PETER BANNAN looks back at the events and issues from July in The Guardian‘s Year in Review series.
Friday, July 22
• The daughter of a missing South Australian woman described her mother as a caring and resilient person but was concerned about her vulnerability. More than 30 specialist police travelled to the Mallee to help with the search of Colleen South, now missing for 20 days.
• Services in Robinvale are inadequate for the town’s true population. That was the blunt assessment from Robinvale Euston Business Association acting chair Ben Rogers, who said critical services were understaffed because 2021 Census data failed to reflect the actual population of between 7000 and 8000.
Tuesday, July 26
• Member for Murray Helen Dalton rejected claims by the NSW Nationals that she’d failed to deliver on previous election promises, branding them “dinosaurs” who don’t have the interests of country people at heart.
• Andrew Peace Wines faced a wine hangover following the recent drop in exports into China. The Piangil-based winery crushed just over 44,000 tonnes of grapes in its 2022 vintage, with the harvest and crushing process finishing in late April-early May.
Friday, July 29
• A Mallee-based workforce and training consultant was confident employers would continue to employ young people in apprenticeships and traineeships despite a fall in Federal Government subsidies. A subsidy scheme that paid 50 per cent of wages of young apprentices and trainees was scaled back on July 1, now paying only 10 per cent of employer costs.
• A dangerous Swan Hill intersection that has been the scene of numerous collisions in the past five years was announced as being set for upgrades. Regional Roads Victoria will lead the works at Curlewis, Naretha and Pye streets intersection, which will include restricting movements to left turns only from Naretha Street.
