Day: June 16, 2015

THE self-described “sustainable” Mornington Peninsula Shire has a neighbour that’s now officially known as the “sustainable city” – Frankston. While the peninsula gave itself the title of sustainable, Frankston has been named Sustainable City of the Year by Keep Australia Beautiful Victoria. Frankston earned its right to use sustainable through its 10-year plan to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and achieve carbon neutrality by 2025. Frankston has also pipped the peninsula on naming rights with the September 2014 opening of its $50 million Peninsula Aquatic Recreation Centre built close to the city’ central commercial area. The shire has dropped its plans…

THE orange-bellied parrot wild population has been hit by a disease that can kill young birds or adults with weak immune systems. Two-thirds of 30 birds born in the wild last summer in Tasmania have been diagnosed with common beak and feather disease, also known as Psittacine Beak and Feather Disease. This is the parrot that once graced the saltmarsh shores of Western Port and became famous as a political football when its endangered status was blamed for delaying a wind farm in Gippsland in 2006 and the proposed marina expansion at Yaringa boat harbour near Somerville in 2012. The…