Have you recently finished your VCE and are considering your next step?

The North Central Review is looking for a student who has just finished school with good marks in English, a genuine interest in people and an inquisitive mind.

The cadetship will commence in February where the candidate will be mentored to focus and report on local matters.

This is a paid employment and you will be enrolled in the Deakin University VCPA cadetship program.

At the end of the year you have the option to continue the next two years of your cadetship or finish up and take a university offer.

Consider this an opportunity to have a gap year and see if journalism or communications is the right career for you.

If interested, please send your CV and cover letter to:
gm@newspaperhouse.com.au

by Evelyn Leckie

SOON to be husband and wife team are heading to Las Vegas on January 23 to compete against America’s quickest brickies at the Spec Mix 500 Bricklaying World Championship.

With only two international competitors accepted a year, the couple will be the third Australian team to ever compete in the championship.

Damian Amuso and Tara Williamson (otherwise known as Team Amuso) will compete against 26 competitors for $10,000 cash and a new Ford F250.

Ms Williamson will also be the first Aussie female labourer in the competition.

The challenge involves laying as many bricks as possible within an hour with penalties applied if the walls are not straight.

Ms Williamson told the North Central Review that the team wanted to shed light on the brick laying trade.

“The amount of workers in the brick laying trade is declining. It’s a hard trade but we want to send the message that it’s not a boring job.

“It’s financially rewarding and it’s great to see your actual product at the end of your day.”

The couple has received generous donations from local Kilmore business Words on Shirts as well as Austral Bricks, Become a Bricklayer Organisation and the Australian Brick and Blocklaying Training Foundation.

Team Amuso hope to beat last year’s record of 698 bricks.

“We’re nervous but we’ve been building up fitness and preparing intensely for the past month, we’re a great team,” Ms Williamson said.

MEMBER for Northern Victoria Jaclyn Symes was sworn in as the new Minister for Regional Development, Agriculture and Resources at Government House last Thursday night.

She was also named Deputy Leader of the Legislative Council.
Ms Symes said the three portfolios complement her position as a country MP.

“I was very pleased to receive agriculture and regional development in particular due to me being a country member and having a lot to do with those types of issues in the past,” she said.

“It facilitates me being out in the country and not having to be down in Melbourne as much as some other portfolios might have me do so I was pretty happy to have those portfolios, it’s pretty exciting.”

Each of the three portfolios is regionally focused, especially in terms of job creation and infrastructure projects.

The portfolio focusses on matters relating to infrastructure including assessment and delivery of infrastructure needs and prioritisation of infrastructure projects.

“The common theme with all of them is jobs, job creation, job security and job diversification. They’ve underpinned most things I’ve tried to do in country Victoria as a local member so being more involved as a minister is something I’m looking forward to,” Ms Symes said.

“Obviously, climate change and drought are impacting agriculture in particular and they’re challenges we’ve responded to in a really great way, leading the nation in a lot of those areas and that’s work I’ll be looking forward to continuing.

“It’s basically an extension of what I’ve been doing in the past years in country communities. I pride myself on being a very accessible MP and I plan to be equally accessible as a minister.

“It’s about working with and in partnership with country communities and their priorities. In particular, farmers and producers in relation to agriculture, and in regional development with councils and their communities.”

Ms Symes appointments have moved her considerably closer to the government’s decision making process that will hopefully see her able to use her influence to fast track several infrastructure projects in the district.

While not directly within Ms Symes’ portfolio, the Watson Street interchange in Wallan and the Kilmore bypass along with the duplication of the Northern Highway into Wallan are hopefully high on the agenda.  

ROMSEY resident Lorraine De Kretser woke up Saturday, December 1 to the unusual sound of silence from her yard.

With three ducks, two ducklings, one rooster and a hen usually clucking in the backyard enclosure, Ms De Kretser sensed something was off.

When she went outside, she noticed two of them were gone.
“I had left two of them out of the main enclosure, and they were under a cover next to it,” she said.

“I came out and wondered where the two were, but they didn’t come out.”

As the enclosure was designed only for Ms De Kretser to take out the animals, she could only assume that they had been taken by someone else.

Just one week later she again woke to find all of them were gone.

“It was raining and I thought they had gone into their little houses, but I noticed all the feathers and the rock that keeps the enclosure closed was placed back against the door,” she said.

“I am devastated, and to think somebody has been on my property – it’s a horrible feeling.”

To Ms De Kretser these animals were not just pets, but an outlet from her her full-time carer role.

“They wait at the door for me to come out in the morning and then sit next to me while I dig in the garden. I would feed them worms,” she said.

“I look after my husband who has had Parkinson’s disease for 17 years and my mother has been diagnosed multiple myeloma, so my release is to go out in the garden with my animals.”

Ms De Kretser contacted police on both occasions, but understands that only so much can be done.

“They must have jumped over my back fence because we would have heard or seen them come through the front. Ziggy, our dog, would have gone crazy,” she said.

“I may need to think about getting security cameras. I just hope that people read this and are careful to not let it happen again.”

If you have seen these animals or have noticed anything suspicious, please contact your local police.