A CAMPAIGN to save stingrays in Port Phillip Bay has made authorities act to increase protection for the animals dubbed “the puppies of the sea” by environmentalists. The Labor state government announced last week that recreational fishing rules will be tightened from 7 November to “ensure these beautiful animals are treated with respect”. An 800-strong Project Banjo action group, led by Safety Beach resident and scuba diver PT Hirschfield, has campaigned for months for state authorities to ban the catching of rays from piers and jetties along the bay (“Cruel end for ‘puppies’ of the sea”, The Times 17/4/17). The…
Author: Neil Walker
THE long-running debate over demolishing the Granary Lane toilet block in Mentone has come to an end after councillors voted to keep the existing building but close it to the public. The public convenience has been an inconvenience and drain on council resources for the past few months. Councillors have discussed the toilet block’s fate at several council meetings and have pored over council officers’ reports recommending the building be demolished to make way for a new modern public toilet building. Debate over mosaic artwork on the Granary Lane loo’s exterior – fastened to the mid 1980s built building in…
A CONSCIENCE vote on the Voluntary Assisting Dying Bill passed by the Victorian Parliament’s lower house last week saw Labor comrades in marginal “sandbelt” seats along the Frankston line split on the contentious bill. Carrum MP Sonya Kilkenny and Frankston MP Paul Edbrooke voted to back the bill, introduced by Victorian Health Minister Jill Hennessy, while Mordialloc MP Tim Richardson voted against the move to legalise voluntary euthanasia for terminally ill people. The legislation by the Andrews Labor government took four days to debate before it was passed 47 to 37. The upper house is expected to vote on the…
THE tab for some funding provided by ratepayers to state emergency services units will now be picked up by state taxpayers. Kingston Council will no longer contribute about $16,000 annually to Chelsea and Moorabbin units of the SES but the state government will ensure there is no overall loss of funding from the 2017-18 financial year onwards. Council is ending the funding from ratepayers since the state government decided to axe a 50-50 funding split with councils across Victoria by investing an extra $112.6 million each year towards the SES units across the state. Kingston mayor Cr David Eden said…
A CALL from councils to bolster policing of illegal brothels masquerading as massage businesses has been answered by the state government insisting existing resources are enough to crack down on dodgy operators. Kingston Council won backing from councils across Victoria at a Municipal Association of Victoria state council meeting in October to urge the Labor state government to set up a taskforce to tackle massage parlours offering illegal extra services (“State brothel busters call wins support”, The News 25/10/17). Victorian Police Minister Lisa Neville has responded by saying Victoria Police’s Sex Industry Coordination Unit (SICU) established in 2012 has “a…