Pelican pool thanks
Being back in the Hastings pool after the long closure is a real delight and relief for a body that requires non weight bearing exercise. The renovations are superb. Family/disabled change rooms have the kind of facilities much needed for people on sticks or using chairs, easy to use.
We are so fortunate that Mornington Peninsula Shire invested in this pool when other councils have allowed theirs to disintegrate. Many regional pools have closed. They provide not only valuable exercise opportunities, learn to swim for kids and migrants from countries where swimming is not part of the culture, also social well-being. Strong friendships are made between swimmers, aquarobics class members particularly looking out for each other in and out of the pool or gym.
We really enjoyed using the picturesque outdoor Crib Point pool and believe many people will continue to go there in its open seasons. Four degree mornings were too much for this old swimmer however and had to stop going. Will take the muscles a while to recover, particularly shoulders benefiting from backstroke.
So, we are back early, photographing sunrise from the end of the jetty, then into the pool, watching clouds through the windows, telling self ‘never forget how good this feels’. Thank you council.
Fran Henke, Hastings
Aged care at home
Peninsula residents enduring unacceptably lengthy delays in securing a home care package would have been heartened by parliament’s decision last week to make thousands of additional packages available. As welcome as it is, this action addresses only one of the delaying factors blighting this most worthy policy initiative.
The peninsula is home to a large number of older people, proportionally more than most if not all other municipalities, and to a relatively small group able and willing to work delivering home care services. The consequence of this demographic structure is serious mismatch between those seeking assessment of their entitlement to a package and its subsequent delivery and those charged with the task of delivering it, with the result that applicants are waiting months, not weeks, for the help they need to enjoy their twilight years in reasonable comfort and security.
The harsh reality is that until the shortage of appropriately qualified and enthusiastic aged care workers is addressed the unacceptable occurrence of people being forced into residential care or, in a few extreme cases, dying while they wait for the arrival of the package to which they are fully entitled will continue.
Surely this is a situation in which all three levels of government have part responsibility and we need them working cooperatively, not indulging in a buckpassing exercise.
G. A. Grant, Flinders
Australia for Australians?
On the day of the March for Australia I was having coffee in Rye when a group next to me said the wished they were going to the rally. As I was leaving I asked why they wanted to go. They told me they wanted Australia for Australians. Later a woman who I admire said she supported the rally because of the concerns people had about the impact of “mass migration” on housing and the cost of living.
I wondered what having Australia for Australians meant. Who are the people who they do not want in the country? Is it the ones who built the Snowy Rivers Scheme, or those who now staff our health system, provide GP and specialist services, particularly in regional areas, work in our restaurants and cafes and help grow and harvest the food we buy in our supermarkets.
Is it that they want to keep Australia for the First Peoples of Australia, the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders who have been so heavily impacted since the boat arrivals from Britain settled on these shores, taking over the land they were connected to, that they used for hunting and for harvesting food?
Why is migration blamed for the housing crisis when it is economic policy over decades that has had an impact on the affordability of housing? Look at housing on the Peninsula. We have no influx of immigrants yet we have large numbers of homeless people, we have workers who cannot afford to live here. Yet we have housing in abundance that is not available for long term rental. How are migrants to blame for that?
Policies are being implemented that will help with housing affordability but it takes time to undo the damage of decades. Why aren’t we recognising that we need skilled migrants to help build that housing, to work in the areas where we have shortages.
Why aren’t we celebrating what has been a successful multicultural community and the richness that migrants have brought to this country at the same time as celebrating that we have the oldest living culture in our First Peoples?
Marg D’Arcy, Rye
Sullivan’s Bay settlement
Annie Mono, the latest member of the school of “the epitome of human wisdom was reached during the Stone Age” to grace The News writes clearly and persuasively (Our history helps us move forward together, The News 9/9/25).
After observing the recent flag-displaying behaviour of our governments I am inclined to think that she may be right. However if she had further studied the history of the settlement at Sullivan’s Bay she would know that it was not abandoned because of a shortage of food and water. For a number of reasons the place was deemed unsuitable by Collins on arrival, and his party remained there only for the two and a half months that it took to obtain permission from Sydney to move to what is now Hobart.
Further, there is no evidence that the temporary settlers lacked respect for “the knowledge and wisdom of local Indigenous people”. Apart from the language problem, after an exploratory boat was attacked by aborigines on Bellarine Peninsula, the settlers avoided contact with them.
