Here is what is making news for September 7, 2026.====================================The Coalition has announced a $288 million investment in a new Country Roads and Bridges program meaning each of Victoria’s 48 rural and regional councils will receive $1.5 million every year for four years in untied funding for local roads and bridge upgrades.

Shadow Minister for Local Government, Bev McArthur made the announcement at the Rural Councils Victoria Conference in Swan Hill.

Rural Councils Victoria Deputy Chair and Corangmite Shire Mayor Cr Kate Makin says the forum was a huge win for the regions.
========================================================================A new housing pilot project backed by G-21 aims to address Lorne’s essential worker accommodation crisis.

Surf Coast Shire Mayor Libby Stapleton says the proposal involves state government funding to offer financial incentives to property owners who lease homes to key workers for at least twenty-four months.
========================================================================Colac Police are warning motorists of major road closures this weekend for Amy's Gran Fondo.

The cycling event runs this Sunday, September thirteenth, closing sections of the Great Ocean Road.

Colac Police sergeant Stephen Bull says affected areas include Lorne, Deans Marsh, and Apollo Bay.
========================================================================Corangamite Shire residents have celebrated the official opening of a new crater viewing platform and weather shelter at Mount Noorat.

The ribbon-cutting ceremony, led by Mayor Kate Makin, was attended by twenty-four locals who also participated in the annual community planting day.

Management Committee Chair William Conheady thanked volunteers for a decade of ongoing infrastructure improvements across the site. 
========================================================================Friends of the Eastern Otways have expanded their wildlife surveillance network from nine to fourteen cameras, following a Surf Coast Shire Council grant.

The group received three thousand, one hundred and forty-eight dollars last year to monitor native and feral species, sharing the data with Parks Victoria.

Following the project's success, Mayor Libby Stapleton is encouraging other volunteer groups to apply for the twenty twenty-six September grants.
========================================================================A dedicated Colac school crossing supervisor has been recognised for four decades of service to the community.

Lorraine Black recently received her forty-year service award at the Colac Otway Shire Council’s Year of Service Celebration.

Having spent seven thousand eight hundred days manning the Pound Road crossing, she has guided multiple generations of local families safely across the street. 
========================================================================AND IN SPORTIn the weekends CDFNL results The Colac Imperials have booked a spot in the Grand Final after a nine-point win on Saturday against Lorne.

The Colac Imperials A Grade side however went down by 2 goals to Birregurra.

In Sundays results Alvie scored a 29 point win in the football, and Otway Districts eliminated South Colac in A Grade netball.
========================================================================Severe weather disrupted the Hampden Football Netball League semi-finals at Camperdown's Leura Oval on Saturday.

Lightning, rain, and hail forced a thirty-minute delay just as the North Warrnambool Eagles led Terang Mortlake forty-three to thirteen near quarter-time.

Play resumed at three-fifteen p-m, with North Warrnambool eventually winning eighty-five to thirty-seven.

In Saturday's netball, Koroit overcame South Warrnambool sixty-one to fifty-nine, despite trailing at three-quarter-time.

In Sunday's semi-finals, the Warrnambool Blues defeated Cobden forty-eight to forty-six in netball, while Koroit scored ninety-one points to beat Portland in the football.
========================================================================The Colac Tigers are celebrating premiership success, with the Under Fourteen football team winning the Division Three Grand Final.

The Tigers secured the title with a thirty-two-point victory over Newtown and Chilwell.

In netball action, both the Under Thirteen and Under Fifteen Division One sides won their respective elimination finals against Leopold and Saint Joseph's.
========================================================================Lorne Football Netball Club has appointed Sean Smartt and Paddy Hughes as senior co-coaches for twenty twenty-seven.

The playing duo takes over from Ed Curnow following this year's finals. 
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