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BAYSIDE • BOROONDARA • GLEN EIRA • KINGSTON • MELBOURNE • PORT PHILLIP • STONNINGTON • YARRA Local and Independent. Not associated with any other publication in this area.
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Incorporating the Southern Cross Weekly, Boroondara Weekly, Stonnington Weekly, Glen Eira Standard, Kingston Standard, Port Phillip Times, Bayside Advertiser, Brighton Advertiser, Sandringham Advertiser, Collingwood-Fitzroy-Carlton Courier, The Clarion, Yarra Times.
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WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 10, 2025
Local News Comedy move
■ The Marriner Group wants to demolish part of the heritage-listed Comedy Theatre on Exhibition St, City, and build a 27-storey tower behind it containing offices and a 270room hotel, reports The Age. Ir reports that the City of Melbourne has approved the major CBD redevelopment.
Positions vacant
NEW SKATE PARK FOR CHELTENHAM
■ Bayside Council is seekingt expressions of interest to join the Disability Access and Inclusion Advisory Committee. There are two vacant positions for local people with lived experience of disability.
Roo beauty
■ The City of Melbourne has celebrated the success of the North Melbourne Football Club’s AFLW team by awarding a prestigious Melbourne honour – the Key to the City.
The Local Paper MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY NEW YEAR This is the final 2025 issue of The Local Paper. Our team now takes a summer break, re-opening the office on Tuesday, January 27. Our first 2026 issue is scheduled for Wednesday, February 4.
● Harriet Shing, State Minister
■ The State Government will provide a new, world-class skatepark in Cheltenham designed with the help of Melbourne skateboarding legend and Olympic judge Renton Millar. Harriet Shing, Minister for the Suburban Rail Loop, announced the updated designs, which incorporate extensive feedback from local skaters, families and Kingston Council. Featuring a dynamic mix of bowl and street skating zones and artwork celebrating the historic Highett Gasworks pipework, the new skatepark will anchor a major transformation of Sir William Fry Reserve. The upgraded precinct will include a new multi-sport court, pickleball court, off-leash dog park, more vegetation and lighting, upgraded seating and pathways and a new events lawn to host festivals and markets. Around 250 local community submissions helped shape the final concept, with more than 90 new trees to be planted and new cycling and walking paths set to create the firstever direct link between Highett and Bay Rd along the Frankston Line. The new permanent open space will replace parkland in the southern part of Sir William Fry Reserve near Bay Rd, which is needed to build the SRL station in Cheltenham. The new open space will open before major station construction starts in 2028. Bentleigh MLA Nick Staikos said the local feedback has helped shape the designs for this exciting new open space
Conflict in the workplace?
‘Tough times for Jewish community’
● Michael O’Brien, Malvern MLA
■ The local Jewish community had faced tough times over recent years, Malvern MLA Michael O’Brien told State Parliament last week. “ I was disappointed to see that Stonnington Council recently deferred a decision to display a menorah that had been proposed to be funded by the local Jewish community. It has been a very tough couple of years for our Jewish community, and in my electorate no less than in any others,” Mr O’Brien said. “I understand the decision has only been deferred rather than having been rejected, but I would urge Stonnington Council, given what our Jewish community has been through over recent times, to reconsider this. “I think it would be a very important message of unity and show of support for them at a difficult time, and I certainly look forward to joining with Chabad Malvern and helping them to light the menorah in the next week or so,” Mr O’Brien said.
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