A taste of the future?
So there we were, cruising home after a delightful coffee in Dromana’s increasingly cosmopolitan dining capital of the peninsula. The Saturday was full of promise for the balmy summer season ahead. The weather glorious, the sea sparkling, and smiles everywhere. And then we saw it. As we approached the Nepean Highway and Marine Drive intersection, mayhem ahead.
The jet-skis had descended on the service station. Vehicles towing them were in a scramble to re-fuel, without a thought of other traffic. They were in a tangle at the servo entrance, across the intersection, and waiting, not to be moved on, in Marine Parade. The stationary traffic behind them stretched all the way to Mason Avenue (nearly half a kilometre). There was no assistance from servo staff. It was an unholy traffic mess.
Just a taste of the summer ahead? Sadly, perhaps. But what of the future? Multiply the madness by fast (slow) food customers, limited parking, dine-in patrons, and those wishing to eat on the beach.
All crowned by those symbolic, omnipresent, golden arches? Never should happen, but approved by VCAT. Our future – and yours!
Mike Wilton, Safety Beach
Term limit shock
I was absolutely shocked to read of the proposal put up by Cr Bruce Rankin that no councillor be allowed to serve more than three terms (12 ) years in a lifetime (Shire to lobby for the introduction of term limits for councillors, The News 7/10/25). What a load of rubbish! We have had many great councillors who have served the peninsula for many, many years and served it well.
At least let the people have their say in the matter.
Joan Wood, Hastings
Term limits
It was beyond disquieting to see the comments made by Cr Bruce Ranken regarding maximum terms for councillors. It is clear that either he has completely the wrong end of the stick, or that his motivations are suspect to say the least.
Assuming he only has the wrong end of the stick, several points come to mind. Firstly, if federal and state politicians can serve “unlimited” numbers of terms, why are local councils, supposedly another arm of democracy, to be treated differently?
Secondly, barring any individual from standing, no matter how good a job they are doing, is tantamount to disenfranchising the electors in that ward who would have voted for them.
Next, and this is most concerning, Cr Ranken likens council to a corporation. Councils are not corporations. The ratepayers are the employers of the councillors, not shareholders in companies which, as a matter of course, do not regularly turn over directors in the interests of “freshness”. In any case, there is a way to renew councillors – it’s called an election!
Corporatisation and privatisation, which is what Cr Ranken seems to be arguing for has shown time after time not to work. We privatised energy; prices rose. We privatised water; prices rose. We privatised telecoms; prices rose. How can we expect council decent services if profit or surplus becomes a goal. Gagging debate on the issue only seeks to increase suspicion of the motivation behind the proposed move. Clearly, many in this council know the price of everything, but the value of nothing.
Dr A. B. Fricker, Mt Martha
Procedural Integrity
Building on my previous letter regarding the shutdown of debate at the 23/9 Mornington Peninsula Shire Council meeting, (Shutting down debate, Letters 30/9/25) I have since noticed a recurring issue that continues to undermine the credibility of our local government: the failure to adhere to its own procedural rules.
Upon reviewing the meeting minutes and video, I was alarmed to see that the motion proposing lifetime term limits for councillors in Victoria proceeded to a vote, despite not being seconded. This is a direct violation of the Shire’s own rules (Section 11.4: “Any motion or amendment that is not seconded lapses”). Yet, despite this procedural error, the motion continued to be acted upon, with the outcomes and recommendations from it being progressed as if no mistake had occurred.
But this issue goes beyond a single motion. At a previous meeting on 2 September 2025, the minutes inaccurately stated that a procedural motion had been seconded when, in reality, the seconding occurred only after the vote had already been cast — an error that was only acknowledged by the Mayor at the end of the meeting. According to the Shire’s own rules, the motion should have been deemed invalid. Yet, not only was it allowed to stand, but the minutes were falsely recorded, further distorting the truth.
These repeated procedural errors point to a larger systemic issue within the council, and some councillors are clearly failing to adhere to basic governance practices, raising serious concerns about whether decisions are being made fairly, transparently, and in the best interests of the people they serve.
As former mayor Despi O’Connor said, “Governance absolutely matters. It’s the bedrock of public trust. Humans can make mistakes, there is no doubt, but if these mistakes go unchecked, are not acknowledged, and not rectified, public trust is slowly eroded.”
Anja Ottensmeyer, Mt Martha
Tree pruning
The tree “pruners” have been busy in Mt Eliza recently making sure branches don’t touch power lines, or impede traffic by overhanging roads. However, myself and others have been appalled at the recent “pruning”, nay “butchering”, of a tree in Canadian Bay Road on the corner of Thomas Close. It’s so damn ugly, it would be better to remove the tree in total now. I’m against removal of trees, but this poor tree has been butchered beyond belief and is a complete eyesore.
