CANDIDATES for election as councillors at October’s council elections across Victoria will be encouraged to answer a voluntary questionnaire outlining candidates’ experience and suitability for public office as part of a plan to better inform voters before they cast their votes. New candidates will, for the first time, be asked for details of any previous training undertaken to prepare for life as a councillor and incumbents seeking re-election will be asked to state their attendance record at council meetings during the previous four-year council term. “Victorians voting at this year’s council elections will have more information about their candidates than…
Author: Neil Walker
IGNORING residents’ concerns about high-rise development in Mentone brought protests to Labor Planning Minister Richard Wynne’s doorstep last week. Friends of Mentone Station and Gardens president Dorothy Booth, frustrated by Mr Wynne’s failure to acknowledge residents’ concerns, gathered supporters to unveil a ‘Keep Mentone Marvellous Stop High Rise Development’ banner on the steps of state parliament last Wednesday (17 August). In 2015 Mr Wynne controversially overruled Kingston Council’s decision to make a four-storey height limit in central Mentone ‘mandatory’ until the year 2030, instead ruling it be ‘discretionary’ (‘Height limit change shock’, The News 23/12/15). No explanation for leaving the…
THERE can never be a reunion of The Beatles but the closest modern fans of the most influential band of the 1960s and beyond can see the next best thing in Frankston early next month. The Bootleg Beatles, widely regarded by fans and music critics as the best Beatles tribute band in the world, will play the Frankston Arts Centre on Sunday 4 September and ‘Paul McCartney’, also known as Steve White, is looking forward to the show. The 47-year-old joined The Bootleg Beatles about five years ago replacing original Paul who retired after two decades on the road. Right-handed…
IT’S the people that Frankston Arts Centre marketing head Gillian Thompson will miss the most when she finishes up at the centre on Friday (26 August) but the shows must go on. The business development and marketing coordinator has decided to leave and strike out on her own after nearly a decade in the job. She has seen many positive changes to the Frankston and Mornington Peninsula arts scene over the years. “The thing is a lot of art type people live on the peninsula and we’re renowned for our art. We’re doing lots of groovy things. People love it.…
ALL nine of Frankston’s councillors have been saved from being stood down next month after the state government intervened in the aftermath of an administrative blunder by Frankston Council. Several councillors and councils across the state, including all Frankston councillors, faced the axe (‘All councillors face sack’, The Times 5/8/16) with effect from 1 September for missing a 4 July deadline to sign a new councillor code of conduct, as part of a state government instigated review of the Local Government Act. The new code of conduct, flagged late last year, is aimed at improving councillors’ behaviour although some councillors…