Latest news with #Robinvale
ABC News
5 days ago
- ABC News
Mildura man fined for using hidden camera to film sex tape without consent
A Mildura man who secretly filmed an intimate act with a woman using a camera hidden in a wardrobe has been sentenced with a fine. Mildura Magistrates Court heard Jarrod Aiello, 24, met a 40-year-old woman over Instagram in January, before the pair met to have sex. The court heard Aiello had secretly set up a camera in a wardrobe to film the couple. The woman told the court the sex tape had "completely turned her, and her family's life, upside-down". "I'm here to stand up for myself today, and every other girl or woman that has been in this situation but has been too scared to speak up or hasn't had the resources to get help," she said. She told the court intimate images sent to Aiello on Snapchat had also been shared with multiple people. The court heard the woman became aware of the video weeks later, when her sister called her after finding out about it to see if her marriage was okay. The victim told the court her marriage had since broken down, and the video had been shared "like wildfire" around Mildura and Robinvale, and in football group chats. "That day my whole world fell to the floor," she said. Defence lawyer Bert Hilton-Wood told the court his client believed the filming was consensual. Aiello pleaded guilty to one count of producing an intimate image, which carries a maximum sentence of three years' jail time in Victoria. The court heard a charge of distributing the video was dropped because Aiello said others shared it around after they accessed his phone. The victim told the court when she confronted Aiello about the video, he "gaslighted her" and said there was "nothing to worry about". Mr Hilton-Wood told the court there were four instances of him saying "sorry" before the crime was reported to police. Magistrate Patrick Southey said it was "always hard to tell" if an accused was genuinely remorseful or upset they got caught. Magistrate Southey noted Aillo had never been in trouble with the law before, and said had he not pleaded guilty, he would have sent him to jail "for the cruel breach of trust". Aiello was convicted and fined $5,000, and ordered to pay nearly $100 in court costs.
ABC News
6 days ago
- Business
- ABC News
Solstice Energy to cut gas supply to 10 regional Victorian towns
Regional Victorian residents in 10 towns reliant on standalone gas networks are in shock after learning their supply will be cut off by the end of next year. Solstice Energy has announced it will phase out its compressed natural gas (CNG) networks in Robinvale, Swan Hill, Kerang, Nathalia, Marong, Maldon, Heathcote, Terang, Lakes Entrance and Orbost. It means 1,145 natural gas customers will be forced to switch to electric heating and cooking appliances or transition to bottled gas by late 2026. Marong resident Emily Edgar estimated it would cost $28,000 to convert her home from its current compressed gas supply to a fully electric system. "How are we going to find $28,000 in 16 months? It's impossible," she said. "If [the government] want us off gas, there's no point spending the money to switch to bottled gas, to then pay more again to switch to electric eventually. The affected communities are unique in Victoria as they are on isolated gas networks, which rely on Solstice Energy compressing gas and then trucking it to the towns. Ms Edgar is a member of the Electrify Marong Committee — a campaign to transition the Central Victorian town off gas to only electricity. She said financial assistance was necessary as many people were ineligible to access Victorian government subsidies due to their income, or having accessed them in the past. A Solstice Energy spokesperson said the service was no longer viable for customers or the business due to costs. "We have now had to implement a further price rise for customers, so we want to find a better option for them," the spokesperson said. "Rather than continuing to raise prices in the future, we are instead supporting our customers [to] switch to bottled LPG or electricity and then closing the CNG networks by the end of 2026." The spokesperson said customers who chose to shift to electric appliances could be financially assisted to do so. Solstice Energy has also committed to funding and arranging ways for existing gas appliances in the affected towns to use bottled Liqufied Petroleum Gas (LPG). Fellow Marong resident and Electrify Marong Committee member Vic Cresp said the announcement came as a shock. "The idea is to convince people that gas was too expensive and the cheaper alternative is electricity, especially if you can get solar, and now batteries are in the equation too," he said. Lane Li, who runs an accommodation village and a popular Asian restaurant at Robinvale in north-west Victoria, said he was convinced to convert the village's hot water services and stovetops from LPG to compressed natural gas in 2021. "If we knew we would only have the service for five years, we wouldn't have done it," he said. "If they close the compressed gas service, that means we'll have to convert it back to the bottled one, which is going to be a pain for our business." Mr Li said electric hot water services were not as reliable or efficient as gas, so he would likely opt for LPG, despite concerns about the supply limitations of bottles. "We're big gas users in the area and with bottled gas … it's going to be very hard," he said. Environment Victoria senior climate and energy advisor Kat Lucas-Healey said it was essential communities were in a good position to make the switch. "The government's recent decisions to improve minimum rental standards and begin the systematic introduction of heat pump water heaters will make sure that households aren't stuck paying exorbitant gas bills, or going cold to avoid them," Dr Lucas-Healey said. "Victorian home owners who haven't yet thought about how they want to go electric should look into the savings they're missing out on and start making a plan." The state government has been contacted for comment.
