• 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
Facebook Twitter Instagram
Trending
  • Susan Bissinger set for council seat after recount
  • Redlegs outrun Frankston Bombers
  • Rye prevail after a last quarter blitz
  • Table-topping start for local trio
  • Miss Inbetween gets the chocolates on Easter Monday
  • Bank manager grows ‘very fine’ potatoes
  • Reflections on going back home
  • Holidays are for fun and learning
Facebook Twitter
MPNEWS MPNEWS
  • Home
  • News
  • Sport
  • Entertainment
  • Local History
  • Contact Us
  • Advertise With Us
  • About Us
  • Subscribe
MPNEWS MPNEWS
Home»Latest News»Shire zoning ‘makes no sense’: mayor
Latest News

Shire zoning ‘makes no sense’: mayor

By Stephen TaylorSeptember 21, 2020Updated:September 23, 2020No Comments4 Mins Read
Sam Hearn
Share
Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Pinterest Email

MORNINGTON Peninsula Shire is pressing the state government to classify it as a region – and not part of metropolitan Melbourne – to liberate it from the stage four coronavirus restrictions.

The shire says the harsher zoning “makes no sense on several levels and is unsafe”.

In 1966 the entire peninsula was included in the metropolitan statistical area.

The mayor Cr Sam Hearn in a letter to Premier Daniel Andrews last week blamed “lines on an administrative map and not any COVID-19 specific considerations” for its inclusion into the Melbourne metropolitan area.

He said a letter from Chief Health Officer Dr Brett Sutton on 19 August confirmed that stage four restrictions were “implemented across the [Health] Department’s metropolitan region, including all metropolitan local government areas”.

“This includes Mornington Peninsula, despite the nomenclature of [it] being a shire,” Dr Sutton had said. “All non-metropolitan region LGAs were not included in the stage four restrictions.”

Cr Hearn said the “arbitrary classification with its oppressive restrictions aimed at clamping down on the spread of the coronavirus is stifling business on the peninsula and the social interaction that would rejuvenate it when there are no cases of the virus and none for at least the past 14 days”.

The DHHS on Sunday said the peninsula had one active case and had recorded 183 overall.

It is especially galling when other parts of regional Victoria with similar or even higher case numbers, including neighbours Bass Coast, Queenscliff, Geelong and Surf Coast, have progressed to stage two and are well on the way to re-opening for business as usual.

Cr Hearn said Queenscliff had highlighted problems for its own recovery of having the peninsula in a different category. “In effect we are the missing link in the creation and operation of a coastal corridor of all regional areas,” he said.

This is preventing the reactivation of the much-hyped tourism and hospitality economies.

The shire’s plea comes as a 10,382-signature online petition is also urging the state government to rethink the peninsula’s stage four status.

Organisers want the peninsula excluded from metropolitan Melbourne and are aiming for more than 15,000 signatures.

Originator Mandy White said the peninsula, with low numbers of active COVID-19 cases, had been forced into lockdown with the rest of Melbourne.

She said the peninsula was not classified as part of metropolitan Melbourne when it came to infrastructure spending but had been “clumsily lumped” into this category as part of the COVID-19 restrictions.

Ms White said more than 6000 jobs had been lost on the peninsula, which had suffered a 21 per cent fall in gross regional product (compared with a 6.9 per cent drop for Australia) and an 11 per cent drop in employment opportunities.

Business group the Committee for Mornington Peninsula called for the peninsula to have regional status after hosting a meeting of the state Opposition’s Shadow Cabinet at Rosebud in August.

The 50-member committee told Opposition leader Michael O’Brien that classing the peninsula as metropolitan was “hurting business and causing job shortages and lost government grants”.

Earlier this month the committee reported that many local businesses were “on the brink” as a result of the stage four restrictions (“Call for urgent road-out plan” The News 8/9/20).

President Shannon Smit said: “Our research shows many hospitality and retail businesses are on the brink and in desperate need of hope and a road out of the current punishing business conditions on the peninsula.”

Cr Hearn said the stricter stage four classification, which had nobbled the shire’s community services activities, made “no epidemiological sense and posed serious health risks” on several fronts. He cited ongoing lack of support and services for vulnerable families and people sleeping rough; large numbers of isolated seniors, hospitality workers trapped at home and tradespeople unable to work.

First published in the Southern Peninsula News – 22 September 2020

Share. Facebook Twitter Pinterest LinkedIn Tumblr Email

Related Posts

Susan Bissinger set for council seat after recount

April 13, 2021

Kangaroos ‘face extinction’

April 12, 2021

Feds under pressure to back AGL refusal

April 12, 2021

Expansion, but blackspots remain

April 12, 2021
Add A Comment

Comments are closed.

Weather
Apr 18, 2021 - Sun
Mornington, Australia
13°C
few clouds
few clouds
1 m/s, SW
85%
767.32 mmHg
sun04/18 mon04/19 tue04/20 wed04/21 thu04/22
scattered clouds
16/14°C
sky is clear
17/17°C
moderate rain
12/11°C
light rain
13/13°C
light rain
15/14°C
Peninsula Essence Magazine

Click here to read

March 29, 2021
Peninsula Kids Magazine

Click here to read

February 25, 2021
Property of the Week

Horizon sets new goal for property prices

January 11, 2021
Council Watch

Susan Bissinger set for council seat after recount

April 13, 2021

Brown coal to hydrogen: responsible or risky?

April 12, 2021
Interview

People of faith sound alarm on climate

March 15, 2021
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
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
© 2021 Mornington Peninsula News Group.

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