The International Seafood Fair includes a trade fair, a public festival and an industry conference. (30 July)

The Victorian Government is to spend $1.8 million on special facilities at the Alfred Hospital for sufferers of cystic fibrosis, the most common life-threatening disease affecting the lungs and digestive system of Australian children. (30 July)

The Health and Aged Care Minister, Rob Knowles, has officially opened a community resource centre for the St George’s Health Service in Cotham Road, Kew. St George’s is being developed as an aged, extended care and psychogeriatric facility. (30 July)

The Minister for Conservation and Land Management, Mrs Marie Tehan, has announced Victoria’s 24th Surveyor General, Mr Keith Bell. At 39, Mr Bell is one of the youngest in a long line of distinguished Surveyors General, dating from 1851 when Robert Hoddle was appointed. (30 July)

The Victorian Government has provided $1.8 million towards the construction of a palliative care unit on the Mornington Peninsula. The Member for Frankston, Andrea McCall, representing Health and Aged Care Minister, Rob Knowles, has also launched an appeal to raise a further $1 million to complete the 15-bed service. (29 July)

Deputy Premier and Minister for Agriculture and Resources Patrick McNamara has officially opened the Department of Natural Resources and Environment’s new information centre in Hamilton. (29 July)

The Minister for Youth and Community Services, Dr Denis Napthine, has announced funding aimed at improving services to children at risk over the next four years. The program will start with $4.9 million this year, increasing to $5.3 million in 2003. (29 July)

Health and Aged Care Minister Rob Knowles has opened a second $3.7-million Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) facility at Monash’s MRI centre.   (29 July)

The Victorian Government is to provide $800,000 over five years to establish Australia’s first Chair of Clinical Physiotherapy — in the University of Melbourne — at the Austin and Repatriation Medical Centre, and to fund research support. (28 July)

Health and Aged Care Minister Rob Knowles has launched VicHealth’s Strategic Directions 1999-2002, which targets tobacco control, mental health, physical activity, healthy eating and substance abuse. (28 July)

The United States Food and Drug Administration has approved the Victorian-produced flu treatment, Relenza, which was co-developed by Biota Holdings and US company GlaxoWellcome. (28 July)

The second stage of a $6.5-million housing development on the site of the old St Kilda railway station has been officially opened by the Minister for Housing, Ann Henderson, marking the final stage of a five-year joint housing development between the Victorian Government and the City of Port Phillip St Kilda area. (28 July)

Professor Dick Smallwood, Professor of Medicine at the Austin and Repatriation Medical Centre, will conduct a review of the processes leading to a patient being infected with HIV after receiving a blood transfusion. The review could also look at current testing procedures for blood donated during the "window period" when antibodies to the HIV virus have not fully formed and are difficult to detect. (28 July)

Industry Minister, Mark Birrell, has opened Australia’s first full-scale cork manufacturing plant, a $7.5-million facility in Dandenong run by the Portuguese corporation, Amorim Group. (28 July)

The Parliamentary Secretary for Health, Robert Doyle, has launched Community Participation in Community Health PHACS Information Resource 3, a document that encourages Primary Health and Community Support services to establish avenues for the involvement of consumers, carers and the community in health-services delivery. (26 July)

The Premier has officially opened the new $11.3-million Cranbourne Integrated Care Centre, which will provide community health services including physiotherapy, children’s allied health, family mental health, occupational and speech therapy, dental services and child psychology, counselling and support. (25 July)

The St John Ambulance Service is to receive more than $230,000 in State Government Funding for two projects: $112,700 towards the upgrade of its state-wide radio communication system and $118,000 towards the upgrade of the Douglas Donald Camp at Wesburn, 70kms from Melbourne. (23 July)

Health Minister Rob Knowles has launched the Gestational Diabetes Screening, Management and Follow-Up Chart, new clinical management guidelines for gestational diabetes mellitus, a transient form of diabetes during pregnancy. (23 July)

The Minister for Youth and Community Services, Dr Denis Napthine, has released the Youth and Family Services: Purchasing Specifications report. (22 July)

A $150,000 grant is to be provided to the Kew Cottages and St Nicholas Parents’ Association to upgrade transport for people with disabilities at Kew Residential Services and to make it easier for parents and relatives to visit. (21 July)

The Health and Aged Care Minister, Rob Knowles, has opened Dandenong Hospital’s cardiac catheterisation lab, a state-of-the-art facility that will play a key role in the detection and treatment of heart disease. The Victorian Government provided $1.8 million towards new high-tech equipment at the hospital. (21 July)

Health and Aged Care Minister Rob Knowles, opening the new Berwick office of the Eastern Regions Mental Health Association, announced that the agency will receive $1.2 million in State funding in 1999-2000. (21 July)

