Buses are replacing trains on the Stony Point line today (Saturday 21 December) after the Hastings Railway Station building was destroyed by fire overnight. Fire crews were called to the structure before 4am to find it fully engulfed by flames. The station has been the subject of recent discussion with Brian Stahl calling for the improvement of the rail precinct and the possible repurposing of the disused building for a social enterprise (Call for railway station renewal hosed down, The News 13/11/24). Stahl said at the time “As a significant public transport arrival point it leaves a lot to be…
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Frankston Crime Investigation Unit detectives have charged two boys, following an alleged armed robbery and a collision, in Melbourne’s southern suburbs yesterday (7 December). It is alleged that two offenders armed with machetes approached a male victim on McCormick’s Road in Skye about 2.15pm. The two alleged offenders made threats and demands for the boy’s shoes and phone before he handed them over. The alleged offenders took off from the scene, with the shoes and phone, in a silver Toyota Kluger. The victim, a 16-year-old boy from the Frankston area, was not physically injured. A short time later it is…
MOURNERS gathered at Frankston Pier last weekend to remember the life of Andres Pancha. Pancha was a 45-year-old father of three from Cranbourne West. He was allegedly killed while fishing at Frankston Pier on the morning of 29 June. A man has since been charged with his murder. A large crowd visited Frankston Pier at sunrise on Saturday, 6 July, to take part in a vigil commemorating Pancha. A Gofundme to assist Pancha’s family has raised more than $22,000 so far. The fundraiser organisers wrote “this unimaginable act has left our family devastated and in profound grief. Andres was a…
Homicide Squad detectives have charged a 36-year-old man this morning following the death of another man on Frankston Pier yesterday. The man, of no fixed address, has been charged with murder. The charge follows an incident where officers were called to the pier, which runs off Pier Promenade, following reports of an alleged assault just after 6am on Saturday 29 June. Officers found a man injured and unresponsive on the pier. A 45-year-old Cranbourne North man died at the scene. Shortly after, another man was arrested by police on the foreshore nearby. The man will appear before Melbourne Magistrates’ Court…
Police have arrested a man allegedly in possession of prohibited weapons during a search at a storage facility in Langwarrin. Detectives from the Caulfield Divisional Response Unit executed a search warrant at a storage facility on McClelland Drive, Langwarrin, just after 10pm on 2 April. During the search, police uncovered a range of weapons, including a 3D printed handgun, ten rifles, two shotguns, a substantial amount of ammunition, tasers and an explosive device. A 33-year-old Carrum Downs man is assisting police with enquiries.
AFTER eight years on public display, the infamous Reflective Lullaby sculpture is set to return to McClelland Gallery. Gregor Kregar’s Reflective Lullaby, a giant chrome gnome, was installed at Peninsula Link’s Cranbourne Road exit eight years ago. Four years later the gnome was moved to the corner of Moorooduc Highway and Hastings Road in Frankston. Last week, Reflective Lullaby was removed from its site and taken to McClelland Gallery in Langwarrin. The 10 metre tall artwork will be permanently installed in the gallery’s sculpture park. As revealed earlier this month, the Love Flower sculpture which replaced the chrome gnome near…
THE message of conservation will be spread at a communal colouring event later this month. The Australian Conservation Fund Mornington branch is holding a Community for Creatures day at Frankston foreshore on 22 October. Visitors will colour in a large banner adorned with endangered animals to raise awareness. Australian Conservation Fund Mornington member Sue Miles said she hopes the event will engage younger people in conservation efforts. “For Community for Creatures we’re getting people to colour in a banner with endangered species and we are presenting it to our MP Peta Murphy,” she said. “We are going to head down…
A JUNIOR doctor leading a class action case against Peninsula Health for underpayment says a recent court ruling is a turning point for the industry. Dr Gaby Bolton was the lead applicant in the case against Peninsula Health. Earlier this month the Federal Court ruled that Peninsula Health had breached the Fair Work Act by not paying her correctly. Dr Bolton began her employment at Peninsula Health on 8 January 2019, working primarily at Frankston Hospital. Her claims for unpaid overtime related to four rotations undertaken between January 2019 and January 2021. The Federal Court ruling read that Dr Bolton…
Police are investigating the circumstances surrounding the death of a woman found in Frankston overnight. Her body was sighted by a passer-by drifting in the water near Frankston Pier about 8.45pm. Officers and police Air Wing responded and located the woman, perceived to be of Asian appearance, who was pulled from the water. She is yet to be identified and the cause of death is yet to be determined. Investigators are keen to speak to anyone in the area with CCTV that may capture the woman’s movements prior to the incident. At this stage, the death is not being treated…
RED Hill South, Sorrento and Frankston are among 17 finalists competing for the 2023 Victorian Top Tourism Town award. The annual award recognises Victorian towns that provide exceptional experiences for visitors by working together with businesses, tourism operators and the community. The three award categories this year are Top Tourism Town (population above 5000), Small Tourism Town (population 1500-5000) and Tiny Tourism Town (population less than 1500). To make it to this stage, each of the towns had to demonstrate commitment to being the best destination they could be. The public now gets to vote before 5pm on 22 June…
