SOUTH WEST LOCAL NEWS- WEDNESDAY JULY 8TH-2026

This morning on south west local news

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police seeking potential witness to the double fatality near weering

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telstra outage causes major disruption to the warrnambool trainline

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progress on thunder point bike trails redevelopment 

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and in sport local athlete export georgia wareham joins her team in the t20 finals

Transcript

SPEAKER_03 0:00

This morning on Southwest Local News, police seeking potential witness to the double fatality near Wearing. Kelstra outage causes major disruption to the Warnable train line. Progress on Thunder Point bike trails redevelopment. And in sport, local athlete export Georgia Wareham joins her team in the T20 finals.

SPEAKER_00 0:28

Live from Silver Ball Studios in Warnable. This is Southwest Local News with Shauna Rogers.

SPEAKER_03 0:36

This morning on Southwest Local News, police investigators are keen to talk to the driver of a light-coloured Mazda CX3 in relation to a double fatality on Southwest Roads. Two drivers died when their cars collided at Wearing near Kolak on July the 1st. Just prior to the collision, investigators believed the Mazda was forced off the road by one of the cars, a Ford Falcon, that was involved in the crash. The Mazda was seen on dash cam footage as it was forced onto the side of the road. Police have released an image of the vehicle in the hopes that the driver will come forward. A Telstra outage caused mayhem on the Warnable train line today. The 627am train from Warnerville was the only one to get started, and it was stopped before it got out of the city. All other trains, both ways, were cancelled for the day. The outage had disrupted V-Line's radio network era, bringing trains to a halt. Southwest Healthcare, Victoria Police, and Warnerville City Council were not affected by the outage. A timing issue has become a sticking point for the Warnable Mountain Biking Club. The club has criticized Wann and Water for its role in the management of Thunder Point, particularly the loss of trails the club had created. The club believes the water authority has not listened to its concerns. As part of the upgrade of the Warnable sewerage treatment plant, Wann and Water has started re-vegetation Thunder Point with 31,000 plants. As the second stage of the works, Wannhamar has committed to reinstating mountain bike trails. But the club said it was frustrated by the lack of progress on the reinstatement of the trails by Wan and Water. The club's understanding was the trails would be finalized before re-vegetation of the area. Money has been found in the Moineshire Council 2026-2027 budget to produce a feasibility study and business case for a heated indoor pool facility in the Shire. Voting on this matter produced a 4-3 split with Port Ferry-based councillors Lisa Ryan, Jordan Lockett, and Myra Murrahy and Karen Foster backing the funding allocation. Councillors Jim Ducas, Lloyd Ross, and Susan Taylor voted against the motion. The funding comes after an independent assessment in May recommended the Belfast Aquatics Pool in Port Ferry be decommissioned. A top 10 national ranking could help build hype about Warnable as a holiday destination of choice. The city has been named as the 10th most entertaining place to live in Australia. On a state level, the news is even better, with Warnable coming in third in Victorian listings. The rankings were completed by the Muville Buzzing Cities Index. Among the factors looked at were events, restaurants, cafes, nightlife, cinemas, and theaters. The state government is encouraging Victorians to get their flu shots. Health Minister Harriet Shing said a later flu season is looming this year, making vaccinations important. Ms. Shing is also asking those who need the COVID-19 vaccination to also make sure they're up to date. She said vaccinations can reduce the risks and symptoms, particularly for those in a higher risk group. The annual wool weekend will take place at Warnables Flagstaff Hill this Saturday and Sunday. The event will showcase the many ways wool has helped build the country, particularly areas like the Southwest. Featured activities will include demonstrations of traditional wool and fibre trades and crafts, including blade shearing, fleece preparation, yarn spinning, knitting and dyeing. Award-winning textile artist Joe Barr will be running a felt hat making workshop. Flagstaff Hill manager Ashley Ansel is excited about the weekend.

SPEAKER_02 4:36

We finish our school holiday period with our wool weekend, which is uh one of the uh traditional events here at Flagstaff Hill. It's all about wool, and that runs on the 11th and 12th of July, 11 to 3 pm each day.

