Bellarine Times
Tuesday 11 May 2010
VOL 3. No 19
www.bellarinetimes.com.au
FREE WEEKLY
BUDGET BOOST Extra monetary assistance for first home owners to provide added incentive for those looking to make the Bellarine their home
BY ALISON MARTIN FIRST home buyers planning to call the Bellarine home are the winners from the State Government’s $2,000 boost to the assistance available for regional home purchases. Last week’s 2010 State Budget announcement has increased the total available assistance for regional first home buyers to $26,500, providing further incentive for renters to secure their dream home. Member for Bellarine, Lisa Neville, said local families wanting to get into home ownership would receive additional assistance with the boost to the first home owners grant. “With new developments proposed for Clifton Springs, Ocean Grove and Portarlington this boost will enable many families who could not get into home ownership the opportunity to build their new homes and lives on the Bellarine Peninsula,” she said. Neville Richards Real Estate agent, Luke Campbell, said encouraging first home owners was a positive move, although predominate buyers around the highly sought-after Portarlington, Indented Head and St Leonards were still 40- to 60-year-olds looking for a lifestyle change. “Certainly in the beginning of the first home buyer incentives we saw an incredible uptake from first home owners on the Bellarine, but now we are seeing a lack of residential blocks,” Campbell said. “We need the land to become available and rezoning to start to keep a step ahead while the first home buyers’ money is available.” Neville said the increased grant and demand for residential blocks would also bring new jobs into the local community. She said Bellarine residents will also benefit from a $33.6million
investment in the region’s health facilities, ensuring families living and moving to the Bellarine would have access to high-quality healthcare. “It will expand acute capacity at Geelong Hospital with six new beds in the intensive care unit and increase inpatient capacity,” she said. “This budget provides funding to improve access to health services at the Geelong Hospital but also commences the building of a second hospital for Geelong. “The proposed new hospital is great news for residents of Ocean Grove and Queenscliff who will have access to a full suite of quality health services, better meeting demand for services, but also providing closer and easier access. ”Geelong is a growing community and as the population grows, demand for hospital services will increase. This new hospital will continue to look after the health and wellbeing of our community well into the future. ”The budget provides extra funding for the Ocean Grove Surf Life Saving Club – this is on top of $10,000 recently provided to the club to help them continue to provide their vital service, particularly with people with a disability.” Neville said the local surf life saving club was one of our biggest and looked after one of the most popular beaches in the region. It is unique in that it has an overwhelming number of local residents who volunteer and support the club. “The grant provided in the budget is an acknowledgement of the great work they do each summer and will help them continue to keep our community safe on the beach,” she said. For a full look at the Budget from a local perspective, see Page 16.
Surf Forecast
Photo: ALISON MARTIN
Bellarine Secondary College ‘class clown’, Blaise White, had the last laugh aat the Potato Shed last week, under the watchful eye of multi award-winning ccomedian, writer and actor, Damian Callinan. See Page 8 for the full story.
WED 4-6ft inconsistent, SW 13° THU 3-4ft easing, SW 14° FRI 1-3ft WNW clean 17° SAT 1-3ft clean N 17°
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