Tuesday, 28 October, 2025
Lilydale Rotary launches fifth Wishing Tree Project
Lilydale Seniors celebrate 60th birthday
Hartman brothers too strong
See Real Estate liftout inside
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A Star News Group Publication
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Ghetto fears Lilydale resident Gerry, 87, has lived in his single-storey home for 50 years, settling in one of the original houses built on Baker Street. He’s always kept a wellmaintained garden of flowers, tending to chickens and growing produce to share with others. But now, he feels “pushed out” due to a growing lack of privacy from encroaching construction next door, despite council guidelines for screening. Local concerns about inadequate parking provisions and emergency vehicle access remain unaddressed, echoing complaints from four years ago. Residents feel their safety and quality of life are being ignored. Read the full story on page 3
Gerry has lived in his Baker Street home for 50 years, growing vegetables and tending to his chickens. (Mikayla van Loon: 513072)
Rewrite needed By Mikayla van Loon After a five-year wait, the Victorian Government’s response to the Wildlife Act Review has been met with disappointment by leading wildlife and animal welfare organisations. While environment minister Steve Dimopoulos announced some positive changes, including stronger penalties for wildlife crimes and $2.9 million in funding for rescuers and a new wildlife hospital, advocacy groups largely feel the reforms do not go far enough.
Wildlife Victoria, who cared for nearly 98,000 animals last year, welcomed the steps but argued for a complete rewrite of the half-century-old Act, a key recommendation rejected by the government. The government also rejected calls to ban recreational native bird shooting and list all deer as pest animals, decisions highly criticised by groups like the RSPCA. “We are extremely disappointed to see the government continues to support recreational native bird shooting – something both the expert advisory panel and a Parliamentary Inquiry rec-
ommended be banned,” RSPCA Victoria head of prevention Rebecca Cook said. Expert panel members and Traditional Owners expressed a lack of ambition, with all seven Traditional Owner self-determination recommendations only supported in-principle and deferred. Local rescuer Emma Cash echoed the need for a total rewrite, highlighting that native species can still be culled with permits and expressing concern that the allocated funding for volunteer carers—who often spend over $50,000 annually—
is inadequate. Ultimately, critics believe the response fails to address the state’s catastrophic rate of biodiversity decline. “One quarter to one third of Victoria’s terrestrial plants, birds, reptiles, amphibians and mammals are threatened with extinction, and that the longer-term outlook for many threatened species is poor,” Biodiversity Council policy and innovation lead Lis Ashby said. To read more, turn to pages 4 and 5
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