In an emotional address to hundreds of residents gathered at a community vigil in Wodonga on Wednesday night, Cathy McGowan said north-east Victoria was grappling with grief and a confronting reality.

In an emotional address to hundreds of residents gathered at a community vigil in Wodonga on Wednesday night, Cathy McGowan said north-east Victoria was grappling with grief and a confronting reality.

In a town of 30,000, where the local MP is as likely to be encountered at a coffee shop as on the 6pm news, people have been left struggling for words.

Australia’s fleet of robotic submarines will be capable of laying secret minefields thousands of kilometres from shore under a $5.8 billion defence expansion.