SOUTH WEST LOCAL NEWS- WEDNESDAY APRIL 22ND-2026

This morning on south west local news

—

detectives charge pirron yarrik man over cattle theft

—

potholes from last winter re-emerge as the wet road surfaces begin to break again

—

a budget of $750 million has been allocated by the government to fix up train services across melbourne & northern victoria to address overcrowding

—

koroit’s star rebecca hicks scores 79 out of 85 goals in last week’s defeat against north warrnambool eagles

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

This morning on Southwest Local News, detectives charge Perry Alecman over cattle theft. Potholes from last winter re-emerge as the wet road surfaces begin to break again. A budget of$750 million has been allocated by the government. Corate star Rebecca Hicks scores 79 out of 85 in last week's defeat.

SPEAKER_04 0:28

Live from Silver Bowl Studios in Warnerball, this is Southwest Local News with Shanna Rogers.

SPEAKER_00 0:36

Good morning and welcome to Southwest Local News. Kolak Crime Investigation Unit detectives have charged a man following the alleged theft of cattle in Pirinyallic in February. Up to 40 cattle were allegedly stolen from the property of McCorcalls Road sometime between February the 19th and the 25th. He was charged with theft and attempt to obtain property by deception on April the 20th. The man will appear before the Kalak Magistrates Court on August the 24th. The cows are safe and will be returned to their owner. The investigation into a similar incident at another farm on McCorkle's Road in December 2025 remains ongoing. Autumn rain may be welcomed by the Southwest farming community, but has not been so kind to our roads. With wet surfaces, roads are starting to break up again with the potholes from last winter re-emerging. With the 2026 winter on the way, the conditions of Southwest roads are predicted to get progressively worse. Member for Southwest Coast, Roma Brittnell, said the government needed to act now.

SPEAKER_01 1:49

Well, the government has the May budget coming up on the 5th of May. And let's hope this year we see the amount of money needed injected into regional roads. We've seen over the last few years the budget comes out and the government claim they're putting record money into the roads, but they won't highlight where. So we all suspect that it's going into Melbourne tunnels and Melbourne roads and not going anywhere near the regions. And we just have to look at the roads to see that is probably quite correct. So this year, let's hope the government actually stops the secrecy and the smoke and mirrors of putting different columns in place to make it harder to understand where the road funding is actually being spent, and we get regional roads addressed. But given the government keep acknowledging in the parliament that they're doing a great job and that the roads are fine, I strongly suspect we'll have more of the same smoke and mirrors and secrecy, and we won't be getting the uh roads addressed as we need to see them done.

SPEAKER_00 2:47

The Warnable to Melbourne V-line service has missed out on a state government cash splash on trains. This includes$673.6 million on 25 X Tropolis 2.0 trains and$77.5 million on extra train services across Melbourne and Northern Victoria. Minister for Transport Gabrielle Williams said the new trains were bigger and more comfortable. Many users of the Warnable line are calling for the government to add more carriages than the three currently available, with overcrowding a regular issue. Lovers of all things KFC and Warnable will have to head east to satisfy their hunger. The KFC Central Store in Warner has closed down for extensive renovations. It is expected to be closed until June, with the renovations to include an expansion of the restaurant space. The closure will mean that KFC lovers will have to make the trip to East Warnable store. This store, located near Gateway, opened in June last year. Moynshire Council has won funding through the Transport Accident Commission to reduce the speed to 40 kilometres per hour in certain streets. The streets proposed have a high volume of not only vehicles but walkers and bike riders. A survey at the council website allows residents to have their say on the changes. Some of the more prominent roads on the list for a speed change include Sackville and Bank Streets in Port Ferry and parts of High Street in Coroit. Port Ferry Griffith Island is closed to the public on Thursday evening from 5 pm. The closure will allow professional contractors on site to shoot foxes. Safety officers will be on site and Victoria Police have been informed. The island will reopen on Friday morning. The foxes are a danger to the short-tailed shearwater birds on the island. An opportunity to get creative is on offer at One Day Studios. On May the 10th, the studio will be hosting a big puppet making workshop. This workshop will focus on how to make a large-scale wearable puppet. The workshop will be carried out by Francis Vandermark, who has over 40 years experience in this field. The group will make a sea lion character which will perform at Solstice Festival at Lake Potobe in June. Bookings can be made at One Day Studios website. Southwest residents are being urged to not pick or eat wild mushrooms. Deathcat mushrooms are appearing in parks, gardens, and paddocks across Victoria. Consuming deathcat mushrooms can result in severe illness or death. Experts are recommending purchasing mushrooms from supermarkets or greengrocers and not picking them yourself. Cooking, peeling, drying deathcat mushrooms does not remove or inactivate the poison from them. Southwest residents that find mushrooms in their home gardens are being urged to remove them wearing gloves while doing so. The supplies at the Australian Red Cross Lifeblood are set to climb thanks to changes in donation eligibility rules. From Monday, all donors will be asked the same sexual activity questions in the pre-donation questionnaire, regardless of sexual preference. These include changes mean gay and bisexual men and transgender people in long-term monogamous relationships can donate blood and platelets. Previous donor rules prevented many people from the LGBTQIA Plus community from donating blood or platelets if they had sex within the past three months. It's expected up to 20,000 extra donations of blood will be made each year as part of this change. First making news in sport. The Dennington Football Netball Club is holding a meeting tonight to discuss its immediate future. Dennington has had a tough start to 2026 Warnerville and District season, with its senior football team losing to old collegians in round one by 189 points, and then to Allensford in 316 points. The club also forfeited its reserves game against Allensford due to its lack of players. On the netball court, things have also been tough with the Dogs' A-grade team struggling. They lost by 91 goals in round one and then 114 in round two, scoring just one goal. The story is not as dire in the lower grades of football and netball, with the Dogs the under-15s football reigning premiers. Tim Boon Demons are still looking for their first A-grade netball win for season 2026. On Saturday, the Demons lost to Pamua just by four goals. The Bulldogs led by six goals at quarter time, and the Demons couldn't track it down. The biggest win of the day was to Allensford, who defeated Dennington 115-1. Allensford Abbey Day and Lily Sanderson had days out with 56 and 49 goals respectively. Timber and Demons are still looking for their first A-grade netball win for season 2026.

