Pothole situation dire
I too was a victim of the neglect by road authorities to repair the ever increasing number of serious potholes on Mornington Peninsula roads (Drivers fury over pothole damage, The News 3/9/25).
I am sure many others reading the article have also been inconvenienced and put at risk and unnecessary expense. In fact the tyre repair business where I had the tyre replaced advised me that in one week they had serviced over 30 clients with the same issue.
The monetary issue is annoying, but far more worrying is the thought that there will be a serious if not fatal accident caused by these potholes on peninsula roads if the neglect continues. I did take the opportunity to send an email to VicRoads and whether by coincidence or pure chance, the offending pothole was repaired within a week of my altercation with it.
Perhaps if everyone affected by this neglect contacts those responsible for this dire lack of maintenance, we may avoid both the personal expense and inconvenience and avoid the tragedy of a serious accident or death becoming a reality.
Susan Cusack, Merricks North
Blackspot eradication?
Definition of a blackspot: a place on a road that is considered to be dangerous because several accidents have happened there. I attended the community information session offered by the shire at Bentons Community Centre last week. The shire plans to spend over $800,000 to reduce speed limits and introduce dozens of speed humps in the area bounded by Nepean Hwy, Bentons Road, Dunns Road and Tyabb Road using a grant from the Government. The grant is part of a blackspot eradication program.
I asked for the data on accidents and deaths for the area and was told they didn’t have it there, but the officer tried to call it up on his phone. Response? “Sorry, there’s no wi-fi here!” He offered to send the data to me, but hasn’t. In my several years of living in the area I am only aware of a couple of accidents, and no fatalities or serious injuries. These hard won funds should be used to mitigate issues at dangerous intersections, not simply making it harder to get around the local area. It is very obvious that the shire has acquired some cash and is just looking for something to spend it on.
Jack Wheeler, Mornington
Tree protection needed
For nature lovers, there’s not much sadder than the sight of a cut-down, mature tree. So, the loss of five mature trees estimated to be 70 to 80 years old at Red Hill South is understandably upsetting (Red Hill South community fight to save historic trees, The News 2/9/25).
Such trees commonly have hollows used by endangered species. The decline of Victoria’s old hollow-bearing trees through fire, old age and, more recently, logging, extensive prescribed burning, fuel reduction, thinning and firebreaks by Forest Fire Management Victoria is alarming.
With over 90 per cent of the Mornington Peninsula cleared since settlement, meaning most ecological vegetation classes are now classified as rare or threatened, the removal of any further native vegetation, especially significant old trees, must be minimised.
Even with amazing community groups like the Mornington Peninsula Koala Conservation Group planting tens of thousands of new trees (Celebrating 100,000 trees, The News 2/9/25), development and infrastructure keep knocking them down.
It takes decades for new trees to replace the canopy and habitat provided by the trees lost.
It’s time to make tree removal harder, and companies like United Energy should be answerable to tougher nature laws and environmental standards. Tree removal should be a last resort, not simply a job for a work crew.
Chris Cook, Essendon
Flag issue
Although your correspondent, Virginia Fricker (Flag’s historical context, The News 2/9/26) does not specifically say so, her argument seems to be that since the aborigines of the colonial era probably did not like the British flag, and the “First Nations” residents of remote communities genetically inherit the wisdom of 65,000 years of ancestors and thus have nothing to learn from ignorant white people, the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander flags should continue to be flown alongside the Australian National Flag. Is that correct?
Albert Riley, Mornington
Homeless emergency
On a freezing cold peninsula night, six councillors, before heading home to a presumably warm bed, declared that we don’t have a housing emergency here. Except that I was actually there at the council meeting on 2 September when the mayor Anthony Marsh, and councillors Williams, Pingiaro, Allen, Batty and Ranken ganged up to ditch a motion to declare a homelessness emergency on the peninsula, I wouldn’t have believed it!
I left the meeting reeling in shock at this callous denial of what is common knowledge: the Mornington Peninsula has the inauspicious title of State Homelessness Capital. Both emergency accommodation and permanent public house are critically in shortage. How then can these councillors justify their vote opposing the declaration of a reality statistically proven by hard cold facts: the nightly numbers of rough sleepers, the dearth of affordable rentals, the indefinite public housing waiting times?
Council’s own research reports, council’s Triple A Housing Committee, council officers’ reports, and the alarm signals of community organisations at-the-coalface (as well as reporting on the front pages of The News) are united in declaring housing at crisis levels. How can six councillors be so out of step? What rock are they living under?
Or, even worse, is it that they are aware of the crisis but don’t care? I guess they know that the unhoused are unlikely to roll up their sleeping bags and walk through the night to the council meeting to put their own case? Shameful, shameful. One wonders how these councillors can be allowed to hold a position of public responsibility. Thank heavens for the councillors with a heart, Gill, Patton, Stephens, Roper and Binyon.
Maureen Donelly, Mornington
Here’s to the fathers
My grand daughter Holly is now twenty three; however, how poignant is the memory of how my father’s hand materialised when, then three-year-old Holly, traced the veins on the back of my hand as Holly snuggled into me while I read to her.
My hands may have the same shape as my late Dad’s; however, that’s where the similarities end.
Holly’s great grandfather’s hands had bits missing from fingers; fingernails missing and slivers of steel yet to be pulled out with tweezers, by Holly’s great Nan.
