PARENT pressure has forced Frankston councillors to reconsider council’s policy on kindergartens enrolments in the municipality. Council has now decided to include a “proximity clause” in its enrolments system after widespread anger from parents who believed council had ignored community feedback. A packed public gallery of parents at last Monday’s public council meeting made their views clear about flaws in council’s kindergartens enrolments system. Langwarrin mum Jodie Forster was one of many who accused councillors of losing touch with the community. “As councillors you are elected to be the voice of the community and you are supposed to stand up…
Author: Neil Walker
A CONTENTIOUS Andrews government plan to limit council rate rises could mean community services are cut but Kingston Council says it is confident compromise can be reached. As part of its pre-election campaign last year, Labor pledged to limit councils’ rate rises across Victoria to no more than the annual consumer price index (CPI) increase. The CPI rose by 3 per cent in 2013-14, according to Australian Bureau of Statistics data. Kingston Council’s rates rose by 4.95 per cent for the same period. Councils across the state, particularly rural councils, are worried about the impact the policy will have on…
FAMILIES could face a loss in kindergarten hours or rise in fees if federal government funding is withdrawn. The state government funds 10 hours of four-year-old kinder per week and federal funding accounts for 5 hours per week under a National Partnership Agreement. The agreement is due to cease at the end of this year and there are fears families will be forced to pick up the tab if the Abbott government does not renew the funding arrangement. Premier Daniel Andrews has written to the Prime Minister asking the federal government to renew the partnership agreement. Chelsea Kindergarten Imogen Kelly…
SCHOOL teacher Rashad Seedeen has come up with a novel approach to encourage students to think about life beyond the school gates and beyond. The Patterson River Secondary College History and English teacher has compiled several essays written by senior students about major global issues into a book called In Our World. The Canadian born teacher, currently studying for a PhD in international relations at La Trobe University, wrote a similar book last year and decided to involve Year 11 and 12 students in a second book. It took students about six months to finish the essays. “I realised there’s…
SOME of the harshest public criticism of the Andrews government’s proposal to cap rates has come from an unlikely source – one of Labor’s own. Cr Colin Hampton has broken party lines to condemn the party’s push to cap council rates across Victoria as “absolutely the worst policy decision the ALP has made in all the years I’ve been a member”. The long-time Labor loyalist, a party member for 38 years, made the comment when he took to the airwaves to slam the Labor state government on radio station 3AW’s Drive show. Cr Hampton told The Times “the Labor Party is…