RYE, Mount Martha and Rosebud have been listed as the top three Melbourne towns or suburbs for rising house prices in the March quarter by the Real Estate Institute of Victoria. Rye led the house price growth with a 48 per cent annual increase, bringing the median cost of a homes there to $1.195 million. Mount Martha followed with a 34 per cent annual increase, taking its median house price to $1.87m, while its near neighbour Rosebud grew 32 per cent to $851,121. Units in inner-city suburbs such as Docklands ($555,000) and Melbourne CBD ($580,000) are in the top 20…
Author: Keith Platt
THE painters were keen to get a job and the cost, including paint, was agreed. “Can you start Monday?” the house owner asked. “Sure, although if it’s a northerly we might be here in the afternoon, or Tuesday.” The house owner was pleased with the price and the can-do attitude but baffled by the reference to the wind – it was an inside job. New to the Mornington Peninsula she later discovered the painters were serious – about surf. Surrounded on three sides by sea, including unpredictable Bass Strait, the peninsula is an ideal base for surfers. The type and…
CR KERRI McCafferty has been cleared by her Mornington Peninsula Shire councillor colleagues to undertake a $3900 councillor group coaching program. The money is within her annual allowance, of which she has so far spent $1540, but required council approval as it was more than $2000. Cr McCafferty, who was absent from the Tuesday 5 April public council meeting, has been cleared to do the course run by Ruth McGowan OAM. Ms McGowan, author of Get Elected (the Australian guide on how to campaign for political office) and Best Practice Guide for in Gender Equity in Local Government, for the…
A “NEGOTIATED” settlement will see the owners of Sorrento’s Continental Hotel save $19,000 over three years to use a public footpath for outdoor dining. The agreement adopted by Mornington Peninsula Shire on Tuesday 5 April comes five months after councillors voted to charge the hotel $133,000 for the first three years of its use of the footpath. But the hotel refused and, after negotiations with shire CEO John Baker last month, has now agreed to pay $114,000 for the same time span. The agreement means the hotel will pay $38,000 rent for each of the first three years of its…
STUDENTS are being encouraged to consider following a career path into the Mornington Peninsula’s $200 million a year wine industry. The industry group Mornington Peninsula Wine is working with members of a learning and employment network on “active vocational pathways” for students from the region’s 29 schools to work in the peninsula’s wine industry. The move is designed to help overcome labour shortages in the wine industry. Partnering with the Frankston and peninsula local learning and employment network (FMPLLEN), schools and students can take Vocational Education and Training Certificate (VET) courses in horticulture, viticulture or winemaking. The courses include “hands-on”…
THE Voices of Mornington Peninsula-backed independent candidate Dr Sarah Russell is putting “hope” at the centre of her campaign to win Flinders at the federal election. Dr Russell will have Hope Trucks, “fuelled by transparency and accountability” following her on the campaign trail. “My hope is for action on climate, aged care, mental health and housing affordability, which is what people on the Mornington Peninsula have told me they are concerned about,” Dr Russell said. “I also hope that Independents hold the balance of power in our next government, because they are critical to improving our democracy. “Political processes have…
ALTHOUGH billed as destined to be one of “the great walking and cycling trails of the world”, the Peninsula Trail remains years and at least $35 million away from of being completed. Mornington Peninsula Shire Council says work will start in March 2023 and end in April 2024 on the Somerville-Baxter section, but no date has been set to complete other “missing links”. About half of the trail is in place. Meanwhile, the peninsula’s “cluster” of eight Rotary clubs has decided to get involved as part of their Australian Centenary Project. Each club will be involved by installing benches, picnic…
