Good morning Ballarat and happy Wednesday, we’ve got all the news headlines you need right here.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
If your car is stolen and burnt, you pay the bill
Those that have their cars stolen and burnt out are paying for it –with the responsibility to remove dumped cars falling on the owner’s shoulders. Read more.
Ballarat CBD to transform as cycling comes to town
Thousands of people are expected to gather on Sturt Street on Wednesday to witness one of Australia’s premier sporting events – the Cycling Australia Road Nationals. Read more.
The faces of suicide
Alex Reichman could have been a successful builder by now. His mum says her outgoing son could have been anything he wanted. Read more.
Emergency causes Ballarat rail chaos
An emergency at Sunshine has thrown Ballarat’s rail commuters into chaos this morning. Read more.
Diner thieves pillage ice cream
A Warrenheip diner and caterer was robbed of steaks, seafood and ice cream by a late night burglar a week out from Christmas. Read more.
Weather
Summer is back in a big way and we're going to know all about it for at least another week.
State of the Nation
Need a national news snapshot first thing? Well, we have you covered.
REGIONAL NEWS
►DUBBO, NSW: The community has reached out to a daughter of Lateesha Nolan, whose bones have been found by police alongside the Macquarie River at Dubbo. Read more
►LEETON, NSW: Two truck drivers have been killed in a fiery crash in the Riverina region on Tuesday. Police have been told two trucks and a Holden Commodore were involved in the crash at an Irrigation Way intersection. The drivers, men aged 29 and 53, did not survive. Read more
► BENDIGO VIC: A Melbourne athlete, who has overcome multiple career setbacks, sprinted to a popular victory in Sunday's $15,000 Max Martin Memorial Maryborough Gift. Simon Jackson won his heat and semi-final before outlasting his rivals in the 120m feature event at Princes Park. Read more
►HUNTER VALLEY, NSW: Hunter Valley personalities Jimmy Wright and Matty Kerr tied the knot on Friday. Matt’s supermodel sister Miranda Kerr was his bridesmaid for the special event. She attended the wedding accompanied by her husband-to-be Snapchat CEO Evan Spiegel. Read more
►ALBURY-WODONGA: The Border home-schooling community has banded together to oppose the Victorian Government’s push to increase regulation. Read more
►TASMANIA: A Tasmanian woman will likely need to reassess her New Year's resolutions after winning more than $1.3 million in the New Year's Eve Tattslotto megadraw. Read more
►THIRROUL, NSW: An intellectually disabled man with a distinctive magpie-proof helmet has been robbed of his bike, but not his spirit of adventure. Matt McMaugh, 26, was preparing to disembark a train at Wollongong station on Monday when a man picked up his bike and made off with it. Read more
► WARRNAMBOOL, VIC: Drug-related crime is soaring across the south-west of Victoria. Warrnambool police responded to 40 methamphetamine-related offences in 2015. In 2006, it was zero. In 2016, more than 110 reports in The Standard related to ice use – that’s more than two ice-related crimes a week. Special report
►LAUNCESTON, TAS: A man killed in a jet-skiing accident at Lake Trevallyn on Monday has been remembered as “one in a bloody million”. Luke Rice, 22, fell from his jet ski and was struck in the head by another jet-skier behind him about 2.30pm. Read more
►MT ISA: Thousands showed up to Buchanan Park on Saturday night for a special New Year’s Eve rodeo to see out 2016. Take a look at the photos here
NATIONAL NEWS
► The Australian Medical Association has weighed in to the heated politics of Australia's gun laws, saying ownership restrictions should be tightened and a real-time national firearms register established. Read more
►Immigration Minister Peter Dutton has expanded on his call for the citizenship test to be revamped with a boosted focus on social integration and Australian values rather than being a "trivia" quiz on history and government. Read more
►Little Anna dances around her room, stealing hearts with playful pouts that break into cheeky grins. A lively almost two-year-old, it's hard to fathom she is expected to die before the age of 37. Anna has cystic fibrosis, a disease that claims half of sufferers by their mid-20s. But what is just as difficult for her parents, Penny France and Paul McMullen, is knowing there is a drug available overseas that is meant to improve these statistics, yet is not government-subsidised in Australia for children Anna's age. Read more
►For the first time since the battery hens boom, the share of caged egg sales in Australia has fallen below 50 per cent, according to the latest industry figures. Read more
WORLD NEWS
►INDONESIA: A rival of the embattled Jakarta governor in next month's gubernatorial elections has met an Islamic hardliner group notorious for attacks on minority groups, raising critics' fears that it will give greater legitimacy to political extremists in Indonesia. Read more
ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY…
1688: English sea explorer William Dampier first lands on Australian soil.
1809: Louis Braille, inventor of the raised-dot writing system for the blind, is born.
1810: Governor Lachlan Macquarie takes strong action to restore order following the deposition of Governor Bligh in the Rum Rebellion.
1967: Donald Campbell, the man who broke the land and water speed records in the same year, is killed as he attempts another record.
1989: The irregular Toutatis asteroid is formally discovered.
FACES OF AUSTRALIA
Craig Machen
In peak physical condition in his 20s, it was an attainable dream for Craig Machen.
After a work place accident in which 2000 red hot bricks fell on the fireman and shattered his pelvis, the dream became distant.
But today, one day after his 54th birthday, Mr Machen will paddle his kayak out from West Beach in Burnie, take a sharp right and embark on a month long voyage around the state.