Author: Liz Bell

WHEN Mount Eliza mother Rachel Miller received the diagnosis six years ago that her then four-year-old son had Tourette Syndrome, she set about finding out as much as she could. Now, with her son, a 10-year-old at primary school, she is on a mission to ensure that all young people and adults with TS, and their families, are also aware of the support and help there is within the community.“It made such a difference to our family when we found out there was help and other families to talk to,” she said.Miller is currently raising money to help families attend…

A NEW housing and support charity will set up on the Mornington Peninsula to cater for the increasing number of women needing support. Women’s Community Shelters, a Sydney-based organisation, will hold forum in May to discuss establishing a steering committee on the peninsula.Hastings housing advocate Karen Taylor said the peninsula was “in a big mess” when it came to housing, particularly for women. “With respect to the housing shortage, and with single women over the age of 55 being the fastest growing cohort for homelessness, initiatives like the WCS become increasingly important,” she said. Taylor said women were often the…

A LEADING council watchdog is demanding that all fines under the Mornington Peninsula Shire Council’s parking pilot scheme be refunded over “human rights” concerns. Council Watch Victoria is calling on anyone who has been fined at any of the three trial locations since it started in December 2023 to contact them.Figures released last week show the shire collected $347,721 from the parking trial, including $96,360 in fines (Motorists paying to park, Page 7). Council Watch president Dean Hurlston said the group was particularly interested in hearing from older people who have had trouble using the technology. He said such problems…

DELIVERING a baby by caesarean section isn’t usually a hands-on experience for mothers, but that’s exactly what happened to one young mum in Mornington.Obstetrician Dr Natalie Elphinstone, who recently moved her private practice to The Bays in Mornington, completed the hospital’s first official maternal-assisted caesarean birth on Tuesday 12 March.In a maternal-assisted caesarean, the obstetrician partially lifts up the baby, allowing the mother to then lift the baby out of her own womb and onto her chest. “Many mothers feel somewhat removed from their birth experience with traditional caesarean sections. This new procedure enables mothers who want or need a…

THE sad sight of “possum Armageddon” around the Mornington Peninsula as wildlife literally fell from trees or died trying to drink water at the beach has prompted a reminder to place water out for animals.The four-day heatwave that affected most of south-eastern Australia saw daytime temperatures hover around 38 degrees Celsius – as much as 20 degrees above average – with little relief overnight.It is believed hundreds of the peninsula’s ringtail possum and smaller marsupials such as sugar gliders and native bush rats died from heat exhaustion and dehydration over the four days or exposed themselves to predation or the…

THE Afghan Women’s Organisation Victoria held a retreat with a water safety message for a group of newly arrived Afghan women and girls at Saltbush, Balnarring Beach.The resilient women, having fled their homeland under challenging circumstances, found solace, connection and peace in the bushland and coastal environment at the retreat. For many, Saltbush marked their first encounter with a beach, offering an opportunity to explore the beauty of the coast and discover the tidal movement in Western Port that exposes rock pools on low tide.Group organiser and co-founder of the Afghan Women’s Organisation Victoria, Gulghotai Bezhan, said the retreat was…

FLINDERS MP Zoe McKenzie, a Liberal, found herself embroiled in controversy last week over a photograph and comments she posted on social media congratulating the new Dunkley MP, Labor’s Jodie Beylea. Along with the photo were the words, “You have been a good friend to women across the Mornington Peninsula. Look forward to working with you in looking after paradise”.While some of McKenzie’s Liberal colleagues were quick to slam her decision to be snapped with an opposition MP as “unforgiveable” and “naive”, McKenzie was equally quick to defend her actions, and so were plenty of her high-profile supporters. McKenzie returned…

CLUBS and hobby groups on the Mornington Peninsula are on notice to understand their obligations to members and volunteers after a recreational club was ordered to apologise and undergo training.At a hearing before the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal in February the Southern Peninsula Woodworkers Committee and five respondents were ordered to apologise to club volunteer Syd Johnson. They were also ordered to undertake training in diversity and inclusion by no later than end of June. As part of the outcome, Johnson agreed to not take any other legal action pertaining to the matter and all action against the club…

THE state’s planning tribunal has knocked back a proposal to build a house on green wedge land in Shoreham. The Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal set aside Mornington Peninsula Shire Council’s approval for the house on 4.323-hectares in Tucks Road and ruled that no permit is granted. The tribunal case relates to a planning permit notice originally issued in 2022 by the shire to use and develop the land at 340 Tucks Road for a house, remove native vegetation and associated works, including to an existing driveway at 336 Tucks Road. The matter was referred to the tribunal over questions…

MORNINGTON Peninsula Shire Council will investigate partnering with Frankston to help tackle homelessness on the peninsula, amid increasing concerns about its social impacts. At last Tuesday’s council meeting Cr Sarah Race said she knew of cases where children were attending schools on the while living in tents. “Schools are feeding these children, putting their arms around them and feeding them,” she said. Race said she was also aware of service widows being forced to live in cars, and cancers sufferers sleeping rough on the foreshore. She said “outcomes” were good in Frankston, which uses the “by-name list” model through its…

