THE Committee for Frankston and Mornington Peninsula and Mornington Peninsula Shire Council joined forces last week to lobby federal politicians about homelessness, housing and the use of land near the Port of Hastings.
The committee’s CEO Josh Sinclair, the mayor Cr Simon Brooks and advocacy, communications and engagement manager Randal Mathieson went to Canberra to express their shared concerns. The shire is a “community member” of the committee and Brooks and Mathieson extended their Canberra visit by two days to join a delegation from the Greater South East Melbourne (GSEM) for more meetings with ministers and their staff.
“This face-to-face advocacy is really important as it enables us to explore direct funding sources from the federal government and push for a more equitable distribution of federal funds via state government to the local government,” Brooks told The News. “These meetings also give us the opportunity to directly influence key national decision makers and keep our main priorities front of mind.” Brooks thanked Dunkley MP, Jodie Belyea (Labor) and Flinders MP Zoe McKenzie (Liberal) for their help in arranging meetings with ministers and their staff.
Sinclair said the committee “presented” MPs with a strategic plan that outlined “key advocacy priorities for the Frankston and Mornington Peninsula region, including tackling our region’s housing crisis, better infrastructure, and sustainable development”. “Many of these priorities are shared with local government.” The committee will launch it’s strategic plan in full to its members on 18 July in Hastings.
Sinclair said meetings had been held with Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek’s office and chief of staff and Housing Minister Julie Collin’s office and her senior advisors. “We also briefly met with Shadow Minister for Infrastructure, Bridget McKenzie and Victorian Senator, Jane Hume.”
Talks about housing and homelessness had centred around unlocking surplus port-zoned land near Hastings for housing to help the state government meet its target of providing 67,000 new homes for Frankston and the peninsula.
The MPs and their staff had been told of the need for more crisis accommodation and places for “key workers” to live.
Sinclair said the committee had told Plibersek’s staff that it saw a terminal to build offshore wind turbines at Hastings as the “centrepiece in attracting further green and clean energy industries and high-tech precincts … [to] Western Port”. “Certainty is what the community, stakeholders and business are after when it comes to long term, game-changing projects like the [terminal], and the committee is comfortable that the process is now progressing in the right direction after some initial uncertainty,” he said.
Brooks described the meetings with MPs and their staff as “very constructive and [as a result] we have several positive leads and actions to follow up to help address these pressing issues”.
First published in the Mornington News – 2nd July 2024