THE proposed extension of the Frankston line to Baxter is in serious doubt, with $225 million in federal funding for the project on the chopping block. The Liberal federal government committed $225 million towards the extension of the Frankston line in 2018. Since then the project has laid dormant, and no other level of government has contributed cash towards it. While releasing its first budget last Tuesday, the Labor federal government confirmed that an independent review into all Infrastructure Investment Program projects not yet under construction will be undertaken. The Times has confirmed that the Frankston line extension is one…
THE threat of legal action by Frankston MP Geoff Shaw over an article written by former mayor Christine Richards is a Mexican standoff. The article headed “There’s more to Frankston than beer and bogans” was published in The Age on 7 January and led to Mr Shaw’s solicitor Quinn McCormack seeking a formal apology from Ms Richards (“MP’s defamation threat”, The Times 16/1/14). Ms McCormack claimed the article, which was co-signed by four other former Frankston mayors, “made a number of defamatory imputations” including that Mr Shaw “had acted violently, had engaged in bullying, had misappropriated public funds and was…
FRANKSTON Hospital has been revealed as among the state’s worst-performing emergency departments, failing to meet the majority of targets set by the state government for timely treatment of patients. Victorian hospital annual reports tabled recently in state parliament show nearly all emergency departments struggled to transfer patients from ambulances within specified time frames over the past financial year. Frankston Hospital, which is operated by Peninsula Health, was able to transfer patients from ambulances within the required 40-minute time frame just 56 per cent of the time – well short of the target of 90 per cent set by the state…
Arson and Explosives Squad detectives have located a small amount of explosives at a house at Frankston. The News believes the explosives to be gelignite. A local tradesman doing building works at the property today came across the explosives secreted in the house and alerted police immediately. Frankston SES were called in to help after the initial gelignite was removed from the property. They helped clear the area so the Bomb Response Unite could do a thorough search. The explosives will be taken to a quarry in Skye and disposed of under the direction of the forensic explosives chemist and WorkSafe…
FAKE social media reports have sparked public panic over a supposed organised dog abduction ring targeting pets around Frankston and the peninsula. Police have moved to allay fears that beloved pets were being stolen from Frankston and peninsula homes to be used in, or as bait for, illegal dog fights, as reported in widely circulated Facebook postings. “It’s all fake. It’s simply not happening,” a Victoria Police spokesman said. “We have investigated this thoroughly and can confirm there’s absolutely no substance to the reports.” Police have been swamped with reported sightings of a White Toyota ute and other “suspicious activities”…
PROPOSED boundary amendments to the state electoral district of Frankston could seriously imperil Geoff Shaw’s re-election prospects, despite the former Liberal and now independent MP welcoming the potential changes. The Frankston MP applauded the Victorian Electoral Boundaries Commission announcement last week proposing Frankston North be included in his electorate, despite the area being a Labor stronghold and his own seat being highly marginal. The EBC is calling for public suggestions and objections to its proposed redivision of electoral boundaries, which will affect the vast majority of electorates in Victoria. But Mr Shaw said he was more than happy with the…
TEN-storey towers 32 metres high could be built on the beach side of Nepean Highway under the proposed Frankston structure plan. The draft plan was released for public comment on Monday night. The plan will guide development over the next 20 years and replaces the 2005 TAFE to Bay structure plan. The proposal is already drawing fire with two councillors, James Dooley and Glenn Aitken, criticising on ABC television news. Cr Aitken told the ABC the structure plan “will turn Frankston into a place of mediocrity into the future”. Cr Dooley said it included zones for high-density housing that could…
SHIRE councillors have removed the Rosebud foreshore site as the preferred location for the Southern Peninsula Aquatic Centre (SPA). The move at Tuesday night’s council meeting reverses a decision made in March 2012. It was led by the shire’s youngest councillor, Andrew Dixon, who was elected to one of three seats in Briars Ward last October. The decision puts the inland site at Wannaeue Place (Rosebud Central shopping centre) on an equal footing with the foreshore site. Councillors will consider the two sites at a workshop on 23 July before again debating the long-running project at a subsequent council meeting.…
THE cost of Frankston’s aquatic centre has risen $3.35 million from $46.35 to $49.7 million. Frankston Council chief executive Dennis Hovenden said the increase came when the council approved the final design and awarded the tender for its construction to builder ADCO. “One of the final design decisions by the council was widening of the main pool hall concourse, which increased the size of the building by about 1200 square metres,” he said. Australian construction company ADCO recently built the Greensborough Regional Aquatic and Leisure Centre and is completing the Hawthorn Aquatic and Leisure Centre. On Tuesday, the council announced…
FRANKSTON Hospital will not reopen its short-stay ward of 10 beds until Easter. The move has been forced on the hospital by federal government cuts announced just before Christmas. On 18 December it was stated Victorian hospitals would start closing beds after the federal government cut $107 million from Victoria’s health budget. The cuts to funding came after the Australian Bureau of Statistics reduced population estimates for the current financial year, triggering the cut. On Wednesday, hospital spokesman John Jukes said the ward was meant to open this week after the summer break but would stay closed until Easter and…
