VOUCHERS worth up to $200 have been made available to holidaymakers who visit regional Victorian hotspots this summer. The state government scheme will cost $28 million to Victorian taxpayers. Adult Victorian residents who spend at least $400 on accommodation, experiences, or tours in regional Victoria are eligible for the voucher. Only one voucher per household is available, and at least two nights must be spent in paid accommodation to be eligible. The Mornington Peninsula and the Yarra Ranges are considered regional as part of the scheme. The first lot of 40,000 vouchers went up on 11 December. The website to…
Author: Brodie Cowburn
THE cashless welfare card program would cause “significant hardship” if rolled out nationwide, Dunkley MP Peta Murphy says. The program sees 80 per cent of welfare payments made to an individual put onto a card, where it cannot be used on alcohol or gambling products. The government is trialling the card in four communities – Ceduna, SA, Bundaberg and Harvey Bay, QLD, Goldfields, WA, and East Kimberley, WA. It moved last week to make the trials permanent in those locations, but could not gain the support it needed in Parliament. The trial has instead been extended for two years. Ms…
A REPORT commissioned by Kingston Council into the potential rezoning of the Dingley Village Kingswood golf course site has been completed. PRAXIS Planning conducted the report, which assessed a proposal to move the site outside of the state’s Urban Growth Boundary. It read that the estimated consultant, legal, and operational costs to fully progress a proposed change to the UGB would be approximately $442,500. On 30 November, Kingston councillors voted to “initially seek a formalised position from the Department of Environment Land Water and Planning to inform the merits of progressing any future work, given the significant costs involved in…
FRANKSTON line trains will skip the City Loop for the next five years. Major changes to train services were locked in last week. Passengers on the Frankston Line will skip the City Loop and travel straight through to Flinders Street until the opening of the Metro Tunnel in 2025. An extra 45 services a week have been added to the Frankston Line. Cranbourne and Pakenham line passengers will get 90 new services each week, and will now travel anti-clockwise through the loop. The changes come into effect 31 January, 2021. Other changes have been made to encourage passengers to travel…
ALEX Fraser Group has been permitted to operate its Clarinda concrete crushing plant for another 10 years. The recycler’s permit to operate was set to expire in 2023. Council had rejected its bid for a longer stay last year, but the planning minister has stepped in to grant an extension until 2033. An advisory committee had been appointed by the planning minister to assess the case. The News understands that the committee recommended that the permit to allow material recycling and a refuse transfer station on the site be extended until December 2038. Kingston mayor Steve Staikos said he is…