A STOUSH over a council grant to a community group has seen $200 returned by the Kingston Residents Association to Kingston Council. Council officers approved a Quick Response Grant requested by the KRA “to print and mail out newsletters” but recommended an application for $2000 be reduced to $200 “to allow opportunities for other individuals or groups to access grant funds”. KRA president Trevor Shewan, a former Kingston councillor, returned the $200 grant to council “because we feel the majority councillors have insulted us by reducing our grant from the $2000 requested without providing any valid reason”. Councillors decided to…
Author: Neil Walker
COUNCILLORS have backed away from becoming transparency trailblazers by voting down a proposal at the latest public council meeting to record confidential Kingston Council meetings. Cr David Eden had urged fellow councillors to support his proposal, first raised at June’s public council meeting, to record confidential meetings between councillors for possible future public release if a matter being debated behind closed doors is subsequently deemed to be made public as often happens (‘‘Let there be light’ on decisions, The News 20/7/16). Four councillors at the latest council meeting backed a council officer report recommendation to maintain the status quo and…
ONE of Kingston’s “great community leaders” has headed off to new pastures in retirement but says she will still keep in touch with the Chelsea community. Lorna Stevenson, the outgoing manager at Longbeach PLACE, finished a 16-year stint at the neighbourhood house on Friday (29 July) and was awarded a certificate of appreciation at this month’s Kingston Council public meeting in recognition of her service to the community. “Lorna has done so much for Kingston but her positive impact has been felt really very much around Chelsea where she has made a huge difference to the lives of many of…
POKIES losses across Kingston have risen by almost $2 million in the past 12 months and still topped $80 million despite the introduction of voluntary pre-commitment cards for gamblers last year. Victorian Commission for Gambling and Liquor Regulation (VCGLR) figures for 2015-16, released last week, show Kingston municipality pokies players lost $83,473,105 over 12 months, up from $81,509,892 in 2014-15. The Labor state government launched a $197 million YourPlay scheme in December last year allowing pokies players to preselect losses limits using a swipe card to gamble on poker machines. Critics of YourPlay note gamblers can simply increase the preselected…
FRANKSTON has been identified as a ‘hot spot’ for preventable hospital admissions in a report by the Grattan Institute. The think tank – based in Melbourne and partly funded by the federal and state governments, the University of Melbourne and BHP Billiton – released its Perils of place: identifying hotspots of health inequality report last week naming Frankston as among 25 areas in Victoria where “potentially preventable hospitalisation rates at least fifty percent above the state average in every year for a decade”. Grattan Institute health program director Stephen Duckett says the problem can be addressed, but only if governments…