THE future viability of taxi services in Frankston and on the Mornington Peninsula could depend on the state government’s reaction to recommendations in the taxi industry inquiry report. The creation of an outer urban zone and certainty given to wheelchair taxi services provided by Frankston Radio Cabs has been welcomed by manager Kevin Dunn. However, Mr Dunn believes cheaper taxi licences proposed in the Customers First: Service, Safety. Choice report could lead to some operators “going broke”. “I’m not saying that would mean the world coming to an end, but we have a good rapport with the community and believe…
FRANKSTON Council is about to again embark on a search for investors in the $300 million marina earmarked for development between Olivers Hill and Daveys Bay. Impetus for reviving the search abandoned in 2010 follows advice from council’s investment attraction facilitator Jason Sharp that Tourism Victoria’s offer to help finance the re-tendering the project runs out at the end of the 2012-13 financial year. Mr Sharp’s report on this week’s council agenda says that despite abandoning the tender process in 2010, council officers continued working to gain extra time for the marina from Planning Minister Matthew Guy. “The Cultural Heritage…
MEMBERS of two influential community groups say fast-tracking the move by South East Water to Frankston could add to the woes of Frankston MP Geoff Shaw. They are targeting Mr Shaw in their 11th hour bid to have the water authority’s headquarters sited away from Kananook Creek and the foreshore. “We agree that Frankston is the ideal location for South East Water HQ, but why was it that the state government demanded this key waterfront site and this site only?” former Kananook Creek Association president Rob Thurley has told The News. “Why were better located, less sensitive sites never considered…
THE new Frankston Council was confronted by a thorny problem at its first meeting in Thursday night – how to save one of the city’s iconic trees. A problem solved 10 years ago has come back to haunt the council with owners of 138 and 138A Cranbourne Rd, Frankston, wanting to remove the 120-year-old Moreton Bay fig tree growing on common property between two homes. The tree was the centre of attention in 2002 when the previous owner of the property wanted to cut it down to build two homes. A public outcry saw the council buy the property and…
RECONSTRUCTION of the retaining wall on Nepean Highway near Olivers Hill in Frankston will take three and a half months. Work started on the $1.4 million wall in February, but it collapsed on Thursday 19 April before it could be finished. Dramatic pictures of the wall collapsing were taken by a man walking his dog. The first wall was built of rocks in steel cages and backfilled with sand. The second attempt is being constructed using steel posts hammered into the ground, horizontal wooden planks and backfilled with lighter material. The lighter material would “reduce the load imposed on it”,…
FRANKSTON MP Geoff Shaw is likely to keep his seat despite allegations of rorting the use of his parliamentary vehicle. Mr Shaw will be hoping his offer to repay any costs involving the commercial use of the vehicle and the fairly mild results of an Ombudsman’s report will be enough to allow him to keep his job. The loss of Mr Shaw’s seat would force a byelection that could threaten the future of the state government, which holds power with a one-seat majority. Liberal Party insiders have told The News that Mr Shaw would have been forced out by his…
TULLI the wombat was rescued from his dead mother’s pouch more than a year ago and last weekend was taken back to the bush as a 20kg adult. Tulli and her “sheltermate” Wilma are among the animals rescued each year and taken to Animalia Wildlife Shelter in Frankston. The wombats have been taken to a bush property near Nar Nar Goon and put into a small enclosure prior to being released in a couple of weeks after they have finished building a burrow and getting used to the smells and sounds of their new home range. They are being fed…
CHRISTINE Richards pulled out of the Frankston Council election last Wednesday, surprising even her closest supporters. Her decision, technically a “retirement” according to the Victorian Electoral Commission, means the council will have at least two new faces after the 27 October election with Kris Bolam not nominating in North-West Ward and heading off into the sunset to work as a Protective Services Officer on train stations. Cr Richards was elected to South-West Ward in 2008 and was elected mayor by her colleagues a year later. On Wednesday, Cr Richards told VEC returning officer Ian Smyth of her decision. She had…
A 22-year-old Frankston man has been charged with the assault of Mical Jones in Mornington last month. Kyle Pollard appeared in Frankston Magistrates’ Court on Tuesday charged with intention to cause serious injury and multiple assault-related charges after he was apprehended at his home around 6am on Tuesday. He did not apply for bail and was remanded in custody to appear in Melbourne Magistrate’s court on Monday. Detective Senior Constable Rohan Brock of Mornington crime investigation unit said police were still investigating a second person believed to be involved in the assault in Empire Street Mall about 4am on Sunday…
DROMANA area councillor Graham Pittock has played a significant role in the shire council of the past four years. He has been the leader of a group of five “progressive” councillors who have attempted to make the council more open, transparent and responsive to community concerns as well as encourage the shire to engage with its municipal neighbours. During his term as mayor last year, he brought the shire into the South East Metro Group, joining Frankston, Kingston, Casey, Cardinia and Bass Coast councils. The group has been burrowing away behind the scenes, lobbying the state government on common issues…