SPEAKER_02 8:48

Great game. A lot of changes.

SPEAKER_03 9:00

Obviously, it's a very new team all playing together this year. So I think our changes in this game was um fresh legs working on what we've done at training and really utilising that sub rule. And I think it paid off for us today. We were all buggered in the end, but I think being able to utilize that um sub rule has um yeah, paid off today and got the win. So I think our trainings are definitely coming into action now. Um it's hard with we're only round two and we've had a pretty new team, so I think today um is a big reward for us girls after last week's loss.

SPEAKER_02 9:30

Yeah, and there is a lot of new faces in the A-grade um team this year, and also having a lot of versatility through it. Like there's definitely a lot of players that can play in a lot of different positions. Do you reckon that has been a handy thing for PMR?

SPEAKER_03 9:46

Yeah, I definitely think um this year, like last year we were all kind of playing four quarters, running it out. We didn't have a lot of um room for change. So this year having um so many people that can play the same positions definitely has helped this year. Um and I think um yeah, new faces like Sienna's come up from juniors. She has played seniors for the last few years, but um she came on today and absolutely killed her, and you wouldn't know she's um under 18. So yeah, very proud of her and um seeing her come up now from juniors to a senior player. Um she fits in so well, and yeah.

SPEAKER_00 10:16

Star Croyd goal shooter Rebecca Hicks continues to dominate in her first season of Hampton League netball. On Saturday, Hicks shot 79 of Croyd's 85 goals as the Saints defeated North Warnable Eagles by 48 goals. This came after an opening round haul of 93 goals. Her form has helped the Saints rebound strongly with wins the last two weeks after a heavy loss to South Warnable on Good Friday. Warnable's Angus Ewing has won the under-18s Boys Discus at the 2026 Australian Athletics National Championships. Ewing threw three consecutive personal bests throughout the competition with a third-round throw of 57.65 metres, securing the title. The result earns Ewing selection in the Australian team for the Oceana Athletics Championships to be held in Darwin from May the 18th to the 23rd. Ewing had managed a disrupted build-up to the event before delivering the championship winning performance. He is also set to compete in the under-20 discus on Sunday. 18-year-old William Sapsteed's racing weekend came to an early end after a multi-car incident at Calder Park. Sapsteed showed strong form in race one, finishing fourth in his class among a 30-car field. But race two was over almost before it began. A fellow competitor lost control just 50 metres from the starting line, taking out Sapsteed and seven other cars. The young driver is now focused on repairs with his sights set on the return to the track in Adelaide come June. And now further into the forecast, in Port Ferry, a top of 24 tomorrow. There is a chance of fog in the south and light winds for most of the day. It will be a mostly sunny day on Friday with stronger winds. Overnight temperatures will be dropping anywhere between 9 and 13 degrees. Winds are tending northerly and picking up at 30 kilometers per hour. In Malt Lake tomorrow, it's warming right up to 28 degrees with light winds from the south, only 25 for Friday, and a mostly sunny day with 35 kilometer winds, and popping back up to 28 degrees for Saturday and mostly sunny. On Sunday, it will be partly cloudy. Shifting over to Kolak in Camperdown region, topping at 26 tomorrow with no chance of rain. On Friday, a mostly sunny day and light winds throughout the day, remaining warm and still for most of the day, 26 on Saturday. And along the coast, 22 degrees tomorrow with a chance of fog in the south. For Friday, a mostly sunny day with 35 kilometre winds. And for Saturday, a mostly sunny day as well, with temperatures creeping up to 22 degrees, and overnight temperatures will be dropping to as low as 10. Home to Warnable, 27 degrees tomorrow with a chance of fog in the morning for a mostly sunny day. Mostly sunny again on Friday with northerly winds. They'll be picking up to 30km per hour and topping at 26 on Saturday with northwesterly winds. That's it from your Southwest Local News team this morning, and thank you for tuning in. Remember that you can also watch this bulletin online at southwestlocalnews.com.au. Until Saturday morning with peace. Have a great day.