AN investigation is under way into a fire aboard the hydrogen gas ship Suiso Frontier less than one day after arriving at Hastings. A flame was spotted from the exhaust of a gas combustion unit on the ship’s deck after the ship had been loaded with a cargo of liquefied hydrogen. Hastings is an essential part of the $500 million brown coal-to-hydrogen project being conducted by Kawasaki Heavy Industries and partly underwritten with $50m each from the state and federal governments. The Suiso Frontier was purpose built for the Hydrogen Energy Supply Chain (HESC) pilot project and its delivery of…
PROPERTY owners and farmers on the Mornington Peninsula are being asked to delay burning off until after the grape harvest. The CFA lifted fire restrictions on 28 March, but it could be late April or May before all grapes have been picked. Mornington Peninsula Wine CEO, Olivia Barrie said grapes were susceptible to “smoke taint” which could affect their quality and flavour. “For the next few weeks, vineyard nets will be coming off vineyards, grapes harvested, and our wineries will be processing this year’s vintage of wines,” she said. “We know there have been many fallen trees from storms in…
Two test positive RAPID antigen tests were provided to Mornington Peninsula Shire councillors and executives last week after they attended a meeting alongside a councillor who later tested positive to COVID-19. Shire CEO John Baker alerted councillors and officers to the case in an email on Wednesday 30 March, the day after the meeting at the shire’s Rosebud offices. Within days one of the executive officers also tested positive to COVID. “The current advice is that we do not need to isolate unless we have symptoms or we test positive via a RAT,” Mr Baker said in an email to…
BIRD observers worried about a hooded plover seen limping at Flinders ocean beach called for help from Birdlife Australia’s Dr Kasun Ekanayake, who was able to catch the bird. The plover, which had been limping for two to three weeks, was then taken to the Main Ridge vet Dr Kristin Wolfe who untangled a length of fishing line embedded in the bird’s foot. The foot needed to have one toe amputated which had become gangrenous. After overnighting at a house in Flinders, Dr Ekanayake returned the next morning (Thursday 10 March) and, with Friends of the Hooded Plover group member…
THE voices of Wales will be again heard in Mornington at the end of this month. The Australian Welsh Male Choir will return after nearly two years with its Singing in the Pub night at Kirks Hotel at 8pm on 30 March. Although the COVID stopped the choir from appearing in public or singing at its Frankston base, members stayed in tune by rehearsing remotely via Zoom. Added to their choir’s repertoire for the pub night is You’ll Never Walk Alone, released on record by Gerry and the Pacemakers, sung by Liverpool Football Club supporters and, more recently, heard in…
AN alliance of community groups wants support to plant a carbon forest on the Parkdale Estate land in Dromana. This proposal would see community members being given the opportunity to invest in their own carbon draw-down project while allowing public access onto the site for compatible activities. The proposal utilises a platform that enables this investment and registers the carbon credits. It also pays for planting the forest. The project would be a leading example in Australia and, while modest in scale, would be a highly visible model for others to follow. “Strategic partners who can add value to the…
WORK is already underway to make part of the footpath a 172-seat outside dining area for Sorrento’s Continental Hotel despite there being no agreement on leasing costs. Mornington Peninsula Shire councillors last week authorised CEO John Baker to reopen negotiations with the hotel despite their decision in December to $38,000 for the first year, $45,000 in the second and $50,000 in the third year. The hotel, through its lawyers, has rejected the lease conditions and “sought exclusive possession of the licence area”. Cr David Gill was the only councillor against the Mr Baker going back to the hotel to try…
MORNINGTON Peninsula Shire Council has restated its preference for the peninsula to be “peri-regional”, a classification it says would protect the green wedge and unlock “the significant economic potential of our region”. The peninsula’s green wedge is one of 12 that effectively form a ring around Melbourne outside the urban growth boundaries. Regional areas have rural conservation zones, with fewer planning and use protections. The shire’s statement on Friday follows claims by Liberal and Labor politicians that only their party’s views on its planning status are best for the peninsula, with the green wedge now a political battleground. At the…
