MORNINGTON Peninsula Shire councillors have adopted a “Community Vision”, setting a clear direction for the region’s development to 2029. The updated vision, first established in 2021, is reviewed every four years to ensure it aligns with the evolving aspirations of residents and stakeholders.
The latest review used community data from 2021 including more than 3000 responses that were themed and shaped into the vision by an independent citizens’ panel. Under the Local Government Act, councils must develop or review a “Community Vision” within 12 months of a general election.
The adopted vision states: “We celebrate, protect and enhance our unique blend of coast, hinterland, green wedge and heritage – fostering our diverse culture and connected villages, townships and community. “We are committed to supporting community groups, sustainable and balanced growth, a vibrant local economy, fit-for-purpose infrastructure, and ensuring a prosperous, safe, accessible, and inclusive future for all.” The vision’s themes include place, people, prosperity, and performance.
A “pulse check” of the former “Community Vision” was also conducted with 64 per cent of the 698 respondents saying the vision still resonated with them, while 68 percent felt there was “something not sufficiently represented”. This included maintenance of infrastructure, regulation of development/management of the Green Wedge, environment and biodiversity, council operations, and public transport and traffic management.
Councillors voted unanimously in favour of the vision at their 22 April meeting. Deputy mayor Paul Pingiaro said he believed the vision “does a lot of things differently” with a strong focus on community engagement. “Yes, there’s changes to the way we’re doing business, but most importantly, we’re willing to move in a different direction to achieve not just new outcomes, but better outcomes moving forward,” he said. He also noted, “We’ve got to be adaptive, and we’ve got to move on our feet”. “Let’s really engage people in our community to make a difference … instead of spending extreme amounts of money to plant trees, let’s give them to our friend’s groups.”
But Cr David Gill said while he supported the vision, he had “started to doubt” whether it had become “meaningful”, particularly with being “responsive to community needs”. “I love what Cr Pingiaro said, I don’t love what the outcomes are so now I’m starting to doubt whether this is meaningful,” he said at the council meeting.
In terms of the vision’s themes, he said “perhaps I should just read them out every single meeting to ensure that people have it in their mind. What you promised to give our community, not take away from our community but give back to our community because I don’t see it happening in this council at the moment. So that’s where my doubt is whether this is real”.
Cr Kate Roper said she hoped to see “some improvement in the way we involve our community to make it better for everyone”. “We’ve got some beautiful words there, but I too am, I’ll say, dismayed,” she said. “I want to see these things we’re talking about – performances and people; the most important aspect of our community is our people, and I don’t want to see some groups left behind.”
Mayor Cr Anthony Marsh said, “I think this is a community centric vision. I’m proud of it. I think councillors had a lot more involvement in doing this as the elected representatives for the people that put them here than the last term of council”.
First published in the Mornington News – 6 May 2025
