MAY 3, 2017 \ STARWEEKLY.COM.AU
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Sports star powers up
(Damjan Janevski)
A Seddon athlete with an uplifting tale is taking her talents back to the world stage. Margherita Coppolino will join Team Australia at the World Dwarf Games in Canada in August, hoping to add more medals to the gold and silver she collected in the sport of boccia in 2013. As well as backing up in boccia, Coppolino will be compete in power lifting for the first time. “I’m turning 57 at the games, I thought I would take up power lifting as a challenge,” she said. “I train three times a week at Exercise Room in Footscray – the weight training has been really good for me.” Coppolino is hoping to raise the profile of people with short stature in a bid to convince sports authorities to take their wish to be included in organised sports more seriously. “We have short-statured people who actually run marathons, as well as being involved in swimming and power lifting and basketball,” she said. “Sport is really important for people feeling isolation or with mental health issues – it has pulled me out of some very dark places.” The seventh World Dwarf Games will be held from August 5-12 in Ontario, Canada. Benjamin Millar
New hospital on the way
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of the school’s facilities were more than 100 years old. “The school’s facilities are in need of an upgrade and this budget contribution will help get this work started,” he said. Principal Jackie Green said the school had not received budget funding for many years. She said the money would kick-start a plan to refurbish classrooms, demolish and replace one of the old timber buildings and build a new gymnasium. “Our school community has been growing a bit over the past few years and, with the school council, we’ve been working on a plan to upgrade our facilities,” she said. “The funding’s going to give us the opportunity to upgrade those older buildings into a more modern
learning environment.” Under a $2 billion boost first announced in December, Footscray will gain four new police officers while Altona North station will be upgraded. Inspector Michelle Young said a new police station within Hobsons Bay would be a community asset. “Although very much in the early phases of planning, I’m confident that the new police station will be designed to ensure that it meets Victoria Police needs now and heading into the future,” she said. The M80 ring road will be widened from end to end by 2021 and the Princes Freeway Bridge over Railway Avenue at Altona Meadows will be upgraded.
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Footscray Hospital will be rebuilt from scratch on the back of a $50 million funding allocation in the 2017-18 state budget. The funds, announced on Tuesday, will be used to develop a business case, start design work and purchase nearby land if it is required. Health Minister Jill Hennessy said the hospital no longer met the needs of a rapidly growing community. “The business case will identify the best way to deliver a new hospital for Footscray – either a rebuild from the ground up on the existing site, or on a new location,” she said.
Footscray MP Marsha Thomson welcomed the funding, while Greens MP Colleen Hartland said the rebuild was well overdue. Western Health board chair Bronwyn Pike said rebuilding the hospital had long been a top priority for the community. “Footscray Hospital has been at the heart of our community for 60 years, and so we are thrilled that it will soon become the world-class, modern facility that our patients deserve,” she said. Urgent works will also be carried out on the existing hospital, built in the 1950s. The budget also delivers $1.4 million to Spotswood Primary School for the first stage of a $4 million upgrade. Williamstown MP Wade Noonan said some 1219971-HM10-16
By Benjamin Millar and Goya Dmytryshchak