IT’S taken nearly two weeks since the 29 November state election but Frankston finally has a new member of parliament. The Victorian Electoral Commission officially declared Labor candidate Paul Edbrooke the winner of the seat this morning at 9.30am after votes were recounted. Mr Edbrooke got over the line against Liberal hopeful Sean Armistead by just 332 a votes, on a two-party preferred basis. Mr Edbrooke had 50.47 per cent of the vote and Mr Armistead 49.53 per cent after preferences were distributed. VEC figures show nearly 9 per cent of the 34,980 votes cast in the Frankston electorate had ballot papers…
Author: Neil Walker
KINGSTON’S longest-serving councillor has attended the least number of meetings this year. Cr John Ronke has been regularly absent from council chambers when his fellow councillors have debated and made decisions about municipal matters. Since the start of the year, Kingston Council has held 21 meetings including ordinary, planning and special meetings. Cr Ronke has attended just nine of those meetings. Most council business is discussed and voted on by councillors at monthly ordinary meetings. Cr Ronke was present at four of the 11 ordinary meetings held so far this year. When contacted by The News, Cr Ronke said he…
MENTONE residents have let Kingston councillors know they would prefer Collins St land – earmarked for a new aged care home – to be used for public parkland instead. A council survey found 94 per cent of respondents opposed the sale of the 101-103 Collins St site to an aged care provider, with most favouring the conversion of the council-owned former depot into open public space. Several residents publicly expressed this view at a special council meeting on Monday evening and councillors must now decide whether to press ahead with the Collins St plan, or look at building a 70-bed…
LABOR insiders have credited their “boots on the ground” approach to electioneering for much of the party’s success at winning back government at the state election after just one term in opposition. The party recruited thousands of volunteers to doorknock and call voters in 25 marginal seats around the state, including the Frankston line seats of Frankston, Carrum, Mordialloc and Bentleigh where Labor candidates defeated Liberal incumbents. Labor plans to effectively keep its state election campaign show on the road – and the streets – to roll the strategy out to New South Wales and Queensland during those states’ elections…
THE long-running legal dispute between Frankston and Casey councils over responsibility for a Cranbourne methane gas leak has ended with ratepayers the losers. Frankston Council decided to make a “commercial decision” to settle the legal action taken by Casey Council to recoup some of the $23.5 million the City of Casey and the Environment Protection Authority coughed up in 2011 to homeowners near the former Cranbourne landfill site in Stevensons Rd. The Stevensons Rd Landfill operated between June 1996 and June 2005 as a municipal tip for Casey and Frankston councils, with EPA approval. In 2008, about 750 homes in…