DECISIONS made behind closed doors by councils will be investigated by the Victorian Ombudsman after complaints to the public watchdog. Ombudsman Deborah Glass said all 79 councils in Victoria were the subject of at least one complaint in 2014-15 amid 3,410 council issues referred to the watchdog. The Ombudsman investigation will look at closed council meetings and special meetings, determinations around the handling of confidential matters, delegations relating to decision making and the nature and quality of records kept and the public availability of records. “Secrecy in government can create conditions in which improper conduct and poor administration can flourish.…
Author: Neil Walker
A WILD brawl in Melbourne’s city centre has put the focus on a gang involved in brazen violent burglaries and car thefts in the south east suburbs over the past few months. Members of the Apex gang clashed with police at Federation Square and surrounding streets last Saturday evening (12 March) as terrified bystanders attending the Moomba Festival fled for safety. The high-profile clash caused Premier Daniel Andrews to vow to get tough with violent gangs. “What happened on Saturday evening was completely unacceptable,” Mr Andrews said at a press conference the day after the brawl. “I will make sure…
GRADUATION rates at the individual campuses of privately operated training colleges are not being monitored by the federal government despite billions of dollars of taxpayers’ money paid out to the college operators. The cost of VET FEE-HELP courses being offered by private education providers soared to $1.6 billion nationally last year with taxpayers footing the bill for loans to students to pay for vocational college courses. Most of this money is unlikely to ever be repaid since graduation rates at the private colleges are extremely low and some colleges have ceased operations recently after coming under scrutiny by the Australian…
KINGSTON has been named as a municipality where petrol station owners must beware of drivers leaving without paying for fuel. A state parliamentary inquiry into petrol drive-offs found Kingston is the tenth highest area in the state for non-payment of fuel. The inquiry into fuel drive-offs report, tabled in Parliament last week, revealed drivers left service stations in Kingston without paying for petrol on 1,233 occasions over ten years from 2005-2014. Neighbouring Frankston was ranked sixth in the drive-off stakes with 1,604 in the same period. Brimbank (4,035), Casey (3,190) and Hume (2,480) took out the top three places in…
A MUCH-NEEDED redesign of Young St as part of the $63 million Frankston train station precinct redevelopment will begin in May and plans for the rejuvenated streetscape were released by the state government last week. Frankston Labor MP Paul Edbrooke hailed the plans as a long-term change for the high-profile street rather than a short-term cosmetic stopgap. The plans, designed by architecture firm Hassell, claim “additional green space will make Young St a more comfortable place to be”. A new “civic space” at the train station’s entrance will make Frankston “more welcoming” to arrivals. Increased trees shade during the day…