MANY Mornington Peninsula towns are faced with a future that will require coping with the impact of rising sea levels, eroding beaches and crumbling cliffs. Surrounded by sea on three sides, the peninsula’s 190-kilometre coast varies from steep cliffs and sandy surf beaches facing Bass Strain to low lying mangrove swamps in northern reaches of Western Port to the beaches of Port Phillip from Portsea to Mount Eliza. Cliffs are eroding at Mount Martha and Mount Eliza and rock walls are the last line of defence from the sea at Safety Beach and Rosebud. Sand bags have become the norm…
THE sitting MP for Nepean, Labor’s Chris Brayne, says his Liberal opponent Sam Groth “has a very shallow understanding of this community [if he] believes that he should represent [the community] just because he has a holiday house on the peninsula”. “I grew up on the peninsula, I went to kindergarten, primary school and high school here, my first casual job was here and, in an area like [this] being a local matters,” Mr Brayne said. In October 2020, Mr Groth featured in the real estate reports when his family home in Alphington went on the market and, in July…
THE Victorian division of the Liberal Party paid “all costs” associated with the attendance of former British prime minister Theresa May at a fundraising lunch at Moonah Links, Fingal, according to the party’s Hastings candidate Briony Hutton. Ms Hutton said Ms May (Lady May) was “interested in coming to the Mornington Peninsula where we have endorsed female Liberal candidates” as part of an event-intensive, multi-state five-day visit to Australia. The Australian Electoral Commission is investigating questions raised by Labor Senator Don Farrell as to whether money raised at events featuring Ms May are subject to a ban on foreign donations…
ENVIRONMENTALISTS have reacted angrily to news that an artificial reef will this month be submerged at the southern end of Port Phillip near Point Nepean. Port Phillip Conservation Council secretary Jenny Warfe wants installation of the reef delayed “so that scientific studies and other rationale can be made publicly available”. Ms Warfe said her group – a “federation” of 14 conservation groups and their “many hundreds of individual members” – could “find no evidence” of an environmental effects study being made into the artificial reef plan. She said the reef was planned to be placed near the sanctuary for the…
By Keith Platt and Liz Bell ACCUSATIONS of “laziness” and “inaction” over the failure to begin work on two major Mornington Peninsula road projects have sparked an extraordinary war of words between federal Liberal member for Flinders Greg Hunt and state Labor member for Nepean Chris Brayne. On Wednesday, Mr Hunt labelled Mr Brayne “the laziest MP in Australia”, who he says refuses “to spend federal funds to save lives on our local roads” (Letters Page 38). “The federal government has had $75 million of funding on the table for three years for the Jetty Road intersection with the Mornington…
A SCHEDULED five-day hearing at the Victorian Civil Administrative Tribunal may help clear the air over the ongoing operations of the Tyabb airfield. The hearing began on Monday (28 February) and follows an application by Peninsula Aero Club (PAC) and Westernport Airfield seeking declarations from VCAT clarifying their rights. In a statement last July, Mornington Peninsula Shire Council said, “it has been agreed that PAC’s VCAT application for a declaration will provide clarity about the ongoing operation of the airport, thereby providing certainty for the airport operators, businesses and the community” (“Airfield, shire in permit formation” The News 3/8/21). It…
RESIDENTS’ battle to save a manna gum overhanging a road in Balnarring has been lost. Mornington Peninsula Shire councillors have given the go ahead for the tree to axed because it is too close to the road and the legal liability it would face if the tree fell. The decision at council’s 22 February meeting was the second time the tree had been ordered to be felled after officers were told in November to look for other ways to manage “the hazardous manna gum” in Balnarring Road. A follow-up report on 22 February by principal transport engineer Doug Bradbrook stated…
THERE were smiles all round at the $500 a head lunch featuring a speech by former British prime minister Theresa May as diners looked out over the greens at Peppers Moonah Links Resort, Fingal, on Sunday 13 February. The event was held to raise money for Liberal Party candidates to campaign in the Hastings and Nepean state electorates. Briony Hutton is contesting Hastings, currently held by retiring Liberal Neale Burgess. Retired tennis professional Sam Groth was last week confirmed as the party’s candidate for Nepean, now held by Labor’s Chris Brayne. One of the Nepean Liberals’ organisers said the “really…
