Plant a tree or two
I admire the work of the Mornington Peninsula Koala Conservation group who aim to plant 30,000 indigenous trees every year (Volunteers needed for tree planting to support koalas, The News 28/4/26).
Those trees will reconnect bush areas and restore koala habitat. They will also clean our air and help fight climate change.
My family enjoys joining the Sunshine Reserve Conservation Group to plant trees for National Tree Day at the end of July each year.
Being outside, getting your hands dirty, and doing something for nature while connecting with others is rewarding, especially when you see the plants grow over time.
Check out mpkoalas.org.au or nationaltreeday.org.au/find-a-site/ to join a tree planting session this winter.
Amy Hiller, Kew
True ANZAC spirit
I overheard the following at an Anzac Day remembrance in a local retirement village: a seventy-something gentleman recounted what happened after their ship docked at Vung Tau port, Vietnam, and he and four other Aussies went to the mess hall for a beer at the bar.
The group, however, was refused a drink, the bar tender citing the colour of skin of their Aboriginal comrade!
Next door was the hall where the Afro-American crew were gathered and where the four then went, in solidarity with their Aboriginal mate.
That, not booeing First Nations diggers, is surely the true ANZAC spirit.
The gentleman concluded the recount with the anecdote that the Afro-American crew had formed a delegation in solidarity to escort the five Australians back to the port.
Let’s take up all the opportunities we are offered to make reconciliation happen.
Maureen Donelly, Mornington
Air pollution issues
The recent air pollution from the HMAS Cerberus planned burn and lifting of CFA fire restrictions on the Mornington Peninsula are a timely reminder of the impacts of smoke inhalation on human health.
The smoke pollution around Crib Point from HMAS Cerberus was overwhelming.
The smell of smoke entered our homes and covered our streets with a “pea soup” fog.
Some residents experienced difficulty breathing after exposure to the fine particles and carbon monoxide from the planned burn.
Unfortunately, not everybody uses Facebook so not all residents in Crib Point were given prior warning.
Particulate matter (PM2.5) particles are smaller than 2.5 micrometres in diameter and can be inhaled deep into our lungs leading to several health problems.
The national standard for particulate matter PM2.5 is a maximum of 25 micrograms per cubic meter in a 24-hour period and particles can exist in the air for many days after the burn off has ended.
HMAS Cerberus stated that the planned burn would be monitored so it would be interesting to know the actual air quality data recorded.
EPA Victoria must be notified if an incident impacts human health or the environment.
Unfortunately, the EPA Victoria air monitoring station at Hastings has been offline due to technical difficulties since 1 April 2026 so no air pollution data has been recorded recently.
Any resident can report air pollution on the EPA Victoria website www.epa.vic.gov.au/make-report or call 1300 372 842.
Dale Stohr, Crib Point
Parking problems
I read with interest the article regarding the chaos created by the multiple road closures across the peninsula. Honestly, I live in Frankston and used to head down the peninsula regularly but ever since the Peninsula Link has so much roadworks I have kept away.
Now I know why, every road was chaos and this was during the week, am sure there are many tourists (income) staying away.
But, as a group outing a number of us decided to venture to Sorrento, a bit of shopping then a trip to Queenscliff on the ferry the other day.
Now we carpooled (doing the right thing), knew we had to pay for parking. “No problem” we said.
Well, what an absolute nightmare, again to do the right thing and pay.
Mornington Peninsula Shire in all their wisdom have decide to sub-contract out the parking. Fine, surely though they could make it easier for anyone to do the right thing.
Really, download an app, including your grandfathers primary school report card, guess what, despite us being reasonably capable, four of us were unable to do so and had to ring customer service (granted they were helpful) to again, do the right thing.
Now really this is supposed to be a tourist attraction, certainly wouldn’t be attractive to the non English speaking people/elderly who don’t carry fancy phones/and people not wishing to release personal information to company they don’t know. Surely there is a better way.
And do you know what? The parking company when emailed were very apologetic but not a tweet/dickybird/anything from the council.
Will be awhile before I (and others) will battle the detour signs and parking boffins to bring cash into the community.
