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Greater Dandenong's Independent Weekly
The Dandenong Local
Issue #10 · Wednesday 29 July 2026 · Free
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📬 From the Editor
G'day, and welcome to Issue #10.
Genuine good news to lead with this week: Greater Dandenong has been ranked the highest-rated council of 19 Melbourne metro councils in an independent satisfaction survey — a record result, and worth sitting with for a moment.
Council also confirmed its last squash courts are being demolished, closing the loop on the campaign we've followed since Issue #5. And a councillor stoush over an alleged "two functions a day" cap on the Mayor's diary adds another layer to the ongoing conversation about councillor travel and expenses.
Safety Update runs three items this week — a stolen car pursuit through Keysborough, a $2.2 million drug bust, and an 18-year-old caught doing 165km/h on the Dandenong Bypass. Please, slow down out there.
This week's Suburb Spotlight wraps up our first full lap of Greater Dandenong with Springvale North. We're calling out for Resident Voice again this week, but we've got an Only in Dandenong moment from an anonymous reader queuing for jam donuts at the Market, and a joke from Anon to close things out. — Topher, Editor · The Dandenong Local
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📰 This Week's Big Story
🏆 Council & Community
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Greater Dandenong ranked Melbourne's most satisfied council — again.
Greater Dandenong City Council has recorded the highest community satisfaction results of any of the 19 Melbourne metropolitan councils surveyed this year, in an independent door-to-door study conducted by Metropolis Research for the second year running. Staff spoke to residents in 17 languages. The overall satisfaction score of 7.4 is equal-highest recorded by Metropolis in 25 years of running the survey.
Council outperformed the metro average across every category measured: customer service experience scored 8.5 (9 points above the metro average), council services and facilities scored 8.1 (2 points above), planning and development scored 7.9 (5 points above), and governance and leadership scored 7.5 (2 points above). Results were benchmarked against 18 other metropolitan councils, including Monash, Knox, Frankston and Wyndham.
"This outcome reflects the dedication, professionalism and commitment of our staff across every department, and should be a source of pride for our community," Mayor Sophie Tan said. It's a genuinely rare thing for a council to top this kind of survey two years straight — and a useful bit of context next to the accountability stories running elsewhere in this issue. Read full story here.
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🎾 Also This Week — Sport & Facilities
Squash courts confirmed for demolition after 4-4 casting vote.
The campaign we've followed since Issue #5 has reached its end. Councillors split 4-4 on 20 July over a $32,000–$46,000 feasibility study into keeping Dandenong's last squash courts, and deputy mayor Phillip Danh's casting vote sealed it — no study, no reprieve. The courts will be demolished alongside most of the old Oasis building, except the table tennis hall, once the new $122 million Oasis Aquatics and Wellbeing centre opens in late 2027. It won't have squash facilities. Player Terry Wilkinson, who led a 140-signature petition to save the courts, said the group "feels deflated."
Read full story here.
🏛 Also This Week — Council
Mayor denies "events cap" claim after skipping council meeting.
Mayor Sophie Tan has denied capping her public engagements at two a day, after Cr Rhonda Garad raised the claim during question time at the 20 July council meeting — a meeting Cr Tan wasn't at, having taken leave to attend the ALP's 50th Anniversary National Conference in Adelaide. "There is no cap on events I am willing to attend," Cr Tan told the Star Journal afterwards. "I maintain a very busy diary of community events and I enjoy getting to as many as I can." The exchange follows the same meeting's rejected motion to cap councillor numbers at the Canberra ALGA conference (see Council Watch).
Read full story here.
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📅 What's On This Week
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Finger Knitting 🧶
Springvale Library · 6:30pm–8pm · Free
Relaxed, social drop-in session — learn simple finger knitting techniques and make your own belt. Materials provided, or bring your own craft project. More info here.
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Waste Wise Pop-Up ♻️
North Dandenong Neighbourhood House · 10am–12pm · Free
Drop in and chat with Council's Waste Education team about recycling coffee cups and soft plastics — why they can't go in the recycling bin, and what to do instead. More info here.
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Medium Community Grants Info Session 💰
5pm–6:30pm · Free · Bookings essential
Applying for a Medium Grant (up to $10,000 for community groups and individual artists)? This session covers the process, timeframes and how to write a strong application. Grants close 11 August. RSVP via [email protected] or 8571 1432. More info here.