Clare Harwood, Mt Eliza
Call Ironbark
Councillor Michael Stephens hit the nail on the head when he said, “resilience alone is not a climate strategy” (Councillors vote to develop ‘Climate Resilience Plan’, The News 7/10/25). Mornington Peninsula Shire’s 2020 Climate Emergency Plan was highly regarded and won the Cities Power Partnership Award in the Ambition category in 2021.
For over 20 years, Ironbark Sustainability has worked with councils and their communities to reduce greenhouse emissions, tackle climate change and implement sustainability projects and programs.
According to them, the key elements of a good climate action plan are: an emissions inventory, science-derived targets, an emissions reduction pathway, recommended actions, energy efficiency, renewable energy, fleet transition, degasification, a carbon offset strategy, and last but not least, community engagement.
Mayor Anthony Marsh and CEO Mark Stoermer would do well to give Ironbark a call.
John Godfrey, Cape Paterson
Boardwalk rocket science?
The Briars boardwalk was first damaged after the wild weather back in 2020 where a section of the boardwalk was fenced off – it remains unrepaired to this day. However after the weather event on 14 November 2022 there are now other sections that have been damaged stretching from the Nepean Highway to the Briars. The Mornington Peninsula Shire then undertook “Community Consultation” during December 2024 regarding three options and since then (ten months) they are still procrastinating.
As the shire website currently states “A report was tabled with council detailing the community’s preferred option for rectifying the boardwalk. The report noted that funding of detailed design and delivery was reliant on council endorsing the project within the FY26 Capital Works program. Council did not include the Boardwalk project in the FY26 Capital Works program and therefore further works are on hold until additional funding can be sought”. The mayor is the Briars representative so I cannot understand why this was not included in the budget. If it cannot be rectified during 2026 when will the shire find the money?
I note that BERG has replaced a large section of their boardwalk with a minimum of fuss. If there is no labour or funding available maybe ask BERG or Rotary to assist as they appear to be very capable of replacing boardwalks in a cost effective way.
Enough procrastination just find the money and replace the damaged sections and allow the ratepayers and visitors to once again enjoy the Balcombe Creek and Briars unique environment.
John Bridge, Mount Martha
Climate change stoush
I have to respond to Brian Michelson’s main assertion that he doesn’t believe CO2 causes global warming. Simply not believing something doesn’t make it not true, the earth is not a glass jar in a laboratory. Sadly the science on this is irrefutable. The carbon dioxide content on the Earth is one of the important reasons that makes this planet habitable.
The fact that CO2 is only a small percentage of the atmosphere is irrelevant to its impact on the atmosphere. CO2 can absorb and re-radiate infrared radiation (heat) from the Earth’s surface and prevent it from escaping to space. Despite its small amount, CO2 is very effective in doing this so it is important to note that small changes in CO2 can have significant impacts on trapping heat near the Earth’s surface, that is increasing temperatures.
Data shows conclusively going back hundreds of thousands of years that the Earth’s temperature closely tracks CO2 content. The CO2 level in the atmosphere has never been higher, rising dramatically in the past 200 years, and this is directly attributable to the role of humans burning fossil fuels.
The reality is that should the relationship between CO2 and temperature continue the Earth could reach temperatures higher than ever recorded before at which point we will be in serious trouble.
The problem is that a few prominent loud and ignorant voices (e.g. Donald Trump) seem to think that their gut feeling somehow carries equal weight with the considered assessments of thousands of scientists backed by masses of measured data. It is the world we live in unfortunately.
Dr Ross Hudson, Mt Martha
Treaty will unite
Thanks Albert Riley, for sharing your knowledge on the lives of early settlers and the decision-making process of the 1803 new “government” of the time (Collins settlement, Letters 30/9/25).
I now know more about the disbandment of the Collins Settlement. I will not pursue the fact that the location of numerous small creeks, streams and natural springs eluded the settlers at the time. But they had provided a crucial source of drinking water for the original inhabitants (for over 60,000 years).
The views expressed in your letter were the reason for my article in the first place. That is, the purpose of the Victorian Statewide Treaty. Like your attention to facts and commitment to telling the whole story – the Treaty is also founded firstly on a robust process of Truth Telling. As Kate Grenville states in “Unsettled”, “thanks to patient and painstaking work by historians who have unearthed what written records still exist, there’s no longer any way to deny that these things happened.”
In Victoria, the Yoorrook Justice Commission and its report “Truth be Told” clearly document testimonies from both Indigenous and non-Indigenous people about what happened including acts of cruelty and genocide, to ensure grabs for land and resources by settlers, which occurred with impunity.