Jackie Morris, Frankston
Boardwalk dithering
One of the great issues with local councils is their ability to dither on making a decision on even relatively straight forward projects (Balcombe boardwalk repair faces long delay, The News 28/4/26).
Considerable money has already been spent on paperwork surrounding the rebuild of the board walk but no actual progress. The council should simply proceed with option 1 (like-for-like) as it is what the community wishes and the councillors are our representatives and should pay heed to that call.
Concerns raised about environmental impact are a bit strange as the existing path has already impacted the environment, moving it elsewhere would not undo that impact and cause even more damage elsewhere.
It has been several years since the damage was done, just get it fixed.
Ross Hudson, Mt Martha
History museum
I read with interest Cameron McCullough’s positive article on the saving of Hastings’ Pioneer Cottage (Hastings pioneer cottage to be saved, The News 21/4/26).
A few years ago, I had the pleasure of leading a group of clients to create a historical mural at the Hastings Community Hub. As part of our preparation, we visited the local museum on a fact-finding trip. It was my first visit, as it was for many in the group.
We were impressed by the volunteers, who were not only knowledgeable but generous with their time and enthusiasm.
That said, we all came away feeling the museum could be so much more. I wrote to the local councillor at the time, suggesting a design competition for a new facility. Perhaps a two-storey building with sea views and lift access. With the support of the major businesses operating in the port, such a project could become a reality and a point of pride for the community.
We need only look to places like the Queenscliff Maritime Museum or even the Tasmanian Maritime Museum to see what is possible when history is given the space and care it deserves.
The Hastings foreshore already has so much going for it. It may only take a little vision and refinement to elevate it further. A curated mural walk in the Fred Smith Reserve, for example, showcasing local history through the work of emerging young artists, could add both vibrancy and meaning to the area.
Hasting’s foreshore could be a major tourist destination.
Michael Leeworthy, Red Hill
Poverty problem
Poverty isn’t just a distant issue, it is growing here on the Mornington Peninsula.
Since the COVID-19 pandemic, more local families and individuals are struggling to keep up with rising rent, bills, and everyday expenses. For many, it’s no longer about getting ahead, but simply staying afloat.
While global poverty is often defined in extreme terms, the reality closer to home is financial stress, housing insecurity, and limited access to support. These challenges are affecting more people in our community than we might realise.
While local services and community support play an important role, they cannot address the issue alone. Long-term solutions must tackle the root causes, including housing affordability and the rising cost of living.
If we want change, we need to ask for it. Contact your local MP and ask what is being done to support people doing it tough on the Peninsula.
Poverty is not someone else’s problem, it is here, and it deserves our attention.
Charlize Sadlo, Dromana
Aged cost shifting
Bruce White raises concerns about rising private health costs for older Australians (Labor have done it again, Letters 26/4/26) but his argument leaves out the most important part of the equation: who actually pays when retirees leave private cover and move into the public system.
Australia now has 4.6 million people over 65, the largest retiree population in our history. A generation ago, there were five workers for every retiree. Today, there are barely three. That shrinking ratio means every cost shifted out of the private system lands harder on a smaller group of working taxpayers who already fund almost the entire health system through income tax, the Medicare levy, GST and state taxes.
At the same time, younger Australians face the most unbalanced housing market in the nation’s history. Earlier generations bought homes at three to four times annual income; today’s workers face prices eight to twelve times income, alongside higher rents and record mortgage stress. So while workers carry a heavier tax load per retiree, they also carry far higher housing costs than the generations now asking for relief from private health premiums.
And this pattern of cost‑shifting is not new. As the ABC recently reported, the government was forced to reverse a policy that required older Australians receiving at‑home aged care to pay for their own showers, after months of backlash. The reversal will now cost taxpayers $1b over four years — another example where essential services are funded by workers while the costs are pushed away from those who use them most.
If we are serious about intergenerational fairness, then retirees — as a group — need to contribute their fair share to the systems they rely on. Shifting more and more costs onto a smaller working cohort is not sustainable, and it is not fair.
