• Home
  • News
  • Sport
  • Entertainment
  • Local History
  • Contact Us
  • Advertise With Us
  • About Us
  • Subscribe
  • Read Our Newspapers Online
    • Read the Latest Western Port News
    • Read the Latest Mornington News
    • Read the Latest Southern Peninsula News
    • Read the Latest Frankston Times
    • Read the Latest Chelsea Mordialloc Mentone News
  • Competition
Facebook Twitter Instagram
Trending
  • Resident road rage over reduced speed limit
  • Steele retires, ‘Stirts’ to Seagulls
  • Pythons and Tigers all square, oh my!
  • Frankston Football Club hold a successful fair
  • Home services crisis after switch to private providers
  • Call for help after donation drop
  • True passion the source of author inspiration
  • OAM for ‘Coodabeens’ Bill Baxter
Facebook Twitter
MPNEWSMPNEWS
  • Home
  • News
  • Sport
  • Entertainment
  • Local History
  • Contact Us
  • Advertise With Us
  • About Us
  • Subscribe
  • Competition
MPNEWSMPNEWS
Home»Latest News»Islanders, MP want development details
Latest News

Islanders, MP want development details

By Stephen TaylorJuly 3, 2018Updated:July 3, 2018No Comments3 Mins Read
Share
Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Pinterest Email

ABOUT 45 French Island residents met with Hastings MP Neale Burgess on Sunday 1 July to air their concerns about a lack of information over redevelopment plans for the former McLeod prison farm.

The meeting, at the community hall, was organised by members of the French Island Community Association who are concerned the Chinese buyers of the prison farm, Wufu Investments, of Shanghai, are keeping them in the dark.

The islanders say they have tried four times to contact company CEO Xu Ziyun via email and letter but have not heard back.

This lack of information is causing unease – as did online reports that Madam Xu met privately with state tourism minister John Eren last July to discuss her company’s plans for the prison farm, with the islanders not consulted before or after the meeting.

Madam Xu later stated on her company’s website: “The [Victorian government] representatives suggested that we could make great efforts to develop tourism on the island of France (sic) and make her the second Phillip Island (the most popular tourist attraction in the area).” (“Islanders oppose prison farm ‘vision’” The News, 26/6/18).

Madam Xu stated the government had intimated it would “fully cooperate with” Wufu and “hoped to take the French island into a key strategy” with Phillip Island – despite there being no communication with the islanders themselves.

Mr Burgess said after Sunday’s meeting: “French Island residents are very reasonable people; all they are asking for is to be treated with respect and to be consulted about projects impacting them.”

He said it was “disrespectful for (the premier) Daniel Andrews and his Labor ministers to pose in photos with foreign developers, promoting projects that have not even been discussed with residents [who] will be heavily impacted”.

Mr Burgess said he had requested an “urgent briefing from both Wufu and Mr Eren and state planning minister Richard Wynne”. He said he would “keep the community informed of those discussions”.

The Wufu group is a primary service provider in China of elderly care, tourism, and the “cultural travelling industry”.

Its stated plans for the island include turning the jail into a tourist centre and museum, and building a string of one-storey flats as a hostel, a business centre where “tourists can work at the same time as holidaying”, a Chinese herb farm, and, contentiously, establishing health facilities, such as hot springs, to “cure our body and mind”.

First published in the Western Port News – 3 July 2018

Share. Facebook Twitter Pinterest LinkedIn Tumblr Email

Related Posts

Home services crisis after switch to private providers

July 4, 2022

Call for help after donation drop

July 4, 2022

Shire ‘no’ to Esso’s bid for power

June 27, 2022

Call for panel to consider future of green wedge

June 27, 2022
Add A Comment

Comments are closed.

Weather
Jul 5, 2022 - Tue
Mornington, Australia
15°C
clear sky
clear sky
1 m/s, ESE
58%
768.82 mmHg
tue07/05 wed07/06 thu07/07 fri07/08 sat07/09
sky is clear
14/9°C
sky is clear
10/9°C
light rain
12/11°C
light rain
12/11°C
light rain
12/9°C
Peninsula Essence Magazine

Click here to read

June 27, 2022
Peninsula Kids Magazine

Click here to read

May 26, 2022
Council Watch

Keeping watch on councillor costs

June 27, 2022

Leadership lacking for ‘neutral’ policy

June 20, 2022
Interview

True passion the source of author inspiration

July 4, 2022
Property of the Week

278 Dundas Street, Rye

May 11, 2022
100 Years Ago This Week

Frankston Football Club hold a successful fair

July 5, 2022
Contact
Street: 63 Watt Road, Mornington, 3931
Mailing: PO Box 588, Hastings, 3915
Menu
  • Home
  • News
  • Sport
  • Entertainment
  • Local History
  • Contact Us
  • Advertise With Us
  • About Us
  • Subscribe
  • Competition
About

Established in 2006, Mornington Peninsula News Group (MPNG) is a locally owned and operated, independent media company.

MPNG publishes five weekly community newspapers: the Western Port News, Mornington News, Southern Peninsula News, Frankston Times and Chelsea Mordialloc Mentone News.

MPNG also publishes two glossy magazines: Peninsula Essence and Peninsula Kids.

Facebook Twitter
© 2022 Mornington Peninsula News Group.

Type above and press Enter to search. Press Esc to cancel.