THREE of Mornington Peninsula Shire’s 11 councillors are willing to comment about allegations of complaints being lodged about them – and against one another – with the Local Government Inspectorate. One councillor sees the LGI as a “secret kangaroo court”, another states that he is legally limited in answering questions, while the third hoped that the election of Cr Anthony Marsh as mayor would ”shift focus from … negativity and concentrate on moving forward with a positive attitude”. Several sources have told The News that up to 15 complaints – most, if not all, subsequently withdrawn – by councillors about…
FLINDERS MP Greg Hunt has waded into the debate over saving an historic wooden section of Flinders pier. Mr Hunt says it is “essential that any historical and environmental impacts are meticulously considered” by the state government which has earmarked a 180 metre section of the pier for demolition. Nepean MP Chris Brayne said the pier issue would be open to “a 60 day community consultation in the near future”. “When this opens, I’ll be advising the whole Flinders community to submit their views on the pier,” he said. Charles Reis, of Flinders Community Association, says the pier fell into…
MORNINGTON Peninsula Shire Council has agreed to lobby for electric trains to run between Frankston and Langwarrin as the first stage of a service to Hastings. The estimated $650m to $850m cost for six kilometres of double track would include parking for thousands of cars, allowing peninsula residents to park and catch a metro train to Frankston and beyond. At its second last meeting for 2021 (7 December) the shire’s councillors voted unanimously to lobby for a two-staged approach to having an electric train service to Hastings. Cr Paul Mercurio (endorsed Labor Party candidate for Hastings at the November state…
AN artificial reef being installed off Point Nepean next month will give anglers a spot away from busy shipping lanes to catch yellowtail kingfish. The reef will have 16 large concrete structures set in clusters of four about 50 metres apart. “Identical concrete modules have been deployed off the New South Wales coast at Shoalhaven and have proven to be outstanding in attracting Yellowtail Kingfish,” Futurefish Foundation director David Kramer said. “They quickly obtain weed growth and provide a perfect reef in strong tidal waters.” Once in place, the Nepean reef will be the largest artificial reef in Victoria. Mr…
FISHING broadcaster, writer, tackle shop owner and Futurefish Foundation director David Kramer says he might seek Labor Party pre-selection for the state seat of Mornington “if someone taps me on the shoulder … and I’m in the mood”. Labor is expected to wait until after mid-year before choosing its candidate for the seat held by Liberal David Morris for the past 16 years. Mr Morris missed out on being re-endorsed by the Liberal Party which chose Chris Crewther as its candidate. Mr Crewther held the federal seat of Dunkley for one term (2016-2019) after it had been held by former…
TREES brought down in the 29 October storms are still blocking public access steps to Daveys Bay Beach, Mount Eliza. The trees were growing on private property, but the steps are on public land and maintained by Mornington Peninsula Shire. Commodore of the Daveys Bay Yacht Club Leigh Cummin said club members had been given the use of a private access to the beach, but members of the public were struggling to climb over or through the fallen trees. He said the steps had been blocked during one of the club’s busiest times with “hundreds of schoolchildren visiting for summer…
MORNINGTON Peninsula Shire Council wants public opinion about nude bathing continuing at Sunnyside Beach, Mount Eliza, but a state government MP says his private polling has already provided the answer: going without clothes is all right. Nepean MP Chris Brayne said voting on his Facebook poll gave unanimous support to “optional clothing” rules to continue at the secluded bayside beach between Mount Eliza and Mornington. Late last year, the council flagged that it would seek public opinion before approaching the government over the issue (“Call for fresh look at nude beach” The News 22/11/21). Since the beach was gazetted as…