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Mother of murder victim targeted by thieves
Heartless thieves have stripped a grieving mother of a trailer that reminded her of her son Timmy O’Brien who was murdered four years ago. Read more.
Watersun Homes enters administration
Insufficient funds have been cited as the reason for Watersun Homes entering into voluntary administration. Read more.
Prison for ‘shocking’ indecent act
A Ballarat man who performed indecent acts on his 14-year-old daughter has been jailed and placed on the sex offender register for life. Read more.
Ballarat woman who blew 0.208 jailed
A magistrate has refused to allow a 52-year-old woman who blew three times the legal limit to remain in the community. Read more.
Car runs red light, speeds 150 km across western Victoria
A car that sped through a red light in Ararat and travelled nearly 150 km across western Victoria at excessive speeds remains at large after it was last sighted in Bacchus Marsh. Read more.
Weather
Sunny and a top of 32 degrees today.
State of the nation
Need a national news snapshot first thing – well, we have you covered.
► WAGGA, NSW: A Wagga taxi driver will face an agonising wait after she was pricked by a potentially HIV-contaminated needle left in her cab. After two drug-addled men fled without paying their fare on Monday, the 55-year-old went to clean their mess when she felt a sharp sting. She must now wait six months to learn if she has contacted hepatitis or AIDS.
► WIMMERA, VIC: A Murtoa man has been disqualified from owning sheep for two years after his livestock almost died from lack of food and water during the drought. Roderick Hammond, 45, pleaded guilty to 14 animal cruelty charges in Horsham Magistrate’s Court on Monday.
► TASMANIA: Resources Minister Guy Barnett has fought back against claims the state government is starting another forestry war. Mr Barnett announced on Thursday that he intended to table the Forestry (Unlocking Production Forests) Bill when Parliament resumes next week. He said if the bill was approved, it would open up 356,000 hectares of so-called Future Potential Production Forest Land to logging from July 1, 2018. Greens leader Cassy O’Connor said she believed the government was willing to start a forestry war over the new plan.
► BANDON GROVE, NSW: Thursday will mark three weeks since Ken Rubeli’s landline phones, both business and personal, worked. His home at Wangat Lodge, about 20 minutes from Dungog, is outside the mobile phone coverage area, so he has been without a working phone since February 9. He can get some mobile reception, if he walks 50 metres into his field and sets himself up in his “paddock office” on his “ergonomic tree stump”.
► VICTORIA: Reducing speed limits on narrow country roads is one option in the push to reduce the regional road toll, the VicRoads boss says. John Merritt said more than $300 million was being rolled out on safety measures such as wire rope barriers and tactile edging, but some country roads would miss out.
► SCENIC RIM, QLD: A camel farm in Harrisville is set to become one of Scenic Rim’s biggest tourist attractions, with a cafe and camel petting experience to open this year. The Australian Wild Camel Corporation's Summerland Farm on Charles Chauvel Drive has begun offering tours for guests to enjoy the animals, the local scenery and a taste of camel milk ice cream.
► TASMANIA: Poker machines have the ability to influence, change and damage communities, a Parliamentary inquiry has heard. A joint select committee met in Hobart on Tuesday to discuss the future of gaming in the state.
► BALLARAT, VIC: A Ballarat man who performed indecent acts on his 14-year-old daughter has been jailed and placed on the sex offender register for life. Magistrate Gregory Robinson denounced the offending, stating it was "shocking and horrid behaviour”. "(It's) difficult to comprehend how any adult could abuse any child like that," he told the accused, who The Courier cannot name for legal reasons. "This type of conduct will be dealt with harshly by the court."
National news
► The extended family of an electrician who allegedly wanted to help the Islamic State with missile detection technology was already on the police radar for funding an arms racket linked to the terrorist group. Haisem Zahab was arrested on Tuesday at his property in Young in NSW's south-west, for allegedly attempting to research and design a laser warning device and missiles for IS over the internet. The 42-year-old had been under investigation for 18 months as part of the Australian Federal Police's Operation Marksburg.
► Indigenous Australians should think big, but be willing to compromise to ensure the referendum to recognise them in the constitution wins overwhelming support, the country's most senior Aboriginal politician, Ken Wyatt, has urged.
► Foreign Minister Julie Bishop will bring every ambassador back to Australia in an unprecedented move designed to help shape the final components of the Turnbull government's new foreign policy. In an Australian-first step, 113 heads of mission - which includes the nation's ambassadors, high commissioners and consuls-general - will return for three days next month, as the government looks to reset how Australia navigates its foreign, trade and development policies on the global stage.
National weather radar
International news
► Islamic State is using drones strapped with grenades "extensively" as it defends its Iraqi and Syrian strongholds, but the spokesman for the global coalition fighting the jihadist group says while the use of drones on the battlefield is insidious, it's no "game-changer."
.► There is about 10 per cent less sea ice in Antarctica this year than the previous record minimum – a stunning reversal after new highs were set in 2014. The sea ice extent around the southern continent dropped to 2.135 million square kilometres on Sunday, and expanded 25,000 square kilometres the following day, indicating the freezing season has likely begun, said Jan Lieser, a sea ice scientist at the Hobart-based Antarctic Climate and Ecosystems Co-operative Research Centre.
► An Australian man arrested in Bali for allegedly possessing hashish said he didn't know it was a "such a big crime" to use the drug in Indonesia.
On this day
March 1, 1936: The Hoover Dam, on the border of US states Arizona and Nevada, was completed. The dam was created to control floods, provide irrigation water and produce hydroelectric power. The dam's generators provide power for public and private utilities in Nevada, Arizona, and California. Learn more about the construction here:
Faces of Australia: Col Ward
COL Ward always wanted a tiger painted on the door of his motorhome and now he has a whole African jungle travelling along with him.
His Toyota Coaster bus is a moving work of art, emblazoned with around 50 animals including big cats, elephants, antelopes, crocodiles, a giraffe, a rhinoceros, penguins, turtles, meerkats and a bat colony.
The work has created a steady flow of interest from passersby driving past Col’s Eloiza Street with the bus parked out the front.
Local residents have been charting the progress of Dungog artist Lisa Wiseman who has been lovingly labouring on the project for the past 11 months. Read more.