Front page news: July 18-24, 2007-2015
A snapshot of news from across the years
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July 20, 2007: The Victorian Electoral Commission has favoured the option of reducing the number of councillors in the Northern Grampians Shire to seven.
The VEC released its preliminary report on electoral representation for Northern Grampians Shire and announced its preferred option is for the shire to consist of seven councillors to be elected from an unsubdivided municipality.
An alternative option, also included in the preliminary report, was for a subdivided municipality, containing seven councillors in four wards. These suggested wards are Halls Gap (one councillor), Central (one councillor), Stawell (three councillors) and St Arnaud (two councillors).
Northern Grampians Shire Council argued strongly against any reduction in the number of councillors when the review was first announced in April.
July 21, 2009: Jump Media director David Culbert has called on the community and businesses of Stawell to throw their support behind the Stawell Gift.
Mr Culbert said there had been a lot of passion in the community since the offer was made by the Ballarat City Council to take over the running of the financially troubled event.
However, he has thrown the onus back onto businesses and the community as a whole to fight to ensure the event remains in Stawell.
‘‘We were stunned initially when the offer came through and so was the club,’’ Mr Culbert said.
‘‘The offer was so significant it was just overwhelming.
‘‘The Stawell Athletic Club has been aware of its financial position for many years. They were asked to demonstrate their viability and sustainability with no more government funding.
‘‘Their business plan demonstrated that without the $60,000 from the State Government, they would lose that amount on the event next year.’’
July 20, 2010: Premier John Brumby turned the sod on stage two of a major $2.9 million project to redevelop Stawell Airport to expand its aviation opportunities last Friday.
At Stawell Airport with Member for Ripon Joe Helper, Mr Brumby said the Victorian Government had invested in the project to deliver new jobs and new opportunities for Stawell and the Grampians.
‘‘This project is great news for this region and will drive new jobs, new economic growth and ensure the Stawell airport continues to play its important role as an emergency response base,’’ Mr Brumby said.
‘‘The start of works today marks a significant milestone in our commitment to improve safety, accessibility and aviation capacity to enable larger planes to land at the airport which will business opportunities and also boost maintenance contract work available.
‘‘This important upgrade will support existing jobs but create new opportunities for local businesses to attract investment in the region.’’
The Stawell Airport supports more than 110 traffic movements each week, including fire bombing, aerial agriculture operations, fire spotting, charter and scenic flights.
July 20, 2012: - Stawell Gold Mines has confirmed it will cease underground operations at the end of next year.
General Manager Troy Cole said the mine’s owner, Crocodile Gold, had advised of its intent to cease underground mining activities when it released its fi rst quarterly report of the combined Victorian and Northern Territory gold mines earlier this week.
Within the report, Crocodile Gold released a statement confirming that the company had completed operational reviews with Stawell Gold Mines management and had supported the decision to transition the operation of Stawell Gold Mines which would see underground mining activities being completed by the end of 2013.
“The decision to cease mining activities at Stawell Gold Mines (SGM) after 2013 will result in signifi cantly reduced capital expenditures at SGM starting in the fourth quarter of 2012 and continuing throughout 2013,” the statement said.
“This should result in material free cash flow generation from SGM in this period during which gold is being produced, but no development capital is being spent.”
July 18, 2014: The vision of Frew Group of Companies owner and managing director, Robert Frew is clear, he hopes to expand operations at the Stawell abattoir to the extent that it one day employs up to 500 people.
Mr Frew is well on his way to achieving that goal following a $2.1 million expansion that has already created an extra 98 jobs and boosted exports to Asia.
Deputy Premier and Minister for Regional and Rural Development, Peter Ryan was in Stawell for yesterday’s official opening of the expansion to a site that has gone from employing 37 staff in 1984 to more than 400 today.
Mr Ryan said the state government had invested $500,000 to support the expansion, with Frewstal contributing more than $1.5 million and the Northern Grampians Shire Council contributing $30,000 in planning support.
“This would have to be the best $500,000 any government of any persuasion has actually committed to a project,” he said.
“This investment ensures Frewstal will continue to process meat locally, supporting local jobs and the local community.”