Cameron Brown, Capel Sound
It’s not the Baby Boomers
The idea that “Baby Boomers” caused the wealth gap is statically wrong. Wealth in Australia isn’t spread across a generation It’s concentrated at the top. The top 10% hold around 45% of all wealth. The bottom 60% hold less than 20%. That’s not a generational divide, that’s a concentration problem.
Yes, boomers as a group hold a large share of wealth but averages hide reality. A small percentage hold a lot but most hold far less.
Around 60–70% of retirees receive a government pension, not widespread wealth, a reliance on the system. Much of what is counted as “boomer wealth” is tied up in the family home which makes it asset rich and cash poor. A one million dollar house doesn’t pay the power bill. A distorted narrative, a generation painted as wealthy when the reality is far more uneven. The real divide isn’t young vs old, it’s top vs everyone else.
Blaming an entire generation might feel satisfying but it misses the point. The government is responsible for this divide by providing excessive tax breaks for the top10%.
The housing inequity problem is 1,000% due to the government. Look to Singapore, Austria (Vienna model), Netherlands, Germany and Japan.
If you want to understand inequality, look up, not sideways.
We are in the Australia bubble. Never learn anything from anyone. We reinvent the wheel in a void!
Joe Lenzo, Safety Beach
More for renters?
Our local member for Frankston has become the Minister for Consumer Affairs and is known as the “Minister for Renters”.
His office is currently assisting me with getting material on the new regulation on rooming house operators placing a fixed heater in a room.
The new regulation says only a heater needs to be fixed to a wall roof or a floor.
I am now at VCAT to what a fixed heater is and what a heater does and what the government intended in making this new regulation.
Of course VCAT is trying to say that a fixed heater is a portable heater and matters have been adjourned so the rooming house provider can have the towel heater installed be inspected by his equipment inspector to see if it conforms to the new regulation and is installed correctly which it is not.
The Peninsula Legal Centre Frankston is assisting me and are awaiting a report made by the inspecting officer.
There are over 300 rooming houses in Frankston and our local member Paul Edbrooke should do more to protect renters in his electorate of Frankston and should have the Consumer Affairs renter taskforce check to see if the new regulations are being adhered to as well as the old.
Russell Morse, Karingal
BarleyCharlie@90
Delusions of grandeur or simply rewriting history? Do we all do it, as in the writers, politics, Clan Murdoch’s Herald Sun, The Australian and of course Sky News?
The 5pm 10 News is bum fluff, the gall to extend another 30 minutes? Channel 9 hold themselves out as representational, the love of the Royal family; credit (little else?) for Tony Jones and Footy Classified. SBS for mine; double tick! Opinions and DNA, no two a 100% match.
Anzac Day 2026 passed, again recalling, spick and span, marching, 1955, Navy National Service, Bourke Street, Melbourne, occasionally the pain of the 303, my right shoulder.
Trepidations aside, locally (by now) guessing Tracee Hutchison missed out, C’est la vie, running out of time to ever vote for a winner.
A Pauline Hanson personal appearance, a possible return to potholes and (self) Liberal values? “Looking forward” is their catch-cry, by rote, realistically “me me me”? Bitter never, not into self harm.
In another form (RSL smoking area) although age 90, therefore excluded generally, sometimes trapped, the brainless (possibly?) gambler who delights in the sound of his voice, often the true meaning of the words “mumbo jumbo.”
And the latest, King Charles (suggest never a Gough Whitlam follower) and the USA, AUKUS, basically hot air; the other one (Buddies) the USA and Israel, ignoring any ceasefire, sleeping together? And Iraq, weapons of mass destruction, disappearing, remember?
Finally, Victorian Premier “We value our teachers.” Not in my time; wrongly accused of cheating, arithmetic; Art teacher “You’re hopeless Ellen,”
Conclusion, a reminder of life being a Cabaret, despite the tragedy, sadness, of a draw, those mighty Magpies, nasty Hawks.
Lets keep dancing, lets break out the booze, and have a ball, if that’s all there is. The poor stay poorer, the rich richer, that’s how it goes.
Cliff Ellen, Rye