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Free Live Music in the Bazaar 🎶
The Bazaar, Dandenong Market · 11am–2pm · Free
Jemma Rose plays a free live set in the Market's General Merchandise Hall — grab a coffee, find a spot, and enjoy the tunes while you shop.
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Share Your Memories of the Drum 🎭
Drum Theatre · 12pm–3pm · Free, registration required
To mark the Drum's 20th anniversary, a community recording session inviting locals to share moments and memories for a lasting oral history collection. Register via [email protected]. More info here.
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Fresh Networking Dandenong 🤝
Holiday Inn Dandenong · 7:30am · Check ticket price on event
A morning networking meet-up for local business owners and professionals — good one for anyone building connections in the Dandenong business community.
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🔎 Suburb Spotlight
Springvale North
Postcode 3171 · Approx. 22km SE of Melbourne CBD
Not to be confused with the Springvale we covered back in Issue #3 — that piece focused on the shopping strip and Vietnamese community heart of the suburb. Springvale North is a different beast entirely: it's the ward that runs along the top of Springvale, sharing a name but a distinctly different feel.
This is our final Suburb Spotlight of the first full lap around Greater Dandenong, and it closes things out with the ward that's home to Sandown Racecourse and the Sandown International Motor Raceway — one of Melbourne's four horse racing venues, doubling as a motorsport track most weeks and drawing crowds who'll never set foot near the Market or Harmony Square. Sandown Park railway station, on the Pakenham and Cranbourne lines, sits right at the raceway's doorstep.
Away from the track, it's suburban streets built around Police Road and Springvale Reserve — home turf for the Springvale Districts Football Club and Silverton Cricket Club, and the site of a record 5,600-strong crowd for a footy match back in 1986. Ward councillor Sean O'Reilly has represented the area since 2012 and lived locally since 2006, and has previously served as mayor.
It's a fitting note to end the first lap on — proof that even a suburb we've technically "already covered" can turn up an entirely different story once you look at a different corner of it. Round two of Suburb Spotlight kicks off next issue with Keysborough, and every write-up from here will hunt for a genuinely new angle rather than round-two-ing the same facts.
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🛡 Safety Update
Stolen Lexus flees police from Dandenong to Mount Waverley
A man and boy have been arrested after a Lexus with allegedly stolen plates fled police in Dandenong in the early hours of Friday 24 July. Officers tried to intercept the vehicle about 1:20am; it sped off towards Melbourne's east and was tracked by Air Wing to Mount Waverley, where it was abandoned. The Dog Squad and Critical Incident Response Team assisted uniform officers in locating the occupants. A 16-year-old Bass Coast boy was charged with 35 offences, including robbery, car theft and criminal damage by fire, and remanded to a children's court. A 32-year-old Noble Park man was charged with car theft, handling stolen goods and dangerous driving.
$2.2 million drug haul seized in Keysborough
An eight-month investigation by Springvale Divisional Response Unit detectives has led to a 46-year-old Keysborough man being charged with trafficking a large commercial quantity of methylamphetamine and heroin, along with cannabis, prescription medication and firearm offences. Police seized around 2kg of substances believed to be methylamphetamine and heroin (estimated street value over $2.2 million), almost $85,000 in cash and a smelted gold bar worth roughly $80,000, following a vehicle intercept on Corrigan Road and search warrants at addresses in Keysborough and Springvale. He was remanded to appear at Melbourne Magistrates' Court on 30 October.
P-plater clocked at 165km/h on the Dandenong Bypass
Greater Dandenong Highway Patrol, on unmarked night patrol in Keysborough on Friday 17 July, clocked an 18-year-old P1 driver reaching 165km/h in an 80km/h zone on the Dandenong Bypass, weaving dangerously amongst other vehicles. It was his dad's car. Police invited the driver's parents to the roadside to meet their son — reportedly the least of his worries at that point. He copped more than $1,300 in fines and an immediate 12-month licence suspension.
🐢 A reminder: slow down out there.
Three separate stories this week, three separate sets of consequences — a children's court appearance, a remand, and a 12-month licence loss. None of it was worth it. If you're behind the wheel this week, give yourself the extra few minutes.
More info here.
