KINGSTON residents should not fear cuts to services when the state government’s rates capping policy comes into force next financial year, according to Kingston Council. Council corporate services manager Paul Franklin has assured Kingston residents that “council is well-prepared for rate capping and has taken it into account in its planning forecasts for the next several years”. The Labor state government crunched the rate rise numbers for councils across Victoria to reveal ratepayers faced an average rates rise of 5.99 per cent for each of the past ten years. Local Government Minister Natalie Hutchins called the figure “an unfair and…
Author: Neil Walker
A FUNDRAISING effort to help sick children that promotes the Melbourne Cup has been given the all-clear by the state government in the same week Gaming and Liquor Regulation Minister Jane Garrett called on the federal government to crack down on gambling adverts for the sake of young people and children. The Starlight Foundation, a charity that improves hospital experiences for children and chronically ill teenagers, has partnered with Victoria Racing Club to sell “pin & win” Melbourne Cup lapel pins to raise money for the Starlight Express Room at Melbourne’s Royal Children’s Hospital. Ms Garrett told The Age newspaper…
KEEN motocross riders will be able to take to the track again at the Frankston Motorcycle Park after the Frankston City Motor Park Incorporated club signed a new lease agreement last Wednesday (14 October). The motorcycle park has been closed since of the death of 25-year-old Danny Edlington in early April after a collision on the main track at the Frankston Motorcycle Park (‘Fatality closes motorcycle track’, The Times 13/4/15). Council has agreed to a new management model and the park will now operate under an affiliation with Motorcycling Victoria. Club members will be covered by MV’s insurance policy. The…
THE founder of an anti-bullying organisation has defended the appointment of Frankston mayor Cr Sandra Mayer as an ambassador for the charity in the wake of bully cases at Frankston Council (‘Mayor: ‘Speak up on bullying’, The Times 12/10/15). Bully Zero Foundation founder and executive director Oscar Yildiz, a councillor at Moreland Council, says he has known Cr Mayer for more than six years and is confident she is a suitable person to be spreading the message that bullying is unacceptable and people should “speak up” about harassment. “I find Sandra to be an excellent person with a lot of…
FRANKSTON Labor MP Paul Edbrooke has dismissed councillors’ concerns that the signalling box at Frankston train station could be demolished as part of the $63 million Frankston Station Redevelopment Master Plan. Councillors expressed concern at this month’s public council meeting that the signalling box, the last remaining manual signal box in Victoria, is not mentioned in the master plan to redevelop the transport hub. “What are they going to do with that historical signal box?” Cr Darrel Taylor asked. “We cannot afford to lose that historical asset. It has to be kept and maintained.” Cr Taylor said the government should…