My Dad’s hands toiled so very, mightily for my magnificently feisty MS suffering Mum; and, his children’s start in life. I would be building bikes up the back shed from old bits and pieces collected from the nearby tip; when suddenly, I’d be aware of his presence and smell, as he fondly watched me.
Dad, originally a bare-foot boy; one eleven of an impoverished, one-armed Port Phillip Bay professional fisherman at Mornington, and who worked in a Yarraville (“Yuppieville” today) iron foundry – could turn his hand to just about anything: fixing his own car; mending shoes for a family of five; adding a “sleep-out” onto our house; and my Dad, enjoyed a “roll your own” smoke. My Dad thus, had such a wonderful smell in my young boy’s nose.
Dear God, what I would not give to just once more; smell, and hear him saying: “That’s good, son.” And feel that so wonderfully affectionate, squeezing of my shoulder; from my, father’s hand.
Howard Hutchins, Wantirna
Engage with Hamas
As Joe Lenzo writes (Israel’s genocide, Letters 2/9/25), the Palestinian genocide by Israel cannot be denied. Now that the world’s leading genocide scholars have declared that Israel’s actions fit the legal definition of genocide our political representatives must change their stand to stop the carnage. For Zoe McKenzie it’s unqualified support of Israel, for Albo and Wong it’s mealy-mouthed referrals to a mythical two-state ‘solution’.
Last week’s ABC Four Corners program Gaza Doctors Under Attack painfully exposed the IDF brutality in their bombing of hospitals and the detention and torture of doctors. The current invasion of Gaza City and continued displacement of its starving, maimed or orphaned citizens, makes a hellish situation even more diabolical.
The usual response from our politicians that the basis of the conflict is Hamas and October 7 and that they can have no role in any future government. As Lenzo points out, the origins of the genocide begin well before October 7. While Hamas’s role is indeed controversial, to simply designate it as a terrorist movement means a political solution becomes impossible.
It is not up to us to decide who will govern Palestinians. It is helpful to learn Hamas’ history and changing nature from an Islamic Resistance movement to a more secular and democratic organization opposing occupation. Reading Hamas’ 2017 “Document of General Principles and Policies” is informative.
As to the terrible events of October 7 it is helpful to seek greater context (as suggested by UN Chief Guterres) and read the above book, or Israeli journalist Gideon Levy’s reports in Haaretz newspaper and his book “The Killing of Gaza- Reports on a Catastrophe”.
Since we are willing to engage with many countries that have a tainted humanitarian record, Hamas should be engaged to forge a just political solution.
Henk van Leeuwen, Mount Martha
Our history helps us move forward together
By Annie Mono
LIKE many others, our family spent summer holidays on the Mornington Peninsula. We would occasionally visit the Collins Site at Sullivan Bay (near present day Sorrento), where a convict settlement was established in 1803. The location is significant because it was the first site Europeans attempted to settle permanently in Victoria.
Fresh water eluded the settlers and food was scarce. By 1804, the camp was abandoned. Yet this land had sustained the Bunurong people for millennia. Sustainability and survival were at the heart of Indigenous knowledge systems. The Bunurong people deeply understood the Mornington Peninsula. They had harnessed the seasonal flows to ensure a reliable food source for generations.
As a non-indigenous woman, I have reflected on how different our history on the Mornington Peninsula could have been if early British settlers had respected the knowledge and wisdom of local Indigenous people. Seeing Collins graves, reading about the failures of this site as a colony, I learnt very little about what really happened on these shores, especially the experiences of the Bunurong people.
Since moving to the peninsula, I was motivated to learn more about the history and experiences of the Bunurong people. I now know they experienced suffering because of violence, abductions, introduction of diseases such as syphilis and smallpox and losing access to their food staples, including the Yam daisy.
At the time, some settlers expressed their guilt witnessing killings and abductions. In Richard Cotter’s book No Place for a Colony, he quotes a settler: “My feelings were overcome, I could not suppress them, my involuntarily (tears) burst forth and I sorrowed for them”. Despite some settlers acknowledging the atrocities and the strength of Aboriginal resistance, generational injustices for First Peoples continued. These injustices have recently been documented in Truth Be Told, the report of the Yoorrook Justice Commission.
Over four years, the commission listened to the testimonies from First Peoples and others. The nine reports document what really happened. The truth-telling process has been heartbreaking. The commission gathered more than 1,300 submissions and reviewed more than 10,000 documents. In addition to hosting 65 public hearing days, they held community round tables, private sessions, youth dialogues and on-Country hearings.
Many First Peoples spoke not only of their pain but also their hope for the future. Truth Be Told gives all Australians a powerful history lesson. Unlike the limited history many of us were taught at school, we now have the opportunity to listen and learn.
The early settlers had no understanding of either the land or First Peoples, who they saw as an inconvenience. According to Truth Be Told, the settlers “did not see the profound connections that bound the First Peoples to the land, their intricate knowledge of its rhythms, or the spirituality held in every tree, river and stone. They saw only a vast landscape ripe for exploitation”.
The Yoorrook Commission provides a detailed account of these experiences and is a significant authoritative reference. The commission’s final report is not only a history lesson but also a call to action. It offers both First Peoples and non-Indigenous Australians hope by providing a clear path forward through practical solutions at a community level and the continuation of the First Peoples’ assembly.
The Treaty process currently being implemented in Victoria will provide opportunities for open dialogue, mutual respect and collaborative efforts. This will enable a more inclusive and equitable future for all Victorians.
Annie Mono is a member of Southern Peninsula Allies. For more information email: southern.peninsula.allies@gmail.com
