FRANKSTON mayor Colin Hampton has heaped praise on Frankston candidate Michael Lamb for promising a Liberal Nationals government would pay for council projects at Oliver’s Hill and Centenary Park.
A “safe boat refuge” at Oliver’s Hill to help rehome the Coast Guard and a multipurpose $30 million centre at Centenary Park for tennis and gymnastics are two of council’s “Future Frankston” projects, a plan designed to highlight council’s priorities in the hope of securing government backing.
Cr Hampton called Mr Lamb’s election promise of $8.05 million towards Centenary Park a “fantastic win for the local community and sports in the region”. The mayor also called Mr Lamb’s $8 million commitment to the Oliver’s Hill project a “fantastic win for ensuring our bay is safe” and a “positive outcome”. The compliments were posted on Frankston Council’s official Facebook page and in a news release.
The recent string of posts praising the state opposition’s commitments follow a post in which council praised Labor for promising to improve parking at Frankston station. The post failed to mention a similar commitment for multi-storey parking made by Mr Lamb two weeks earlier.
The public praise for the Labor election commitment came under fire from Dunkley MP, Liberal Chris Crewther, as well as Liberal state candidates Donna Bauer (Carrum) and Mr Lamb. Mr Crewther wrote on council’s Facebook page: “I believe council is meant to be there working independently in the best interests of the community. But I will when council communications show clear political party bias, and when they fail to acknowledge federal government contributions to projects.”
Since then, council has been continuing to post statements praising election commitments from both state Liberal and state Labor parties.
CEO Dennis Hovenden said council is supposed to remain independent of party affiliation while the state government is in caretaker mode before an election.
To remain apolitical, council voted on 1 October to write to local MPs and candidates reminding them not to erect election material on council land (“Warning given on erection of election signs” The Times 8/10/18).
The City of Kingston Facebook page has made no posts in the past month about election commitments from candidates in the municipality.
Frankston mayor Cr Colin Hampton has been a long time Labor party member, while his deputy mayor Michael O’Reilly is a member of the Liberals. Cr Steve Toms was previously a member of the Labor party, but a clash with Frankston Labor MP Paul Edbrooke led to his membership being cancelled.
No commitment has yet been made by Labor for the project at Oliver’s Hill. Environmentalists such as the Frankston Beach Association fear the project might cause a loss of sand on the beach.
