NEWS DESK
Cop vs firey: Battle for Frankston Neil Walker neil@baysidenews.com.au A serving Victoria Police officer will face off against a former firefighter in what is likely to be a tight race to win the marginal seat of Frankston at next year’s state election. Frankston police station commander Senior Sergeant Michael Lamb won Liberal Party preselection on Saturday 5 August to try to unseat incumbent Labor MP Paul Edbrooke next November. Mr Edbrooke, a Mt Eliza resident, was a Country Fire Authority firefighter for 13 years before his election as a state MP in 2014. Senior Sergeant Lamb saw off a challenge from Liberal hopefuls Darrel Taylor, a former Frankston councillor and mayor, and financial adviser Alex Screen to win preselection in the first round of internal party membership voting. The police officer is a Frankston resident and is president of the Frankston YCW Football Netball Club. “As a father, I understand the concerns of families in the Frankston community with the scourge of the drug ice,” Mr Lamb said in a statement provided by the Liberal Party’s head office in Melbourne. “After working as a frontline policeman for over 31 years, I have witnessed firsthand the consequences of violent crime on victims.” Mr Edbrooke won the seat of Frankston from former Liberal turned independent MP Geoff Shaw at the 2014 state election getting over the line against Liberal candidate Sean Armi-
Comrades in arms: Liberal Party candidate Michael Lamb, right, with former prime minister Tony Abbott. Source: Facebook
stead by just 336 votes after distribution of preferences, a 0.5 per cent margin. Labor and Premier Daniel Andrews ousted the former Coalition state government under Denis Napthine from power after just one term in office, initially under ex-premier Ted Baillieu’s who resigned in 2013. Mr Edbrooke’s wafer-thin 0.5 per cent margin is in one of four swinging “sand belt” electorates along the Frankston line — the others being Carrum, Mordialloc and Bentleigh — seen as crucial to winning government. Carrum and Bentleigh are held by
Labor my margins under 1 per cent. Tim Richardson has a 2.1 per margin in Mordialloc. Former Carrum MP Donna Bauer hopes to win preselection again to try to retake the seat for the Liberal Party from Labor MP Sonya Kilkenny. Gandhi Bevinakoppa and Carmella Monger are also Liberal candidates for preselection in Carrum. Asher Judah was preselected in Bentleigh earlier this month by the Liberal Party to contest the seat against Labor MP Nick Staikos.
Police patrol Boy ‘forced to steal’ AN 18-YEAR-OLD Carrum Downs man has been charged with robbery, theft and failing to appear over outstanding warrants after allegedly robbing a youth on a bus in Seaford and then, a week later, forcing another youth to steal jeans for him at a Frankston shopping centre. The man will appear at Frankston Magistrates’ Court, Wednesday 23 August. Detective Senior Constable Darren Paxton, of Frankston’s Embona Armed Robbery Taskforce, said the offender and three friends boarded the bus with the 17-year-old at Carrum and, en route, requested use of his mobile phone, 7.30pm, Sunday 30 July. The youth handed over his phone but, when the bus approached his stop on Railway Pd, Seaford, asked for it back. The offender allegedly refused and said that if the youth didn’t get off he would “shank him”. He then demanded the youth’s backpack which was handed over. The youth later reported the incident to police. Police allege the same offender coerced a 15-year-old into stealing items of clothing for him at Bayside shopping centre, 4.30pm, Saturday 5 August. Detective Paxton said the 18-yearold, accompanied by two brothers aged 16 and 17 and a 19-year-old woman, approached the Frankston boy in the food court. The offender intimidated the boy into agreeing to steal a pair of jeans for him and then walked with him around the store with him to choose
a pair. The others waited outside. The boy did as he was told: stole the jeans and handed them over, but, instead of letting him go, the group walked him to a quiet area and stole his phone, watch, shoes, jacket and backpack containing a spare pair of pants. The boy was given his phone back after the girl intervened. Detective Paxton said the centre’s CCTV was “helpful in identifying the alleged offenders and apprehending them”. The 18-year-old was charged with robbery, theft, and a range of outstanding warrants, including failing to appear at court. His 16-yearold accomplice, of Hastings, was charged with robbery, as well as committing various offences while on bail. These included allegedly assaulting a bus driver in Young St, Frankston, 7.20pm, 18 July. The youth slapped the driver, 45, knocking off his glasses. He was due to appear at Frankston Magistrates’ Court but allegedly refused to attend. Detectives have not yet received a new court date.
True grit AN elderly Frankston woman showed plenty of fighting spirit when she challenged a burglar in her Cranbourne Rd house and chased him outside, 4am, Sunday 13 August. The man had earlier entered the 90-year-old woman’s garage and rummaged through her car, then used a jemmy bar to force a bedroom window and open a sliding door into the dining room.
Have your say in the Australian Marriage Law Postal Survey The Australian Bureau of Statistics will be giving all eligible Australians the opportunity to express their view on whether Australian marriage laws should be changed to allow same sex couples to marry. Survey forms will be sent to all eligible Australians on the Commonwealth Electoral Roll. To participate, you must be enrolled. Enrol, check or update your details at www.aec.gov.au or pick up an enrolment form at any AEC office or Post Office. The roll will close on Thursday August 24 for this survey. Information Line 1800 572 113 available from Monday August 14. Open 7 days a week, 8am - 8pm (local time).
Enrol or update your details before August 24 at www.aec.gov.au PAGE 4 Frankston Times 21 August 2017