Changes to bus service do not service all
ON 1 July the Ventura bus 784 route was changed. This was the only direct service we had from Mt Eliza Village to Barkly Street Mornington shops.
The only direct service to Mornington we have now is the 788 to the Bays Hospital, but that is quite a walk for us 80 plus years old down to Barkly Street.
Then I see on the front page of your paper Mornington MP Chris Crewther congratulating himself for providing the 784 service for the Beleura Village and Peninsula Grange Retirement Villages (Bus stop celebration but ‘more to be done’, The News 21/7/26).
I rang Ventura Buses and was advised the changes were not their idea but the Department of Transport. I rang PTV who said they will put in a Service Improvement Advice?
I can only think pressure was put on the Dept of Transport by MP Crewther resulting in the service now serving a few, when previously it was serving hundreds from our Village.
Maureen Piper, Mt Eliza
Ratepayer sentiment
I agree with the sentiments expressed by Brian A. Mitchelson’s letter (Waste charges, Letters 21/7/26) regarding the shire treating ratepayers as suckers; certainly, my own bill for rates and other charges has almost doubled in the last four years, notwithstanding the purported rate cap.
I would mind less if I thought we were getting value for money, but we are not.
In addition to the Mornington Peninsula being administered by one of the lowest-rated shires in Victoria, I know I am not alone in encountering council employees who are happy to make commitments they have no intention of keeping: I’ll get him to call you. Or, I’ll get back to you next week, and then hearing nothing further. It boils down to a lack of accountability.
Over the past few months, I have written three times to Mark Stoermer, the CEO, to draw his attention to the difficulties of dealing with his employees, and have yet to receive even an acknowledgement from him; this from a bloke who, when he was appointed last year, declared that his objective was to bring greater community and customer focus to the shire.
Not sure whom he considers to be his customers, but, apparently, not the suckers who have to pay his wages. At least it provides insight into why many of his employees also appear not to give a fig.
Brian, I like your assertion that “Councils are…obsolete and unnecessary”, and would readily vote to replace ours. Until then, maybe we should request our rates invoices this year include just one category of cost: Waste charges.
Jonathan Atherton, Tyabb
A great initiative
It was interesting to read about the proposal for a pollinator corridor linking Langwarrin Flora and Fauna Reserve to the Frankston foreshore (Bee plan to improve green spaces, The News 21/7/26).
When complete, it would rival Australia’s largest urban pollinator corridor, linking Westgate Park to the Royal Botanic Gardens Melbourne through South Melbourne and Port Melbourne. This community-led project has established more than 50 gardens and planted over 12,000 indigenous plants, attracting native species including blue-banded bees and increasing habitat for a wide range of insects.
It is easy to forget how dependent we are on pollinators. Many crops, including almonds, apples, pears and cherries, rely heavily on bees and other pollinating insects for production. However, international studies have documented significant declines in insect abundance and bee diversity in many regions, driven by habitat loss, pesticides, climate change and other pressures.
On a more positive note, the Mornington Peninsula was well represented in Australia’s most recent Citizen Science Wild Pollinator Count held in 2021. While European honeybees accounted for most observations (55 per cent), the count also recorded native bees, flies, moths, beetles and other pollinators.
Credit to Cr Emily Green for raising the pollinator corridor proposal and to Frankston Council for supporting an initiative that will benefit both biodiversity and the community.
Maggie Cowling, Coburg North
Benefits for all
All of us will benefit from the Pollinator Action Plan (Bee plan to improve green spaces, The News 21/7/26).
So much of our natural world, along with many crops, depends on pollination to thrive.
Honey bees, native bees, butterflies and birds all play a vital role in keeping landscapes productive and healthy. Native flowering plants not only support these pollinators, they add colour and help create habitat for countless other species.
Nature strips, small reserves and home gardens can all be planted with natives to build the green spaces communities rely on to flourish.
Well done to the Frankston Council for supporting pollinators. It’s great to see local governments creating policies that really can grow into something positive.
Amy Hiller, Kew
Letter writers
Regarding Ross Hudson’s letter (Simple explanations, Letters 21/7/26) offering an explanation why people from outside the peninsula write letters, that may be so in some cases but there have been many letters in the past which are politically motivated with absolutely no relevance to the Mornington Peninsula.
These people are pushing their own agenda on sensitive issues that have no place in a local paper.