The Minister for Local Government and Planning, Robert Maclellan, has announced that he is broadening the role of the Building Advisory Council to enable it to advise the State Government on consumer protection issues relating to the building and construction industry. (20 July)

Tertiary Education and Training Minister Phil Honeywood has opened a new $4.25-million library at Monash University Gippsland Campus. The library, twice the size of the previous facility, features an electronic resources area, an information technology training room, staff offices and an extensive book collection. (20 July)

Government funding to combat rabbits and weeds and resolve catchment problems has been made available to community groups across the State. The groups are to receive $1,903,063 for 200 projects under the Community Weeds Control Scheme; $1,287,000 for 118 projects under Rabbit Buster 2; $424,850 for 56 projects under Tree Victoria; and $850,000 for 24 projects under the Landcare Partnership Initiative for 1999-2000. (19 July)

The State Government has announced that Monday, January 3, 2000, will be a public holiday in Victoria, thus ensuring national consistency across the entire Australian business community. (18 July)

Melbourne has secured the right to host the Australia-China Trade and Investment Summit on September 7 this year. The summit will coincide with a planned visit to Melbourne by Chinese President Jiang Zemin. (16 July)

The Minister for Industry, Science and Technology, Mark Birrell, has launched Ai Group International, a new initiative from the Australian Industry Group, for companies wanting to develop overseas markets. He also announced the Victorian Government’s support for Business Club Australia, an initiative that will give Victorian business an opportunity to leverage international interest from the Olympics. (15 July)

Water prices are to be frozen for two years, which will mean a further 4.5% real reduction in water prices. The price cap will produce savings of $171 for the average Melbourne household in 2000-01 compared with 1996-97. (15 July)

The Minister for Health, Rob Knowles, has announced new timelines for food businesses to register Food Safety Programs. Food business operators can call a hotline if they have any queries - 1300 364 352. (15 July)

The 24-hour Boroondara Police Complex, a $7.6 million station providing for the amalgamation of the Kew, Hawthorn and Camberwell Police Stations and associated CIBs, is to be located at the corner of Riversdale Road and Butler Street, Camberwell. (14 July)

A draft code to encourage best practice in design, operation and management of chicken meat farms goes on exhibition today for public consultation and feedback, and on a web page. (14 July)

The Health and Aged Care Minister, Rob Knowles, has announced the merger of Warrnambool and Corangamite hospital services into South West Healthcare. (14 July)

Doctors working in Victoria’s public hospitals have won a salary increase of 9% over three years, the Health and Aged Care Minister, Rob Knowles has announced. The agreement covers hospital-employed doctors, medical officers, medical registrars and visiting medical officers. (14 July)

Deputy Premier and Minister for Agriculture and Resources Patrick McNamara has launched a 50-year master plan to manage Victoria’s water resources entitled State Water Planning 2050: Progress, Challenges and Future Directions. (13 July)

The Victorian Government has announced its intention of removing the remaining statutory controls on the price and supply of Victorian liquid milk. (13 July)

The Member for Bayswater, Gordon Ashley, representing Health and Aged Care Minister, Rob Knowles, has launched the new Palliative Care Victoria booklet, About Palliative Care, which contains answers to the most frequently asked questions about care for the terminally ill. (12 July)

The Premier, Mr Kennett has announced an expansion of Victoria’s taxi fleet with the issuing of the first 19 licences for new High Occupancy Vehicles. The HOV licences are being sold for $65,000 each. (12 July)

The Deputy Premier and Minister for Agriculture and Resources, Patrick McNamara, has announced a $1.35 million investment on research trials into the impact of raised-bed cropping on water and nutrient losses in an initiative to improve the grains industry in the State’s south west. (8 July)

The Youth and Community Services Minister, Dr Denis Napthine, has officially opened the Transitional Integrated Educational and Residential Service (TIERS) — to care for neglected and abused children — for MacKillop Family Services. (7 July)

The Minister Responsible for Aboriginal Affairs, Ann Henderson, has officially opened a $2.79-million upgrade to the Aborigines Advancement League’s premises in Thornbury, providing new office space, meeting rooms, a conference and function facility, as well as a museum and a ‘keeping place’. (2 July)

The winner of the Victorian Aboriginal Young Achiever Award for 1999 is Jodie Lowe, 23, of Ballarat. Jodie is currently employed as the Aboriginal student support officer at the Aboriginal Education Centre, University of Ballarat, and is coordinator of the Aboriginal Junior University Program. (2 July)

Minister for Gaming, Roger Hallam, responding to comments by the Leader of the Opposition, said that taxation arrangements for gambling and lotteries under the GST were not "secret" and that none of the revenue that the State currently collects through gambling taxes would be put at risk. (1 July)

The 1999 Rural Women’s Leadership Bursaries have been presented in Melbourne. Twenty women each received a bursary up to the value of $2000 to enable them to further boost their leadership skills. (1 July)