Emile Pavlich

1 day ago | abc.net.au | Annie Brown |Callum Marshall |Emile Pavlich

Permits for two renewable energy projects in regional Victoria have been approved despite community opposition. Planning Minister Sonya Kilkenny approved Mint Renewables' 400-megawatt-hour (MWh) battery energy storage system (BESS) at Dederang in the Kiewa Valley, east of Myrtleford. The controversial project received strong objections from hundreds of community members with concerns about risks to amenities, the environment, and bushfires.

5 days ago | abc.net.au | Emile Pavlich |Anna McGuinness

An elderly man and two youths have allegedly stolen a 100-kilogram sculpture that caused outrage in a regional Victorian church community.   At nearly 2 metres tall, the statue named Transcendence was carved from a century-old pine tree, and depicts a naked man and woman. It was part of a temporary art installation inside the Catholic Sacred Heart Cathedral in Central Bendigo. Victoria Police alleged the statue was stolen on Saturday, and said there were three suspects.

1 week ago | abc.net.au | Emile Pavlich |Anna McGuinness |Sarah Lawrence

Sidney Myer's grandson has urged the Myer Group to refurbish its original store in Bendigo. Residents say the exterior of Myer's 125-year-old Bendigo store is crumbling. The city's chamber of commerce is also lobbying for the store to be renovated. As the Myer retail chain faces a major shake-up under businessman Solomon Lew, residents in the regional city where Myer was born have called on the company to give its original store some love.

2 weeks ago | abc.net.au | Anna McGuinness |Emile Pavlich

Dozens of Country Fire Authority (CFA) volunteers and farmers are travelling to Melbourne ahead of the state budget today to protest against the government's new emergency services tax. Among them is a fire brigade captain who says his station does not need the new truck allocated to it through the Emergency Services and Volunteers Fund (ESVF). The Corop West brigade was among the first to receive a new tanker via a $110-million investment in CFA, SES and Fire Rescue Victoria fleet replacement.

3 weeks ago | abc.net.au | Emile Pavlich |Rebecca R. Norman |Shannon Schubert

An open water channel in central Victoria has become a wildlife graveyard. A wildlife carer says a kangaroo-proof fence could protect other wildlife from drowning in the waterway. A local MP and a researcher want wildlife to be better considered during infrastructure and housing development planning. Wildlife rescuers are calling on authorities to build a kangaroo-proof fence around a central Victoria waterway to stop animals from drowning.