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🏛 Council Watch
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FailedThe squash courts feasibility study was voted down 4-4 on a casting vote — full story above. Demolition proceeds alongside the old Oasis building once the new centre opens in late 2027.
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FailedCr Garad's motion to cap Greater Dandenong's Canberra conference delegation at three councillors was voted down at the 20 July meeting. Eight councillors and officers attended this year's National General Assembly at a cost of around $25,000 — more than double what neighbouring Casey and Cardinia spent. Read full story here.
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PendingBazaar trader Leon Buchman's VCAT case against Dandenong Market management rolls on. A VCAT vice-president is set to visit the Bazaar on 17 August to inspect stall fit-outs ahead of a ruling. New this week: Bazaar revitalisation construction is now expected to begin in September, with a five-to-six-week disruption period. Read full story here.
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PendingThe $1 billion Dandenong Market Precinct Plan still has no confirmed adoption vote date. We'll keep watching council's agenda and confirm as soon as one is set.
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⚡ Quick Bites
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💰 Council's Medium Grants Program is open, with more than $2 million available across all community grant categories this year. Medium Grants offer up to $10,000 for not-for-profit groups, organisations and individual artists. Applications close 11 August — see What's On above for the next info session. Read full story here.
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📜 Council is exploring ongoing funding for the Dandenong and Springvale historical societies. The push, moved by Cr Sean O'Reilly, follows the 60-year-old Dandenong society having a $4,000 grant rejected — local historian Christine Keys ended up paying for a server upgrade out of her own pocket to keep it running. Read full story here.
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🎓 A $14 million Tech School has opened at Chisholm Institute's Dandenong campus. Secondary students from 23 local schools will be able to visit for free, getting hands-on with facilities most schools can't offer on their own — robotics, drones, VR and cybersecurity among the programs on offer. Read full story here.
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💼 Early signs are "encouraging" for the new $1 million Dandenong jobseeker hub. Opened 2 July at the Civic Centre, the federally-funded pilot offers free one-to-one support for locals navigating employment, training and support systems — relevant given Greater Dandenong's unemployment rate sits well above the national average despite being a jobs-rich region. Read full story here.
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🍲 St James' Anglican Church serves a free two-course meal every Monday, 60–80 people, via Endeavour Ministries. Based at 53 Langhorne Street, Dandenong — open to anyone who needs it. More info here.
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Supported by a local Dandenong business
Furniture Assembly
Flatpack driving you mad? IKEA, Bunnings, the lot — fully assembled, from $50.
Frankston & surrounding suburbs · No job too small · Fast, reliable, local
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🗣 Resident Voice
No Resident Voice this week — so we're asking again.
What's your honest take on something happening in Greater Dandenong right now — a council decision, a local issue, a change you've noticed? One local, one honest opinion, real name and suburb (or happy to stay anonymous if you'd rather). Email [email protected] and we'll run it next issue.
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😄 Joke of the Week
"My boss told me to have a good day..."
"...so I went home."
— Anon
Got a good one? Send it to [email protected]
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🌏 Only in Dandenong
TRUE STORY
"Five languages in one donut queue — and nobody batted an eyelid."
An anonymous reader was at Dandenong Market last weekend for the simplest of missions: a jam donut. In the few minutes it took to get to the front of the queue, they counted five different languages drifting past — a grandmother ordering in Vietnamese, two teenagers arguing about footy in Khmer, a phone call in Punjabi, a stallholder switching seamlessly into Greek for a regular customer, and somewhere behind, a toddler demanding "one more" in English, loud enough to cut through the lot.
Nobody blinked. Nobody had to. That's the part our reader wanted to flag — not the languages themselves, but how completely unremarkable it all felt. Just a normal Saturday queue, five conversations deep, everyone getting their donuts in the end.
— Anon, Dandenong
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✍️ Until Next Week
Thanks for reading Issue #10. A genuinely good week for Greater Dandenong on the numbers, and a reminder from Safety Update worth repeating: slow down out there, whatever you're driving.
If you've got a Resident Voice or an Only in Dandenong moment of your own, we'd love to hear it — see above for where to send it.
Know someone who'd get something out of this — forward it on. Free. Always.
See you next Wednesday. ☀️
— Topher · The Dandenong Local
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© 2026 The Dandenong Local · Independent & Free
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Greater Dandenong's Independent Weekly · Published every Wednesday 8am
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