Author: Brodie Cowburn

AN internal audit ordered by Frankston Council into their planning processes and any potential risk for corruption has been completed. Earlier this year, all councillors at the City of Casey were sacked by the state government after explosive allegations of corruption were made at a series of IBAC hearings. It was alleged that some Casey councillors had financial ties to developer John Woodman. In response to the scandal engulfing the City of Casey, Frankston Council ordered an audit into their own planning processes. Auditors reviewed applications dating back to January 2013. They searched for applications made by parties named in…

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A CLUSTER of COVID-19 cases has broken out in Patterson Lakes. Of the 75 new cases of coronavirus confirmed in Victoria on 29 June, three were linked to a family outbreak in Patterson Lakes. The Department of Health and Human Services reports that there are currently seven residents living in the Kingston municipality with an active case of coronavirus. The total number of positive COVID-19 tests recorded in Victoria stands at 2099 as of 29 June. The number of positive cases returned per day has jumped significantly in the last week. Victoria’s Chief Health Officer Professor Brett Sutton said “we…

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KINGSTON councillors have agreed to write to Premier Daniel Andrews asking for the October council elections to be delayed, and for local ward boundary changes to be held off. Earlier this year, the new Local Government Act was passed. The act mandated that Kingston Council’s structure change to eleven single member wards at the next election. Kingston Council currently consists of nine councillors split across three wards. Following the recent dismissal of local government minister Adem Somyurek, Kingston councillors have voted to direct the mayor to write to the Premier “seeking his intervention to suspend the recently announced changes to…

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THE 2020 MPNFL season has been cancelled. AFL South East announced the decision to call off their competitions on 27 June. All senior football and netball divisions will not go ahead this year. There were hopes that the league would be able to get up and running next month, with a plan to return already outlined. AFL South East had announced that they planned for the season to get underway by 25 July, with a shortened fixture and a zero salary cap. After a further meeting between AFL South East officials and MPNFL club representatives last weekend, plans to start…

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A PATTERSON Lakes man has been arrested and charged after police seized 360 kilograms of crystal methamphetamine from a shipping container which had arrived from Malaysia. On 8 June, Australian Border Force officers examined a shipping container of furniture which had landed in Melbourne from Malaysia. Inside the container alongside the cargo, they found 18 unidentified cardboard boxes. It is alleged that the boxes were filled with small packages, which when opened and tested returned a presumptive positive result for methamphetamine. Approximately 360 kilograms of drugs were seized, which police estimate had a street value of up to $180 million.…

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