Lara MP and Victorian Minister for Sports and Major Events John Eren, pictured, earned himself a new title this week.
Opposition leader Matthew Guy labelled him Victoria’s “minister for freebies” after again making headlines for accepting the largesse of corporate suitors.
The latest fruit of Mr Eren’s political toil was an expensive bicycle – on loan, he pointed out, from a major events company.
This followed headlines about free tickets to a Taylor Swift concert earlier this month and, while in opposition, a trip to Queensland for a cage-fighting event.
News of Mr Eren’s latest freebie seemed to dismay Labor colleagues, with one reportedly calling him “a road bike accident waiting to happen”.
Maybe his next freebies should be a helmet and kneepads.
As the V/Line wheel-wear saga continues, the rail company’s most-loyal Geelong customers who pay in advance continue to be inconvenienced.
While Myki Money users enjoyed free travel alongside opportunists taking advantage of the free regional rail services across a two-week period, Myki Pass holders continue to wait for their ‘automatic’ reimbursement, promised by the end of February.
Travellers who pay in advance, anywhere between 28 and 365 days worth of train fares, now need to obtain individual coded tickets every time a service is replaced by coaches.
While assured such tickets would be made readily available at counters, rail users have found it a difficult task to track down a member of V/Line staff who actually knows about the ticket, let alone anyone with the ticket on hand.
Each ticket contains a code to be entered individually into a difficult-to-find online form for compensation consideration.
Talk about a difficult process. Then again, maybe that’s the whole point!
