FORMER small business minister and MP for Dunkley Bruce Billson has left an unintended legacy at Federal Parliament in the wake of a privileges committee inquiry into a second job he accepted while still in parliament. The committee has recommended parliamentary rules be changed to ban federal MPs from being paid as lobbyists after Mr Billson came under scrutiny for the acceptance of a $75,000 a year job as executive chair of the Franchise Council of Australia in March 2016, four months before retiring from Parliament. Mr Billson has admitted he made “an administrative error” in not declaring the job…
Author: Neil Walker
ALLEGATIONS against the Frankston & District Basketball Association by federal Dunkley Liberal MP Chris Crewther will be investigated by Victoria’s peak basketball body. Basketball Victoria announced last week it has begun “an independent investigation into the allegations and has spoken to the FDBA who are supportive and welcoming of the investigation”. Mr Crewther made several allegations of possible misconduct at the FDBA under parliamentary privilege during a grievance statement in Parliament on Tuesday 27 March (“MP fire shots at basketball board”, The Times 2/4/18). “As the peak representative basketball body in Victoria, Basketball Victoria is focused on the protection of…
FOX traps around the Frankston area will be monitored to catch another type of pest — people who tamper with the snares designed to protect native wildlife. Frankston Council will install CCTV cameras near fox traps after it emerged that a couple of traps were tampered with following a Clean Up Australia Day in March. The tampering with council’s fox eradication program to protect endangered species came to light after Frankston resident Mike Griffiths asked at March’s public council meeting about interference with fox traps in Langwarrin’s Lloyd Park on Sunday 4 March. Council CEO Dennis Hovenden said last week…
THE end of Seaford Pier will be reopened to the public, but it remains unclear when fencing at the pier end will be removed and why no repair works have been done for more than a year. Repeated requests to Parks Victoria and state Carrum Labor MP Sonya Kilkenny over several weeks for details of work costs and timing remain unanswered. A glossy video by the MP posted on Facebook on 17 March announced: “Terrific news — we’re going to fix Seaford Pier”. No timeline for any plan to “get it done”, or cost, or any reason for nearly two…
THREE tradies awoken by the sound of a burglar trying to steal their beer fridge made “a citizen’s arrest” in Sandhurst after two chased and apprehended the intruder. Police said the fridge thief has been charged over several burglaries over a few days in the Aspendale Gardens, Patterson Lakes, Clayton South and Sandhurst areas. Frankston crime investigation unit detective Senior Constable Belinda Rampal said that “80 per cent” of stolen property including laptops, tablets, credit cards and TVs has been recovered. Two cars worth about $25,000 each are still missing. She said police are still on the lookout for a 2009…