September 19th, 2026Just sayin’…

By Donna Kelly I have known for some time now there’s a state election in the wind – because of the endless emails from every party under the sun.

Well, mostly Labor, the Libs and one or two from Family First. Labor is lucky. Being in power they can try to disguise their election propaganda as news. But while the spin doctors are busy I don’t think they realise not all good news is created equal. And there is sometimes some more spinning that can be done.

For example, last week I received a media release titled “Labor Gives Regional Teachers Time Back”.

Now the mantra of journalists is “how/what, why and when” so here are the answers from the release.

How/What: More than 250 schools are getting a new central water and sanitation program managed by the Victorian School Building Authority.

Why: It turns out that not all rural and regional schools in Victoria have access to public water or sewer mains and it has been up to teachers and principals to make sure their water systems are maintained. This includes testing and treating drinking water and desludging wastewater management systems.

When: The program is set to be fully implemented by 2028. My spin: The Victorian ALP has been in power in Victoria since November 2014. So, after almost 12 years the Victorian ALP has just found via an independent review of administrative burdens on teachers this new program would save them over 175,000 hours of teacher time each year.

And the Minister for Rural and Regional Development and Minister for Water Michaela Settle is proud to add: “Every Victorian deserves to know the water coming out of their tap is safe. This program is strengthening the protections around drinking water and giving communities greater certainty that their water is safer.”

Hmmm. Good news? Not sure. Next edition, more spin from other parties.

To build or not to build…that was my question If you are a regular reader of The Localyou will know I have been running an article about the building of our house.

(It is usually on a dedicated page but to be truthful I found out Friday that the Creswick Post Office had won a national award so that was the only spot left – and let’s face it, that is bigger news than our build. You can read about the win on page 34. And about the build here we are in my column.)

It’s been a slow burn for quite some time but things are happening now – walls are up, roof is on, bricks are happening soon. Which is all great.

Kyle and I went back and looked at the finishes we had chosen and I think we have done well. It’s sort of Scandi/Japanese – simple, earthy colours – but not beige.

Of course, the move in date is still April – but from what I hear from a builder mate, hello Daffy, it all goes fast with the outer build, and then slowly, slowly inside.

The only thing that happened last week which I was a bit annoyed about was a call from our building supervisor asking if we were OK with the gas bottles going on the outside of the front of the house?

No, we said, we were not. In fact, from the very start of the project we said we wanted all services on the back of the building – not as a feature on the front.

So that is the aircon, solar box thingy, gas bottles… So our supervisor said he would have a think about it because it was going to happen the following day and a decision had to be made.

We hung up and I said something like FFS. And we waited for the call back. And it came. The bloke said that with the positioning of the other services there was no room for the gas bottles to go at the back because of restrictions on what could be close to what.

The house is really long so that sounded strange and we suggested placing the other services in different spots so there would be that distance needed between them.

Then came the kicker. Once the slab was laid, and it is, the concrete pads for the services had already been created. So no chance of moving anything.

The fate of the gas bottles had long been sealed despite our repeated pleas for everything at the back of the house. It’s like when you see a lovely house go up and then they suddenly whack a giant tank in front of the lot – like it is a piece of art.

So that was a bit annoying but we didn’t have any option. I guess the person delivering the gas will be happy – no gates to get through. Just straight to the front of the house.

Anyway, all is coming along pretty nicely and I shouldn’t complain too much. But I do hear from a few people who are following our story and I hope they take note of the little things we are learning from along the way. Not all slab pours are the progress you want. Just sayin’…