A SPECIAL needs school in Aspendale can finally start planning for its future after the state government provided funding in the 2016-17 Victorian budget for a masterplan for a redevelopment of the school. Student numbers have risen by more than 700 per cent in the past two decades at Yarrabah School and principal Matthew Harris has been pushing for government funding to replace 20 portable facilities with permanent buildings (‘Permanent plan plea for Yarrabah’, The News 10/6/15). “I am absolutely thrilled with the announcement that Yarrabah School can begin its masterplan to understand what buildings and upgrades it needs for…
Author: Neil Walker
FIRST aid training came in handy in Israel for Frankston MP Paul Edbrooke who helped an injured man on the streets of Tel Aviv last week. Mr Edbrooke said he was grabbing a bite to eat after a meeting at the Australia Israel Chamber of Commerce in Tel Aviv when he noticed a man having a fit on a median strip. The Labor MP and his dining companion immediately ran to the man’s aid and Mr Edbrooke’s first aid training learned as a firefighter before he became a politician kicked in. An eyewitness from technology company Castle Builders tweeted Mr…
THE allocation of $50 million for the redevelopment of the Frankston train station precinct was the headline act for Frankston in this year’s state budget released last week. The cash splash is confirmation of Labor’s pre-election promise before the 2014 state election to revamp the station and its surrounds into “state-of-the-art transport hub” (”Fast track’ for station upgrade’, The Times 17/11/14). Frankston Labor MP Paul Edbrooke said the government is keen to push ahead with the station redevelopment to “get it done” despite some questioning the pre-election pledge when $13.1 million for the project was allocated in last year’s state…
RULES governing Frankston councillors’ expenses have not been updated for more than a decade despite council admitting it is “best practice” to review policies at least once every four years. Frankston Council’s current expense entitlement policy for councillors was formulated in 1998 and was last amended in 2004. The policy stipulates the type of expenses – including travel, study, phone and child care costs – councillors can claim as out-of-pocket costs incurred while performing duties as a councillor. The intervening 12 years since the expenses policy was reviewed has seen new technology such as iPads and tablets and associated internet…
CLAIMS that council payments to external consultants are on the rise made Frankston Council CEO Dennis Hovenden see red at last week’s public council meeting as it emerged a committee of councillors to monitor external consultancy fees paid out by council was never established despite being mandated by councillors four years ago. A visibly angry Mr Hovenden said payments to consultants have fallen during his tenure as CEO as councillors asked him to put a figure on how much consultancy fees have declined at council’s latest public meeting. “It is a fact that the executive management team are all across…