ABC News
31-05-2025
- Lifestyle
- ABC News
First Nations children learn culture at Murray River's Robinvale camp
There's a bend along the Murray River at Robinvale in north-west Victoria that arouses conflicting emotions in multi-clan nation elder Aunty Thelma Chilly. It's where, as a girl, she ran and played on the riverbank and learnt the traditions of ancestors, passed down through generations. But it's also where the harsh realities of the White Australia Policy played out. Aunty Thelma's family was forced to move from their home on the banks of the Murray River, at a site known locally as Punt Bend, to the old Manatunga mission close by. Decades after her family was relocated, Aunty Thelma is working to reclaim the site through an annual cultural gathering of Aboriginal families from across Australia's east coast. During the 1956 flood, Aboriginal families relocated from Punt Bend to an industrial area in Robinvale. "They formed a welfare board, which was connected to the assimilation policies of those days, and they built Manatunga mission." Families were forced onto the mission, to live in concrete buildings with a door and a pot-belly stove. Still, Aunty Thelma's family and others kept returning to the banks of the Murray every year, sometimes for months at a time. "They actually return here to … commemorate the fact that this was where their people come from. "We have turned this into a place of learning and passing on knowledge of our culture." Every year, families come from across Australia's east coast to Robinvale on Tati Tati Country to take part in a four-day camp. "Every year, we try to do something different here at the Easter camp to pass along the culture and knowledge to other people in the community, but particularly our children," Aunty Thelma said. Robinvale is close to the lands of Latje Latje, Wadi Wadi and Mutti Mutti clans, and their traditional owners can be found among the families who set up a campsite every year. Over the four days, older generations teach their children, grandchildren and others how to fish, weave, and make cultural art and costumes, and to hold ceremonies such as Welcome Baby to Country. It's a way for those who didn't grow up with a connection to family and culture to find that connection and sense of belonging. "Matt [Chilly] does his emu feathers and he's weaving, and he's telling his story with the importance of technique, and art and creativity," Aunty Thelma said. "He's a creative young man, and it's so important to be able to provide that art. The stories of assimilation and the threat of the welfare board would never be forgotten by those who lived through that period, Aunty Thelma said. But by holding the camp, elders hoped to reinforce their pride in their culture and share their customs and skills with their most important asset — their children. "I'm just so grateful to be able to continue this tradition of being in this place, and it does mean a lot to me," Aunty Thelma said. National Reconciliation Week runs from May 27 to June 3. This year's theme is Bridging Now to Next, which reflects the ongoing connection between past, present and future, and how Australia can move forward by learning from past lessons.
ABC News
30-05-2025
- General
- ABC News
Lessons in local crafts and customs on the banks of the Murray River
First Nations families from across Australia come to the banks of the Murray River in Robinvale to learn the crafts and customs established and passed down by their ancestors.
