NEWS DESK Police patrol
Council makes road wishlist
with Brodie Cowburn
Teens arrested after car crash
sexual assault, two counts of indecent assault, nine counts of indecent act in the presence of a child under 16, and six counts of procuring a child under 16 for indecent act. The charged man was remanded. He is expected to appear at Melbourne Magistrates’ Court on 9 December.
A FRANKSTON teenager was arrested after an allegedly stolen car crashed in Mount Eliza last month. The crash occurred in the early hours of 23 September. Police say they spotted the Hyundai IX35 driving erratically on Frankston at around 2.15am, and tried to pull the car over. Police allege the driver didn’t stop and continued along Moorooduc Highway onto Wooralla Drive, where the car crashed and rolled. A 16-year-old boy from Ascot Vale was arrested. Police allege he was driving. A 16-yearold boy from Frankston was also arrested. They were both taken to hospital under police guard. The car was allegedly stolen in an aggravated burglary at a house on Orrong Avenue in Frankston shortly before the crash. Police allege that two offenders stole wallets, laptops, cameras, and car keys. Anyone with information on the alleged incident can contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.
Policewoman hit by car A POLICE officer was hit by a car in Seaford last month. An alarm at a school on Eel Race Road was set off in the early hours of 18 September. Police attended at around 3am. A car leaving the school grounds allegedly hit a police officer before driving away. The police officer was taken to hospital. Her injuries were not life threatening. The car was a white ute with a silver tray. The driver is still at large. Anyone with information can contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000 or submit a confidential report online at www.crimestoppersvic.com.au
Credit card thief wanted A PERSON is wanted for using stolen credit cards to buy booze and cigarettes. Police allege that a person stole a wallet from Frankston at around 11am on 7 September. The cards were later used at Dan Murphy’s Seaford, Seaford IGA, and Seaford BP to buy alcohol and cigarettes. Around $500 was spent after the card was stolen. Police have released an image (left) of a person they wish to speak to about the theft. Anyone who recognises them can contact Carrum Downs Police Station on 8770 4100 and quote incident number 220289434.
Sexual assault charge A MAN has been charged with a series of historical child sexual offences which allegedly took place in Chelsea, Edithvale, Sorrento, and Mount Hotham. The offending allegedly occurred at social gatherings between 2008 and 2011. On 15 September police arrested a 47-year-old Wallan man and charged him with two counts of sexual penetration of a child under 16, one count of indecent act with a child under 16,
ROADS should be a priority for candidates at this year’s state election, Kingston Council says. In a statement, Kingston Council has called on local political candidates to commit to building the Westall Road extension between the Princes Highway and Monash Freeway, duplicating Governor Road between Boundary Road and Springvale Road, and duplicating the Thompson Road bridge in Patterson Lakes. Kingston mayor Steve Staikos says that completing the projects will “greatly benefit our city and the broader south-east road network.” “Now is the time for the state government, the opposition and the minor parties to show their support for our community through committing to making the necessary investment in the road network,” Staikos said. “It would be an investment in safety, efficiency, productivity, connectedness, and the future. As a council we are doing everything we can to make Kingston a great place to live, work, and play, but we need the other levels of government to assist us in this ongoing work, and improving our roads is another way the state government can support us.” Kingston councillor Cameron Howe says the investment into the Thompson Road bridge is needed as it is “almost impossible for westbound traffic to turn right onto the Mornington Peninsula Freeway and onto the popular Mordialloc Freeway during busy times because the right turn lane is far too short to meet the demand.” “The direct result is motorists are resorting to using the town centre roundabout to perform a U-turn, which is adding to congestion, posing safety risks and creating frustration for local Patterson Lakes residents,” he said. Kingston Council is also assessing the need for upgrades along Centre Dandenong Road at Warrigal Road, the Nepean Highway, and Boundary Road. The Victorian state election will be held on 26 November.
Surprise is a Shaw thing Keith Platt keith@baysidenews.com.au FORMER Liberal party MP Geoff Shaw, while not accepting full responsibility, does admit to being “probably the straw that broke the camel’s back” when it came to the resignation of then Victorian Premier Ted Baillieu. But, nearly a decade later, Shaw would clearly like to be credited with the downfall of the current Premier Daniel Andrews. The MP for Frankston from 2010 to 2014, Shaw was elected a Liberal but ended his controversial time in parliament sitting on the crossbenches. Now, after years away from the public side of politics, he is about to make a comeback: firstly, as the author of the unashamedly anti-Andrews book Unmasked and, secondly, as a candidate for the United Australia Party in the November state election. His bid to return to parliament, this time in the Upper House, is expected to be announced this week. On Sunday (2 October) the closest he would get to acknowledging a position with the UAP was to say, “it’s on the cards, I reckon I’m in”. Shaw said he had “put in an application” to be one of UAP’s 16 upper house candidates. Now 54, Shaw says his election “theme”, if chosen to contest Northern Victoria, would be Hope for Victoria. “It covers 44 per cent of the state but has been really neglected. The country has been left out of the [government’s] narrative.” Even though Shaw says the demise of Baillieu, who was succeeded as premier by Denis Napthine, “is quite a while ago now”, he makes no such reservations when describing the rise and rise of Andrews in the Labor Party. Six of the chapters in Unmasked have “Dan” in the title, from Decisive Dan (chapter 1) to Defeated Dan (chapter 23). All the other chapters start with the letter D. He mentions that his social posts, which included published news articles, attracted
more than 100,000 hits and the attention of the police, state government, defence ministry and premier’s department. “I criticised, but made no personal attacks,” he says. Shaw says his wife Bianca suggested he write a book while enduring Victoria’s world record COVID lockdowns. He also mentions the state recorded 38 per cent of COVID-related deaths in Australia while housing 25 per cent of the country’s population. The promotional blurb accompanying Unmasked offers that the media, and Shaw’s “political foes”, have described him as a “rogue, rorter, rebel, and maverick; businessman, accountant, and former politician”. Although charged in September 2013 with obtaining financial benefit by deception and one charge of misconduct in public office (mainly over the use of his parliamentary car) the Department of Public Prosecutions announced three months later that the charges had been dropped. Shaw says there was no love lost between himself and then opposition leader Andrews, who publicly said he wanted Shaw “out of the Victorian parliament”. Six years later Shaw says he was “just one of the millions of Victorians who suffered unprecedented governance of drastic, and stringent laws throughout the COVID-19 pandemic at the hands of now Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews”. "If he gets voted back I, along with many others, will be exceptionally disappointed and I believe as a result we will see even more damage to the once great State of Victoria precipitating a mass exodus”. Shaw says the words for Unmasked “just came flowing” during the lockdowns, three to four hours a day for about five months. While he did not speak to Andrews, the premier’s actions and daily press releases “needed to be recorded - the title Unmasked just came to me, as it’s exposing him and his policies”. Unmasked by Geoff Shaw can be bought online at danandrewsunmasked.com.au for $34.95 a hard copy or $24.95 for the e-book version.
THE EASY
BREAKFAST with Jon & Julie
Frankston Times
4 October 2022
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