Treaty will give First Peoples a real say in decisions that impact them and ensure policies are more effective and culturally appropriate. It will create practical solutions for issues like health, education, housing, and employment – that are more economically efficient.
Treaty will not make decisions over matters that affect non-Indigenous people. It will not include private land, have veto power on policy or legislation and it will not operate independently, but be subject to the same oversight bodies as other agencies. Treaty will not divide or give special privileges to First Nations people.
Annie Mono, Rosebud
Treaty will divide
I must confess that unlike your correspondent, Marg D’Arcy (Brush up on history, Letters 7/10/25), who thinks I need to brush up on my history, I haven’t read the current signs at Sullivans Bay, which Marg regards as definitive. I did, however, more than once read the handwritten account that was enclosed in a glass case at the grave site in the late 1940s, and have read several accounts since including that quoted in previous correspondence.
I don’t think I need to attend a promotional presentation on the “Treaty process”, as suggested by Marg. I already understand that the proposal is not about history, it is about power and money. It is proposed that a separate “First Peoples” government be established at taxpayers’ expense in Victoria, that this separate government will have the powers to supervise the state government, to intervene in any “matter of interest” to it including educational curriculums, and to make separate laws for indigenous citizens.
The Victorian taxpayers will be required to pay this separate government about twenty-four million dollars in the first year, an amount which is to increase by 2.5% a year in perpetuity. The “First peoples” government will not be required to account to the state government for the expenditure of this money.
Once this “treaty” is signed, further treaties are to be sought at local government level. The “First peoples” activists want control of local councils too. Marg objects to my description of this proposal to divide our citizens into two race-based classes with different rights as “divisive”. Huh!
Albert Riley, Mornington
Immigration debate
Western Australian Liberal MP Andrew Hastie’s public posts about what he’s calling “out of control” immigration have now led to his resignation. Liberal frontbencher Melissa McIntosh said she could understand why Hastie had made his decision on the question of immigration.
Now we know that Labor has taken a stand limiting permanent migration at 185,000 which apparently is not good enough for the Coalition. So, not being able to control myself, I sent both Hastie and McIntosh the permanent migration numbers asking what they should be.
Guess what? Like every time over the last ten years I have presented this challenge there has been no answer from anyone! Jumping on the populist bandwagon is not good enough, words and innuendo are cheap!
I feel confident that if we had a policy like The Trumpocalypse United States of Anarchy which is expected to lower refugee admissions to 7,500 people, a sharp reduction from the cap of 125,000 last year supporting mostly white South Africans. Let’s get Australia back to the Restriction Act 1901 and immigration will cease to be a problem.
Or is it just plain and simple that spreading doubt, the great Sisyphean divider does not have to be true or accurate. Just outrageous enough questions, to sow the seeds of doubt is enough to counteract the truth, which always stems from the poisoned tree that cannot yield bountiful fruit with conviction and must be undermined with the seeds of doubt or its energised cousin, fear.
Joe Lenzo, Safety Beach
Youth hub?
The recent article regarding the Rosebud Youth hub (Changes coming for shire’s youth services model, The News 7/10/25) covered the underutilisation of the multi-million dollar building. A comment regarding lack of promotion as one possible cause, is highlighted by the sign outside the hub that states it will be ready by November 2024. If councillors were not blinkered they should notice a sign next door to the shire offices. People may think it is just another project late in being finished.
John Richards, Rosebud
Barley-Charlie@89
Memories, Black Rock, Bluff Road, Sundays, the beach, fish & chips, real fish, real children, 1970’s. Comparisons odious, 2025’s?
Alfred Hospital, like topsy Alf has sprouted, grown, from 30 years back; trainee dermatologist, dermatologist, surgeon, good stuff.
Asking: “Give me 2/3 weeks to think about it?” No problem, no big deal.
Artificial intelligence comes to mind, as in “Gone With The Wind” – Scarlett: “I’ll think about that, tomorrow.” Rhett Butler “Frankly, my dear, I don’t give a damn.”
A pebble in an ocean alongside Donald’s Nobel Prize, Donald front and centre, all about Donald, where are his bloody trousers, the song peanut?
Alongside, and obviously local, the Mornington Peninsula Shire’s response (if any) politics and pot holes?
Marg D’arcy worth a mention, clever lady.
Age may be weary, clearly (for now) better alive that the other, God or no God, the choice, the option, thinking time, a haircut springs to mind, a place to meditate?
Could be worse, normal people, refugees, asylum seekers, banished to Nauru? Why? Just saying…
Cliff Ellen, Rye