As for “moving forward together”, I wonder whether or not Annie Mono is aware that the first settlers at what became Melbourne were two white men and six aborigines from New South Wales. But then she thinks that dividing the population by race and giving citizens of one race and their descendants in perpetuity special political privileges at the expense of the rest will “enable a more inclusive and equitable future for all Victorians”!
Albert Riley, Mornington
Mayors’ spat
After reading the article (Spat between mayors, committee CEO, The News 2/9/25), I am appalled at the behaviour of those mentioned. Surely you can behave in a courteous and professional manner regardless of how much you may despise another.
This is what the ratepayers expect from their elected representatives or any appointed representative but alas, your antics bring to mind a bunch of nasty school kids attacking each other at every opportunity. If you are unable to be adults toward one another then maybe us ratepayers should have others as our representatives.
Mark Folvig, Rosebud
Spat a distraction
I’m sure that many readers like me will be appalled that the respective Mayors of Frankston and Mornington, and others, can be squabbling in this way, while so many issues that affect ratepayers day by day go unresolved (Spat Continues Between Mayors, Committee CEO, The News 2/9/25).
Just to name a few: potholes abound everywhere, damaged street signs go unrepaired sometimes for months, while parks, median strips, and roundabouts are mowed far too infrequently. There are of course many other issues, but just these few will serve to illustrate that our councils appear to have lost touch with their original purpose.
Maybe instead of trips and squabbles, our mayors and CEO’s could come back to earth and focus on adding value to ordinary ratepayers’ lives which, after all, is what we pay them to do.
Alan Robinson, Somerville
Blackspot confusion
I attended the earlier “Consultation” by Mornington Peninsula Shire in Mornington in May (Blackspot eradication, Letters 9/9/25). It was a fiasco. No presentation but bundles of maps with officers present.
I got the “Black List” that Jack is awaiting. Of 15 listed “Blackspots” only one was in the Nepean, Bentons, Dunns Road, Mornington Tyabb Road area and that was for one accident in the last five years.
The plan was to make the crossing at the Shopping Centre roundabout a Koala Crossing (raised).
In the last five years speed humps and Koala Crossings have already been added to Dunns Road, Maxwell Street and others. Like Jack, I know of no resident demand for further traffic calming measures. That shire should ask a bankrupt state government for this funding is astounding and more astounding that it has been awarded. It looks like an exercise in finding work for council officers to me.
Tom Davies, Mornington
Homeless emergency?
I agree with Maureen Donnelly about the number of homeless (Homeless emergency, Letters 9/9/25).
What I don’t understand what would be accomplished by the council declaring an emergency. It is not the rate payers responsibility to provide housing nor is it the council’s responsibility to spend rate payers money on solving the problem. Council is struggling to control budgets on their basic services for ratepayers.
John King, McCrae
Hamas shame
Your correspondent’s use of the term “controversial” to describe an organisation which engaged in the mass rape, torture and murder of Jewish women, children and babies on October 7 nearly two years ago (Engage with Hamas, Letters 9/9/25) is original, to say the least.
To blame Israel for taking action against those who perpetrated this atrocity is to employ a double standard that we would not apply to any other country which had been the recipient of such barbarism.
And yes, the resultant war has resulted in some innocent Palestinian children unavoidably suffering from it, in the same way that German and Japanese children inevitably suffered from Allied military activity in WWII as a result of fascist and Nazi leaders’ deliberate warmongering.
Hamas is on the farthest right of the political spectrum: dictatorial (pace your correspondent, not remotely “democratic”); theocratic; intolerant; misogynistic; homophobic; antisemitic; and genocidal (“from the river to the sea”).
The attempt to smear Israel with a charge of genocide stems from a combination of blind faith in Hamas’s alleged statistics, along with an obtuse disregard of the fact that Israel’s determination to avoid civilian casualties wherever possible has resulted in a minute fraction of the number of deaths that would have resulted were the IDF, as its critics maintain, really out to commit genocide.
Bill James, Frankston
Israel at war
Mr Lenzo’s criticism of Zoe McKenzie and his version of history since the inception of the State of Israel in 1948 is misplaced (Israel’s genocide, Letters 2/9/25). The day after the State of Israel was declared, all four Arab states surrounding it declared war. They did not accept Israel nor the land that was offered to them. They wanted annihilation.
The war that started after October 7, 2023 in response to the massacre of 1200 innocent people (not all Israelis) is not to eliminate the population of Gaza but to dismantle the structure of Hamas. Hamas which controls Gaza including the distribution of all aid that enters it (before the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation) is designated a terror organization by Australia and many other countries.