A SERIES of talks on health issues has been created for Monington Peninsula woman by midwife Penelope Watson. Watson is a senior midwife in Mount Eliza, as well as being a staff member at the maternity unit of non-profit The Bays Hospital, Mornington. She is also a breast cancer patient of The Bays and understands personally and professionally the difficulty and stress of navigating the health landscape. Watson says it was her drive to rekindle women’s “villages” for those on the journey from womanhood to motherhood that inspired her to create WithYou Talks, which bring together a range of pregnancy…

THE Mornington Community Safelink Group is calling on Dunkley by-election candidates to commit to financing a safe connection between Frankston and Mornington. Convenor Graeme Rocke said that with more people walking and riding, the “critical missing link” of the Peninsula Trail which fell partly in the Dunkley electorate, would provide a connection to the peninsula for all residents of Dunkley and Melbourne’s southeast. Eight candidates are the contesting the Saturday 2 March by-election being held to fill the vacancy created by the death last December of Labor’s Peta Murphy (Eight line up for Dunkley, The News 13/2/24). Mornington Peninsula Shire…

IT appears to be business as usual for the teams behind the Harry Potter: A Forbidden Forest Experience event in April, with organisers pivoting quickly to focus on the new site at The Briars community forest dog park. Signs on the gate block people from using the dog park so that infrastructure upgrades and decorative installations can be completed by the event’s start on 6 April. The advertising spin of the event remains unchanged, tempting audiences with the line that it will be a “nighttime woodland trail experience filled with magical creatures and wizarding wonders from the Harry Potter and…

The timber stairway at Moorooduc Quarry has had a new-age facelift. Mornington Peninsula Shire Council last year upgraded the stairs refurbishment project to include the landing of the stair to long-lasting fibre-reinforced polymer (FRP). The fire access to the quarry was also repaired and the two timber foot bridges at the top of the reserve were upgraded with FRP material, including new handrails. The cost, including the fire access track, stairs, and bridges, was $90,000. The mayor Cr Simon Brooks said the project involved labour-intensive work due to accessing the site, transporting materials and removing waste. He said the stairs…

A SPATE of break-ins around a Mount Martha “hot spot” has residents calling for more intensive policing. In recent weeks the number of houses around the Hearn Road area that have been targeted has put home owners on alert. Mount Martha resident Sonia said residents were sick of the crime and the inability to stop the offenders, who had been caught on CCTV and appeared to be teenagers or young men. “In December, January and this month there have been a lot of properties affected. I know of people in Capri Drive, Shearwater Drive, The Point, Churchill, Stanley, Ponyara Road…

SOMETHING almost magical is happening every month at Bentons Square Community Centre, and it’s transforming the lives of people who are grieving. A support group called Projex J and its three-word transformative and inspirational motto Get busy living, is giving people trapped in a cycle of sadness and despair a way to move forward. The trailblazing support group that welcomes people of all ages and backgrounds to come together to share their stories or simply listen, is the brainchild of Chantelle Ross, whose 23-year-old son Jamerson was killed in a road incident in Hastings in 2022. It’s that lived experience…

IMPROVISATION has transformed the way composer and performer Anne Norman thinks and feels about music. The internationally renowned shakuhachi player (a type of Japanese flute) is co-running musical improvisation workshops this month and next. Participants will step into the unknown in the acoustic series for strings, wind, percussion, keyboard and voice. A classically trained musician, Norman says she played and wrote music for decades before discovering the freedom of improvisation following a change in life circumstances. “I started working with actors and dancers and, in creating music for them, I found I could use their bodies as my score, and…

A CONTROVERIAL Harry Potter-themed sound and light show will be relocated to a fenced dog park within the Briars community forest, in a move described as “democracy at work”. At an unscheduled meeting on Tuesday 13 February councillors voted unanimously – Cr Steve Holland was absent and Cr Lisa Dixon was overseas – for the Warner Bros show to be relocated out of the Briars wildlife sanctuary. Cr Despi O’Connor, who moved the officer’s recommendation that the event be relocated, said it was “democracy at work”. Community group Save Briars Sanctuary spokesperson Louise Page said the committee was “ecstatic” with…

JET ski rider behaviour is again being spotlighted after a frightening incident at McCrae beach where a swimmer alleges he was almost hit by a vessel close to shore. Police are investigating the incident in which a Rye man, 69, was swimming with his wife and brother-in-law when the incident happened just after 4.30pm on Saturday, 3 February. “I was only 10 metres from shore and I could suddenly hear a loud engine and feel the swish of the water pass my head, only to look up out of the water and see a fast jet ski pass two metres…

A MOUNT Eliza man, 49, is one of two people charged with murder over the suspicious disappearance of Colombian national Sergio Cuesta. The man has been remanded in custody to appear at Melbourne Magistrates’ Court on 24 April. Warrants were executed at properties in Mount Eliza and Cranbourne shortly after 2pm on Tuesday, 30 January. Three firearms, a pill press, various quantities of what appear to be dried cannabis and cocaine, cannabis crops, a crossbow and a conducted energy device were seized from the Mount Eliza address. A 48-year-old Cranbourne man also interviewed by police has been released pending further…

