THERE was little rest for many police highway patrol officers over the festive season. Victoria Police’s 24-day Operation Roadwise blitz over the Christmas and new year period nabbed 21 drink drivers in the Frankston area amid a total of 225 detected driving offences. No Frankston area drivers were found to be drug-affected in the roadside blitz. Police said the operation aimed to “take dangerous, impaired and irresponsible drivers off our roads”. The operation from 15 December-7 January targeted motorists drink driving, speeding and driving while unlicensed. There were 26 disqualified and 36 unlicensed drivers caught in the dragnet in Frankston…
Author: Stephen Taylor
A FORMER Seaford loans manager has been charged with deceiving the National Australia Bank of more than $813,000. The Lysterfield man will face Melbourne Magistrates’ Court for a committal mention in February over the alleged deceptions in which he is said to have “skimmed” a small commission percentage from up to 380 loans over four years. He will face up to 50 charges alongside a co-accused man, 33, of Box Hill South, who it is alleged to have acted as an external accomplice. The charges range from attempting to obtain property by deception, conspiring to defraud the bank and three…
NO neighbourhood in Melbourne or regional cities is affordable for a single person on Centrelink, single pensioner, or single parent on a low part-time income, Council to Homeless Persons CEO Jenny Smith has said. The latest Rental Affordability Index shows that households earning $50,000 a year and looking for a two-bedroom rental must move out at least 115 kilometres to escape “unaffordable” rent. This is defined as paying more than 30 per cent of income on rent. This unaffordability extends to Frankston and the Mornington Peninsula, where rental affordability has declined to such an extent that it is either “extremely”…
WHILE the federal government repeatedly refuses New Zealand’s offer to provide a home for 150 Manus Island refugees, activists have staged a protest over the Hastings office of Flinders Liberal MP Greg Hunt. Refugee Action Collective members climbed onto the office roof displaying banners with the words “Hey Hunt! Health = food, water, medicine and safety. Evacuate Manus!” Mr Hunt’s spokesman Mathew Langdon said: “All Australians have a right to protest, however there’s always a responsibility to do so within the law.” Watched by police, the protesters came down voluntarily after two hours. No arrests were made. “We are here…
GATE-CRASHERS who attended an out-of-control 16th birthday party in Langwarrin used batons and metal bars to assault and terrorise guests, 10.30pm, Friday 10 November. Police said members of the mainly Maori gang threw bottles and stones at the crowd of 200 outside the Grassmere Rd house, initiated brawls and even attacked parents. Frankston police, the Air Wing and the Dog Squad attempted to disperse the crowd, with those in the gang chanting slogans “41” and “42” (which have links to New Zealand crime gangs) and abusing police. A 46-year-old man and a 44-year-old man, both of Langwarrin, were taken to…