdrawn from the region.

But they wouldn’t receive an official Welcome Home parade until 1987.

One of the major problems that Australia’s approximately 60,000 Vietnam veterans faced, and veterans from subsequent wars still face to this day, is access to mental health services.

  • Male ex-serving members are 42 percent more likely to die by suicide than other Australia males, according to the 2024 Royal Commission into Defence and Veteran Suicide.

To raise money for mental health services for ex-servicemen and women, Vivian Carroll took part in the March On Challenge charity event.

How does it work? In March more than 12,000 Australians attempted to walk the length of the Kokoda Track (96km) to raise funds for Soldier On's mental health services and programs for returned Australian Defence Force (ADF) members and their families.

If this story has raised concerns for you, please call Beyond Blue on 1300 22 4636, Lifeline on 13 11 14 or the ADF support line on 1800 628 036.

David Burt is excited for the future. He’s worked in the energy industry in the Latrobe Valley since 1982 and he can see how the landscape is evolving.

“There's a really good opportunity for young people to forge out a career in the energy sector, particularly in the valley,” Burt told the Monitor.

“We're moving away from having large coal power stations to a whole range of different bits of power generation.”

What happened: Latrobe City councillors voted unanimously last week to push the federal government to put safeguards in place for the more than 450 employees at Energy Australia’s coal-fired power plant at Yallourn, which will close in 2028.

  • The mine also hires hundreds of contractors.

🗣️ Councillor Dale Harriman told the meeting: "We learnt the lessons of the unplanned closure of Hazelwood power station [in 2017] and the devastating effect that had, and is still having, on this community." 

🎉 APRIL EVENT GUIDES 🐇

With so many events, exhibitions and festivals in Gippsland throughout autumn, the Monitor has compiled a list of some of the biggest events in the region in April.

There's plenty of live music across Gippsland this April, so time to dust off your dancing shoes.

The Monitor has compiled a collection of family-friendly events across Gippsland this April, where you and the kids can learn horse riding, celebrate Easter, listen to local live music and much more.

LOOKING NATIONALLY 👀

I enjoyed this piece my colleague Archie Milligan from the National Account put together on gambling reform in Australia.

Australia loses an estimated $30 billion every year to gambling and the federal government has been sitting on an inquiry into online gambling since 2023.

The inquiry, known as the Murphy Report, recommended a complete ban on gambling advertising.

In this video Archie spoke about some of the specifics of the inquiry and how addictive gambling permeates problems through our whole society.

Take a look at it below.

🎉 Thanks for catching up with us this week at the Monitor. I hope you enjoyed this Good Friday edition of our newsletter.

📧 Can you help me out? I’m looking to write a story next week on how flooding has impacted properties and property prices in Wellington Shire.

If you are someone - or you know someone - who lives on flood prone land in Wellington Shire and is happy to chat to me, then please reach out at [email protected].

Cheers,
Jacob & the Gippsland Monitor team

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