It is an Islamic Jihadist movement that seeks martyrdom. It is not a resistance movement. It seeks to eradicate Israel and all “infidels”. It has polluted the West with its propaganda. These are the people we should be concerned about not the IDF, a legitimate army (like ours) that defends the Israeli people. As we would, if we had been attacked.
Tania Kaye, Balnarring Beach
The Sheriff of Safety Beach
The Ratepayer supported Mt Martha Golf Course 2025 financial results are in. Financial losses are now only a paltry $1,709,000 for the last five years. The forecasted FY26 loss is $106,000 which includes the interesting “fact” that employee costs will not change from FY25 of $1,100,000, guessing no pay increases?
It is noteworthy that even with these disastrous results, Mount Martha Public Golf Course is public land owned by the Mornington Peninsula Shire Council and is exempt from land tax and Council rates. Still for ratepayers to look forward to and pay for is the $1.5 million needed over the next five years to fix “ageing infrastructure”.
The potential raw income of $62,268,540 from non resident paid parking is looking better and better. Maybe 45 service people to be fired by the shire is not enough. Next these financial geniuses will be asking Essential Services for a 10% variance to the rate cap because they can’t make a go of it.
And why are the taxpayers financially supporting a venture that is in competition with 19 other public golf courses and cannot turn a minor profit even though not paying land taxes and rates like the 19 do?? There are plenty of options, unlike sporting grounds, for golfers to do their thing so no reason for ratepayers to fund a golf course in the first place to compete with 19 public golf courses available to the public. What next a Ratepayer funded playground for non residents? Oh, we already do that!
Joe Lenzo, Safety Beach
A Call to Action: Open Letter calling on the Mornington Peninsula Shire Council to establish a substantive climate plan, without further delay
SADLY, recent Mornington Peninsula Shire Council actions on climate have been presented as a choice between allocating funds to fix urgent community needs, such as potholes and drainage, or continuing our flagship program to reduce emissions and to prepare the peninsula for the current and rapidly increasing impacts of a changing climate.
Both are important and exacerbated by climate change. In focussing on one while neglecting the other, council does not fulfil its obligations under the Climate Act 2017, and fails in its duty of care to both our current and future communities.
Let us take an example. For every $100 spent on reacting to disasters, Australia spends just $2 on reducing and preparing for future impacts. Yet, each $1 spent on preparation reduces the future cost of response by $6. Spent wisely, that $1 can also produce substantial immediate local savings. The shire’s own records show that each $1 spent on reducing emissions already has led to a greater than $3 annual saving for the community.
There is no doubt that climate change is accelerating the intensity, frequency and impact of weather extremes, such as flooding rains, bushfires, and droughts. Sea-level rise already threatens our extensive coastal communities.
As an example, the above time series demonstrates the rapid increase in heatwave frequency from human influence. Heatwaves also are more intense, and now cause more deaths than all other weather disasters combined.
We urge the shire to move away from political posturing and to treat this urgent current and increasing threat to our wellbeing by:
- Adopting a best practice model for community consultation on climate change action, prevention, mitigation and adaptation.
- Developing a new strategic climate plan that guides our moves towards climate resilience and emissions reduction. One that satisfies the shire’s duty of care under the Local Government Act 2020 (Vic), and the Climate Act 2017 (Vic), and one that is based on objective expert advice.
- Advocating to state and federal agencies for climate targets and policies that will improve the resilience and response capacity of our peninsula community and environment, both now and into the future.
The level of community concern is demonstrated by the way the Peninsula Climate Alliance has grown in the last few months from nothing to representing the 19 community organisations listed below.
We pledge to work in good faith with the shire on achieving a program that balances both immediate and future community requirements.
Greg Holland, Chair, Peninsula Climate Alliance – Mornington Peninsula Landcare Network, Save Westernport, Repower Mornington Peninsula, Victorian Farmers Federation MP, The Westernport Biosphere, MP Koala Conservation Group, Flinders Zero Carbon Community, Nepean Conservation Group, ACF Community Mornington, MP Labor Environment Action Network, Sybils XR, Regenerating Mornington Peninsula, Westernport and Peninsula Protection Council, Crib Point Action Group, Save Kangaroos On the Mornington Peninsula (SKOMP), Southern Peninsula Indigenous Flora and Fauna Association (SPIFFA), Friends of Hearn Creek, Sunshine Reserve Conservation Group, Independents for the Mornington Peninsula