EYEWITNESS accounts of cats and kittens being dumped on the Mornington Peninsula have alarmed animal welfare bodies and environmental advocates, who say cats living wild wreak havoc on nature. There are also fears for the safety and welfare of the dumped cats, thought to be released pets, which would most likely struggle to survive in a strange environment. There have been at least three recent sightings of people dumping cats on the peninsula, including a black car seen releasing two caged cats in bush in Wooralla Drive, Mount Eliza. Two other cases involved a black car seen dumping up for…

By Liz Bell and Keith Platt A PUBLIC meeting organised by the Save Our Briars protest group and attended by about 200 people has called for the Harry Potter: A Forbidden Forest Experience event to be moved away from the wildlife sanctuary. Pressure for Mornington Peninsula Shire Council to relocate the months long nightly event away from The Briars wildlife sanctuary continued this week with protests at Tuesday’s council meeting at Rosebud. Louise Page said the protesters wanted answers to some of the missing details around the secrecy of council’s decision to back the event. “Why was The Briars master…

IT IS impossible for most of us to imagine anything more painful than losing two children in their prime, but for one mother, reaching out to others has given her the strength to honour her sons and turn her grief into something positive. For Monique Story, the experience of losing her beloved son Quinn in 2021 at 16, and then a couple of years later her older son Hunter at almost 23, was paralysing. But inspiringly, that pain became the Mornington mum’s motivation to make sure young people struggling to fit in, or struggling to navigate the world in general,…

RECENT accidents on the Nepean Highway intersections near The Briars at Mount Martha have raised new concerns about the risks of using the property as a venue for large events. Opponents of the Harry Potter – Forbidden Forest experience scheduled in April and May say access to The Briars is already difficult and have warned of traffic chaos if improvements are not made before the shows start. The Harry Potter event is expected to attract around 3000 visitors a night for at least two months. An accident at the intersection of Nepean Highway and Uralla Drive on 9 January and…

A group of diehard Australia Day supporters in Mornington will hold their own celebration on Friday (26 January) at Memorial Park in Barkly Street. Their decision to hold a do-it-yourself celebration – including gumboot throwing – follows a decision by Mornington Peninsula Shire Council not to organise an event and community parade at Mornington. The shire’s decision is in line with views expressed by the Premier Jacinta Allan who has cast doubts on Melbourne’s Australia Day parade ever making a return. The state government last year shelved the event for the third consecutive after it was first cancelled in 2021…

MANY motorists from the Mornington Peninsula, Frankston and Casey areas are finding it difficult to pay fines for traffic offences. Statistics released by Peninsula Community Legal Centre (PCLC) show that 40 per cent of fines issued in Victoria over the past 12 months were to people on the peninsula (2754), Frankston (16,714) and Casey (35,256). Fines Victoria’s data indicates that the value of fines at the enforcement stage in PCLC’s catchment for 2022 to 2023 was almost $30 million. The average fine debt was $13,000, with some clients owing as much as $70,000. CEO Jackie Galloway said the centre was…

A PUBLIC rally will be held in Rosebud next week to renew calls for the “urgent” redevelopment of the aging Rosebud Hospital. One of the organisers, long time hospital advocate since retiring at Rye, Sue Gilbert, said the redevelopment had become a “critical” issue for the southern peninsula, and there were fears the hospital could be forced to close if it deteriorated further. “If that happens, all the people and tourists that use the hospital will put extra pressure on Frankston, which just won’t be able to cope,” she said. “With the population increase on the peninsula and the summer…

MORNINGTON Peninsula residents are being reminded to have their storm water drainage systems checked regularly after last week’s flash flooding clogged systems and deluged properties. Some residents are again mopping up and drying out homes after up to 48.8mm of rain hit the peninsula overnight on Sunday night (7 January) through to Monday. Flood warnings were issued for many towns around Victoria, as much of the state was also lashed with wild weather. Rosebud, Hastings, Mount Eliza and Mount Martha were among the hardest hit on the peninsula, but all areas received significant rainfall. The State Emergency Service reminded residents…

ANYONE who has ever struggled with their weight will know the emotional rollercoaster involved in the weight loss journey and the importance of being supported. The Mornington-based healthy eating group, Take Off Weight Naturally (TOWN), celebrates its 25th anniversary in February – a quarter of a century of helping people stay healthy and manage their weight. The not-for-profit group has more than 40 members who meet at Mornington Bowls Club on Wednesday mornings, providing friendship and support in a non-judgmental environment. TOWN clubs encourage weight loss by promoting a nutritionally balanced diet and giving encouragement and practical advice on how…

THRILL seekers are being told not to jump off the rocks into the bay at the Pillars, Mount Martha. The safety advice follows two recent incidents where jumpers have been seriously injured while attempting to jump. On Friday 12 January a person was airlifted to the Alfred Hosital with suspected neck injuries. One week earlier a 20-year-old man was taken to hospital with neck pain after attempting a jump and being rescued by emergency services. Just weeks before that a 12-year-old girl attempted a pin jump from the cliffs and broke both legs and her ankle. She was being filmed…