News blog, February 8: Rea St reopened following gas leak, House fire in Shepparton

UPDATE, 5.00 pm: New report finds water bills are getting cheaper in regional Victoria

Water and sewerage bills across Victoria are on a continual slight decline according to the most recent Essential Services Commission’s annual water report.

Since 2018-19, average household water bills started dropping and this recent report has confirmed that they’re continuing to do so across the state.

The average water and sewerage bill for a typical home owner in regional Victoria went down by $3 to $1115.

Nicola Ceccato has the full story here for you to have a gander over.

That’s all for today, we’ll catch you tomorrow!

UPDATE, 4.10 pm: Nothing left to sell: Land crises worsens in Shepparton

Chief correspondent Darren Linton has had a look at the state of buying land in Shepparton, and folks — it’s bleak.

Residential land in Shepparton and Mooroopna has become so scarce that real estate agents have virtually nothing left to sell.

Future stages of major residential estates are already sold, in many cases more than 12 months prior to the titles being available.

Check out the full story here.

UPDATE, 3.30 pm: Rea St reopened following gas leak

Rea St has been reopened following a concern over gas leaks.

People digging in a front yard of a Rea St home struck a gas main just after 2pm.

Monqiue Preston and Megan Fisher ducked down to check it out, and said police, the fire brigade and the gas company are in attendance.

The street was blocked off between Corio St and Dunkirk Ave, but has just been reopened.

There’s heavy traffic in the area as schools have just finished for the day — if you can avoid the area.

UPDATE, 3.15 pm: Women’s competition raring to go

After two years of COVID-19 interruptions Northern Country Women’s League is set to resume for season 2022.

Six senior women’s teams will battle it out for the premiership, with Benalla, Nathalia, Tatura, Mooroopna, Shepparton United and Echuca in the race for the title.

Daniel Webb has the yarn on the NCWL — check it out in full here.

UPDATE, 1.50 pm: Riverlinks shows go on sale for 2022 season

In a positive note for theatre buffs, tickets for the 2022 season of shows at Riverlinks Venues are now available for purchase.

The 2022 season was launched this morning on the Riverlinks website and celebrated with a video capturing the exciting year ahead.

This year’s season includes a variety of different performances, including circus, ballet, drama, theatre plays and music, as well as the ever so popular series, Afternoon Delights, Family, Education, Cushion Concerts and Cabaret.

To view all performances at Riverlinks visit www.riverlinksvenues.com.au/whats-on

UPDATE, 12.20 pm: Apology in parliament amid furore

Federal parliament is hearing an apology today from speaker Andrew Wallace and Prime Minister Scott Morrison.

The apology is to all who have been bullied or faced sexual harassment or sexual assault in parliament.

“This review speaks of a long-standing culture, generations of culture, in this place and in the building before it, of bullying and harassment, that has occurred over this time. A power imbalance over that time that has been exploited,” Mr Morrison said.

It comes amid a lot of heated debate over the religious discrimination bill at Federal level, which as it stands would prohibit schools from expelling students because they are gay, but leaves schools open to expel students who are trans.

The government has also been caught up in leaked text messages.

UPDATE, 11.10 am: Abdullah: Celebrating multiculturalism mustn’t cause complacency

Shepparton’s Seema Abdullah said the city’s reputation as a leading example of multiculturalism shouldn’t mean the community avoids facing tough questions about what it can do better.

Ms Abdullah says celebrating Shepparton’s relative success while ignoring the way migrant communities are marginalised leads to the perpetuation of poor social and economic outcomes.

“My question is, are we willing to go beyond this, are we prepared to look deeper into some complex issues and barriers in integration that are faced by multicultural communities?” she said.

“And are we doing it with an open mind? Are we doing it with empathy?”

Check out the full story from Rosa Ritchie here.

UPDATE, 10.10 am: Fire destroys house on Sobraon St

We’ve just had this come in from reporter Georgia Rossiter.

Police are investigating the cause of a house fire on Sobraon St, Shepparton early Tuesday morning, February 8.

Shepparton Detective Senior Constable Nathan Berryman said the fire started about 1.30am.

Experts are currently on their way from Melbourne to determine the cause of the blaze, he said.

The residents were not at the property at the time of the fire, Det Sen Constable Berryman said they have not been able to get in touch with them.

UPDATE, 9.55 am: Greater Shepparton Hall of Fame inductions

Friday night saw the night of nights for Shepparton’s sporting community, as more than a dozen sports men and women were inducted into the Hall of Fame or added to the honour roll.

Megan Fisher was there taking a million photos, and we’ve got a write-up of every sports star.

Check out the full wrap of the night here.

UPDATE, 9.30am: Victorian government expanding rapid tests for childcare

The Victorian government will expand rapid antigen testing at schooling to include early childcare settings for three to five-year-olds over the next week and a half.

Premier Daniel Andrews said having more information about positive cases would allow them to pick up cases earlier, with children less likely to show symptoms, especially early on.

“It’s extending that peace of mind and certainty to families to know they’re not going to have it,” Mr Andrews said.

He said not every child would participate, and the system would be voluntary — although highly recommended — with 1.6 million additional RATs to be handed out, starting with session kindergartens, then family daycare and occasional care.

The government has also invested $7.5 million in early childhood services to improve ventilation, alongside a further $7.4 million in grants to support kindergarten services to implement their best COVIDSafe measures.

Mr Andrews also said the start of the school year had gone well.

“It’s about acknowledging bringing thousands of people together who haven’t been together over summer you’re bound to get more cases,” he said.

Deputy Premier and Education minister James Merlino said he knew there would be cases in schools but said he’d been pleased by the way students and staff had responded.

“We’re pleased with how the first week of school has gone,’ he said.

“We knew there would be positive cases but it means we get to cases early, you stop transmission. No school has had to close its doors and go to online only.”

He said no schools had had to call on a pool of retired teachers and principals who were on call to assist with staff shortages, and in fact staff absence level was less than pre-pandemic levels in 2019.

Victoria has recorded 20 deaths and 9785 new cases of coronavirus in the last 24 hours, with 575 people in hospital and 72 in intensive care.