🟠 Strip trips and barren bowsers

WHAT’S ON THIS WEEK 🎟️

• WEDNESDAY 25/03/26, 7-8.30PM | The Tudor Choristers

• FRIDAY 27/03/26, 8PM | Festival of Folk - Irish Mythen

• SUNDAY 29/03/26, 12.30PM | Dandenong Ranges Emergency Relief Centre Fundraiser

• SUNDAY 29/03/26, 10AM-4PM | Pets in the Park

• SUNDAY 29/03/26, 9AM-7PM | Asian Food & Culture Festival

• SUNDAY 29/03/26, 9AM-5PM | Melbourne Highland Games and Celtic Festival

• EVERY DAY TO SUNDAY 19/04/26, 10AM-5PM | Tesselaar KaBloom Festival

📰 THIS WEEK’S HEADLINES

“Absolute circus”: Independent servos across eastern Melbourne are running dry on diesel

Earlier this month, independent retailer Fast Fuel - which has four petrol stations across the eastern suburbs - had to close all its diesel bowsers as supplies ran dry.

When the Eastern Melburnian spoke to Fast Fuel director Paul Andronicou on Friday March 20, he was desperately trying to secure more unleaded petrol for his Beaconsfield location before tanks ran out over the weekend.

Twenty percent of the world’s oil has to pass from the Persian Gulf through the Strait of Hormuz into the Gulf of Oman and then the Arabian Sea, before being shipped east into Asia and to other destinations.

Limited supply and increasing demand has seen fuel prices rise, with the average price of unleaded petrol in Melbourne’s east currently at about $2.50 per litre and at about $3 per litre for diesel - if you can get it.

The ACCC is investigating allegations of anti-competitive conduct by all of the major fuel suppliers – Ampol, BP, Mobil and Viva Energy – after receiving reports concerning the lack of diesel availability to independent wholesalers and distributors in regional and rural Australia.

Andronicou said it was “devastating” to have to turn customers away, hike up prices and close two hours earlier every night to stay financially stable.

“It feels terrible, because we’ve got a lot of money invested across the industry and people aren’t coming through the doors,” Andronicou said.

Read the full story here.

Kerrimuir Shopping Centre safety saga continues as wheel stops pose tripping hazard

It was mid-November 2022 when an elderly woman driver ploughed through the awning of Nick’s Fruit Shop in Box Hill North’s Kerrimuir Shopping Centre.

Owner Gina Menelaou was squashed between two counters, causing injury to her lower back, bruising on her thigh and creating osteoarthritis issues.

“I’m lucky to be alive,” Menelaou told the Eastern Melburnian on Monday.

Menelaou has been operating on this strip for 27 years and in that time, she said, there had been a number of accidents involving people driving over the kerb and often into shopfronts.

The history of people mounting the kerb and footpath led to the installation of 10cm-tall wheel stoppers.

Problem solved? Not quite. The arrival of the wheel stoppers triggered a series of accidents as people tripped over the hazards.

Box Hill MP Paul Hamer first raised the issue with council by submitting a petition with 78 signatures in January 2022.

The council spent $25,000 on the installation of five bollards (two near Nick’s Fruit Shop and three outside Cafe Rubix) and a bike hoop in mid-2023.

According to traders, the current yellow wheel stoppers were installed mid-2025, replacing older and damaged wheel stoppers.

Direct Chemist Outlet pharmacy assistant Nicolette Hiep launched a petition earlier this year to seek public support for Whitehorse Council to consider removing the wheel stoppers and instead install vertical metal bollards on the kerbside.

The paper petition was signed by 361 shoppers and traders.

During Whitehorse Council’s meeting on Monday March 16, councillors passed a motion to accept the petition and send it to traffic engineers for consideration.

Direct Chemist Outlet Kerrimuir pharmacist Adam Nguyen said they had seen more than 30 people fall since the new stoppers were installed, and often had to administer first aid until an ambulance arrived.

“We do want to see prevention over treatment,” said Nguyen. “We don’t want to attend to people who have broken legs and broken elbows. We’d rather treat the cause.”

Read the full story here.

Waverley RSL spends more than $30 million buying an Ibis hotel

Less than two weeks after its former headquarters was damaged by fire, Waverley RSL sub-branch has found a new home after buying the Ibis Glen Waverley hotel for more than $30 million this week.

The Ibis, at 295-297 Springvale Road, opened in 2007, and has 155 rooms across six storeys, a restaurant, bar and conference facilities.

Current manager Accor will continue to operate the Ibis as usual, with the sub-branch intending to work closely to combine operations over the next one to two years.

According to RSL Victoria, the move would see the sub-branch become the first in Melbourne to operate an accommodation business and the first in Victoria to have accommodation as its primary income source.

To make way for the new Suburban Rail Loop station at Glen Waverley, the State Government acquired the RSL’s former home at Coleman Parade, with its closure originally due in February 2028.

At about 7am on March 8, a fire at the Coleman Parade premises resulted in significant damage to the gambling and members’ areas.

Sub-branch president Neil Slaughter said plans included the RSL providing dining and veteran support services on the ground floor.

Read the full story here.

DID YOU SEE? 👀

✈️ Aussie-made fuel?

The National Account reporter Archie Milligan recently spoke to CSIRO research director Doctor Daniel Roberts about what making sustainable aviation fuel could do for Australia’s fuel security – and why he thinks the cost of doing nothing is “terrifying”.

Check out the full interview below.