Author: Mike Hast

The federal budget has once again put Victoria on infrastructure rations but it’s the outer suburbs that suffer most, says advocacy group the Committee for Greater Frankston. Canberra’s $225 million for the proposed Frankston rail line extension remains on the table, but the Victorian government continues to ignore the project. “While the Coalition government and the state government argue about infrastructure spending on mega projects, there has been no action on a nationally important project Infrastructure Australia listed in 2020 and said should be built in the next five years,” said Ginevra Hosking, the Committee for Greater Frankston CEO. “The…

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By Mike Hast* IT’S 92 years since the community was told the electrified rail line should be extended beyond Frankston station. A parliamentary committee recommended the line go 5km to Langwarrin and then down to the Mornington Peninsula. As the nation heads towards another federal election campaign, local eyes are on the incumbent Coalition government to see if it will honour its 2018 pledge to build the rail extension. And Federal Labor will be asked to reconfirm its 2018 commitment to the project as it attempts to win government in 2022. If built to Langwarrin, the line would connect 37,000…

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REBEL Liberal-turned-independent MP Julia Banks and Victorian Liberal Party deputy leader Cindy McLeish headline a forum at Langwarrin this month designed to encourage more women to enter politics. The inaugural Louisa Dunkley Women in Politics Forum – organised by the Committee for Greater Frankston – is a 12-2pm lunch on Thursday 28 March at McClelland Gallery’s new Sarah and Baillieu Myer Education Pavilion. The committee’s chief executive Ginevra Hosking said public debate about the under-representation of women in politics had inspired the event. “Our two guest speakers will talk about their experiences in politics before we ask for questions from…

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THE state government’s Major Road Projects Authority has agreed to include a right-hand turn lane at Levida Drive in the Lathams Rd duplication project following consultation with Carrum Downs business owners. The government allocated funds to duplicate the Carrum Downs Industrial Estate’s main road in its May Budget. The project is expected to cost about $80 million. Duplication was first proposed by Frankston Council in 1989. The Committee for Greater Frankston hosted a meeting with authority officials in October. Committee chief executive Ginevra Hosking said the decision highlighted the importance of “early and in-depth community consultation for major projects”. Ms…

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OBITUARY John Houston Buzaglo OAM11 July 1924 – 4 August 2018Naval officer, advertising manager, boat-builder, international yachtsman, sailing instructor JOHN “Buz” Buzaglo was perhaps destined to co-create a radical racing yacht in the 1970s because as a child in the 1930s he built his own glider and model boats and later a land yacht that he crashed on a busy road in Melbourne’s eastern suburbs. Buzaglo, who has died at age 94, was co-founder of the syndicate that designed, built and raced the world’s first viable “wingsail” racing yacht – a C class catamaran that appeared to have a plane’s…

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