SPEAKER_03 4:50

The Warnable CBD will be the scene of some underground works over the next 12 months. Osnet will be replacing old low and medium pressure gas mains starting this month. There will be a total of 25 kilometres of old pipes replaced with new high-pressure polypipes. The works will be done in stages to limit the impact on businesses and residents. Where possible, new polypipes will be inserted into the existing gas pipes. This will reduce the need to dig up footpaths, roads, and vegetation during the future maintenance works. The first section to be done will be Leibig Street between Raglam Parade and Croyd Street. There will be a two-month break in the works over December and January. The first group of 25 police reservists to take over counterduties at stations will begin their training on July the 20th. The training will take place at the Victoria Police Academy. They will then be deployed to police stations the following week. More than 450 former police have applied to be a part of the initiative, with 200 reservists to be recruited in all. They will perform a range of administrative duties at police station counters, including answering phones, helping with paperwork, signing statutory declarations, receiving exhibits into police custody, and taking crime reports. This is aimed at freeing up police to be out in the community fighting crime. A project to lay tactiles on platforms at stations on the Warnable Line is now complete. V-Line finished installing the tactiles on the ground surface at Tarang and Camperdown recently. The works took place overnight to ensure there was no disruption to passengers boarding or exiting trains at both stations across the day. Routine maintenance has also been completed along the platform at Tarang Station, including restoring an old signal frame. While guttering around the roof of the historic Camperdown Station building has been replaced. First making news in sport, Southwest superstar Georgia Wareham continues to make history as part of one of Australia's most successful ever sporting teams. Wareham and her Aussi teammates have claimed another T20 Women's World Cup, defeating England at Lourdes in the final. The English batted first and made 150, with the Aussies mowing that total down with the loss of just four wickets. While Wareham didn't bat and bowl just two overs, she was one of the stars of the tournament as she continues to grow into one of the best all-rounders in the world. This is Wareham's fourth T20 World Cup win, adding to the victories in 2018, 2020, and 2023.

SPEAKER_01 7:33

Yeah, plenty of nerves. I think anytime you get to play in a World Cup final, there's always going to be nerves. But I mean, I thought everyone did such an amazing job at just embracing that today on such a big occasion at such an amazing ground. I think yeah, it was just pretty incredible what the chip what the team achieved today. Just having an impact in all three facets of the game, I think. I probably haven't had that with my with the bat um in previous World Cup. So I think, yeah, just I guess getting the opportunity batting in the middle order has been really fun, and um luckily it came off a couple times. Um this this is probably my favourite one. Um I think so first time skipper playing under her and watching her lift the trophy pretty soon is gonna be pretty awesome, and um just what the team's achieved over the last sort of six, twelve months, I think, has been pretty incredible after the last couple of World Cups haven't gone our way. So I think yeah, this is gonna be pretty satisfying to lift the trophy.

SPEAKER_03 8:20

Brody Couch continues to take wickets for the San Francisco Unicorns in US Major League cricket. The Unicorns' latest game was against New York, with Couch taking 3 for 32 from his four overs. New York made 104, which the Unicorns hold in with five wickets in hand. A career highlight has been part of the tournament for Couch when the Naranda Export dismissed the great Steve Smith in the game against the Washington Freedom. An impressive start to the AFL career of former South Warnable player Marcus Herbert continues. Since being picked up from the Geelong VFL side in the mid-season draft, Herbert has quickly found his feet at the top level. Last Friday against the Adelaide Crows, Herbert was named in the Eagles' best players. He is averaging 16.3 disposals and six marks from his first three games. Second place Kroyt will come up against fourth place Warnable, while the undefeated South Warner will play Port Ferry, which is third. The Saints have only lost one game to the unbeaten Roosters, while the Seagulls are the next best with four losses. The last time Kroit met Warnable, it won by 14 goals, while the Roosters defeated the Seagulls by 29 goals in round three. This points to a large gap after round 11 between the top two and the rest. Southwest Victoria is experiencing a cold and mostly sunny day with morning frost, and high temperatures will range from 11 to 14 after overnight lows of around 3 degrees. Conditions will remain mostly clear until a significant shift brings widespread showers and cooler temperatures this weekend. Now to the forecast. On Friday, a mostly sunny day with a foggy start and topping at 13 on Saturday with northerly winds. In the Kolak and Camperdown region tomorrow, temperatures are sticking around 13 and 14 degrees with partly cloudy conditions and a foggy morning. On Friday, a slight chance of a shower with light winds, partly cloudy on Saturday with showers on the way in the evening. Along the coast, a partly cloudy day with a top of 14 degrees in Port Campbell, 15 on Friday and dropping back to 14 with 10 millimetres on Saturday. Those showers are due to remain consistent for the week. Home to Warnable, a partly cloudy day and a top of 15 degrees tomorrow. 15 again on Friday, and showers are on the way from Saturday, topping at 14 with up to 10 millimeters to fall. Those showers are due to persist with 10 millimeters each day until Tuesday. 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.