Day: April 13, 2015

FRED Crump of Mornington put the shire council on the spot late last month when he asked about illegal dumping and other aspects of waste disposal. Mr Crump, who seems to have his finger on the pulse and invariably comes up with good questions at council meetings, asked the shire: “Many months ago, members of the community attended two public forums to give feedback to the shire on best ways to deal with the peninsula’s waste … especially the … problem of illegal dumping. “The shire said that a waste report was going to be sent to all participants. Still…

TWO outbuildings at Portsea’s Police Point Park are being restored as part of the shire’s heritage conservation works. The work is being done by Woodworkers of the Southern Peninsula, a not-for-profit club in Boneo Rd, Boneo. Police Point Shire Park was created in 2004 when the federal government gave the shire 17.5 hectares at the entrance of Point Nepean. The park was the original boundary and entry to the Quarantine Station, and later used by the Department of Defence. Of the six cottages, four will be used as respite accommodation for carers and their families, and two for a range…

THE discovery of 100kg of copper wiring in a stolen car in Hastings is allegedly part of a 20 tonne haul, valued at $250,000, looted from a Tullamarine industrial estate. The find has led to a Tyabb man, 38, being charged with theft, and other men facing possible charges, in an ongoing investigation. He has been bailed to appear at Frankston Magistrates’ Court in July. Detective Senior Constable Nick Sweetman, of Hastings CIU, said Carrum Downs highway patrol members using number plate recognition technology detected the unreturned Nissan hire car on Graydens Rd on 19 March. They queried the driver…

“WHY are we only now talking about family violence?” That’s the question put by Australian of the Year Rosie Batty to the VIEW Club’s International Women’s Day Lunch last month. Hastings and Mornington women were among the 170 VIEW club members at the event at Amstel Golf Course, Cranbourne. Ms Batty, whose son Luke was killed by his father Greg last year, said family violence “has gone on forever, but has always been hidden behind closed doors”. “Now is the time to bring that hidden truth into the open,” she said. “We are constantly being bombarded with statistics on traffic…

THE Mornington on Tanti Hotel’s request for another 17 poker machines – almost doubling its number to 40 – is following the community support fund route argued successfully by the Western Bulldogs-owned Peninsula Club, which was successful in lifting its pokie numbers from 20 to 35 a year ago. Tanti is proposing “to formalise an annual community support fund and undertake new works to improve [the] venue” if granted its additional electronic gaming machines (EGMs). The hearing was listed for 23 March but at deadline no one at the Victorian Commission for Gambling and Liquor Regulation was available to provide…

RESIDENTS on the southern peninsula have asked the shire council to “assist with improvements to the Colchester Rd pool” in Rosebud. The request came in a 125-signature petition presented to Mornington Peninsula Shire councillors two weeks ago. Its primary request was that the shire develop the Southern Peninsula Aquatic Centre (SPA) but if it did not go ahead or was subject to lengthy delays, the shire should put money into the privately owned pool in Rosebud’s light industrial area, the town’s only pool. The shire has done this before during the SPA saga, which has dragged on for almost 15…

SAFETY Beach resident Phyllis Maggs was at the Brotherhood of St Laurence’s monthly lunch at Rosebud Hotel last Thursday but it was a special day – a celebration of her 100th birthday, which was last Sunday. Phyllis was born in Ascot Vale on 5 April 1915. She married in 1939 and she and her husband, a compositor at The Argus, had three children. After her children were launched, Phyllis ran a Melbourne timber business that saw her make regular trips to Tasmania to pick out timber. She later went into partnership with a friend and ran a pineapple plantation, Phyllis making…

THE RSL is launching a campaign this month to raise money for a rotunda at a new avenue of honour in Mornington Park. The rotunda will be furnished with bronze plaques giving information about avenues of honour in general and Mornington’s in particular. These are being funded by the federal government’s Anzac Centenary Local Grants Program. The rotunda will in the same place as the park’s original rotunda – a familiar feature to the young men going off to war 100 years ago. The completion date, including painting and landscaping, is expected to be this October – in time for…

GOVERNMENTS will not protect houses affected by rising seas, says peninsula foreshore committee member David Gill. Mr Gill spoke to The News after attending the 2015 Australian Coastal Councils Conference at the RACV resort in Cape Schanck mid-March, which was hosted by Mornington Peninsula Shire and Frankston Council. The conference was convened by the National Sea Change Taskforce and brought together scientists, academics, disaster planners, engineers, economists, policymakers and other specialists as well as observers. Speakers came from the CSIRO, universities, business groups, research forums, planning authorities and local governments from around Australia. Local speakers included Mornington Peninsula Shire mayor…

THE Stony Point rail line has been closed indefinitely after boom gates did not close for approaching trains twice in the past few weeks. Boom gates at the Graydens Rd level crossing failed to close in the first week of March. Another gate malfunctioned at the Mornington-Tyabb Rd level crossing last week. The latest safety scare comes after several boom gate malfunctions last year forced Metro to pull single-car trains from the line last year (‘Line call after gates glitch’, The News 2/9/14). At the time it was believed the single-carriage trains were not large enough to trigger the closure…