There are already enough opinions without outsiders adding theirs to the controversial issues.
And in response to the “Editor’s note”, I actually said I no longer read THESE letters. That is, those with addresses outside the peninsula.
Tina Bennett, Somerville
Why I read The News
Ross Hudson lays out several reasons why outsiders like me read and write to the Mornington Peninsula News (Simple explanations, Letters 21/7/26).
In my case, I have very fond early memories camping at bayside reserves, exploring rock pools at London Bridge, and discovering Point Nepean battlements. Later, the back beaches of Portsea and Gunnamatta had more appeal.
Much later, with aging parents, Peninsula Health and Frankston aged care services kicked in.
Nowadays, visiting and staying with friends and family, enjoying wineries and the numerous cycling and walking opportunities are the reasons to visit. A friend’s recent 80th birthday at the Mornington Golf Club comes to mind.
Supporting efforts to help preserve the peninsula’s unique natural places and native species is an ongoing interest. I’m sure many others have similar stories
With newspapers online, it’s much easier these days to stay informed. Congratulations to the Mornington Peninsula News Group for twenty years of service to the community.
Ray Peck, Hawthorn
Who lives where?
The question of who lives where and is permitted to write letters has been addressed before.
Those who divide their week still pay rates and carry the burden of living here. And even if they don’t actually live here, dragging this old chestnut back out is nothing more than reheating leftovers no one asked for. We’ve already buried this debate. It deserved to fade for good because it simply doesn’t matter.
The News produce weekly community newspapers that offers many the opportunity to voice their concerns (often about council) and to express their ideas, which is exactly what makes our letters page a rich mix, lively and worthwhile.
All conversations must remain open, reflecting the diversity of the peninsula and its residents. It is better to focus on the issues that affect us all than to quibble about who lives where.
Anne Kruger, Rye
Broken media?
I wrote this letter a week ago and was considering whether it was worthy of publication, when I heard a segment on the radio relating to “Is our media broken?”.
I then decided that yes it was and part of the main challenge facing them is seeking to keep them relevant.
Our television media seems to exist to ask questions of “experts” who cannot possibly know the answer to the question.
One of the favourites going around currently is “How much will the closure of the Gulf of Homuz et al, affect fuel availabilty/prices?”.
There are so many variables to be considered by anybody seeking to answer questions such as that.
Few if any of the “experts” have anything like enough information other than to make a gross generalisation. The one singular piece of information they all lack is “What will the US President say next and will he do it?”.
The variations due to the state of the wars, themselves, are so complex as to render any response little less than conjecture.
The ‘expert’ will, so as not to embarrass themselves, either provide a ‘very considered and plausible’ non response, or a very non-committal, but seemingly plausible non response.
Another expert on another channel today or tomorrow will be asked a similar question and provide a similar non response.
The viewers watching, so as to get enlightenment in a confused and lost world, will have a moment of satisfaction believing they have the latest position, only to be completely disillusioned tomorrow by another expert with a similar “non response”, leaving the viewers so confused that when they hear a really excellent and possibly close to the truth response to a question, fail to accept it because they have been fed so much rose fertilizer.
Ken Norris, McCrae
BarleyCharlie@90
And so overseas; Wars continuing to rage, unabated, and as always, power corrupts, and we little people attend to our everyday ins and outs, our local councillors steering the shop on our (or their) behalf?
Not to mention state and federal politicians feathering their public (and no doubt private) nests.
Thus, porridge, nescafe coffee, shower and a perusal of right wing newspapers, my amazing window to the world iPhone, a passport to the scammers, and/or if desperate, Facebook? Mind over matter or positivity, either a plus?
Princess Pauline walks the walk and we pay for her shenanigans; such is life? The bathroom mirror displays an (almost) decrepit old man, and yet, after said initial quick glance, dismissed, in favour of memory, AKA 25 year old features, like Pauline, Me Me Me?
Morning pills problem; one 30 minutes before, the daily four pills during porridge. A 5.30am awake, toilet, early pill, nod off till 8.30; did I take it, forgotten? One morning I swear I was sitting bedside with a cigarette; no, dreaming, nightmare? – again? Must tell my doctor, IF I remember?
The better news, a Collingwood victory, stop/start replay; for cappuccino, toast, avocado; the mix of health and pleasure, little fish at 90+. Thank the mysterious invisible Lord.
And then we beat Adelaide in their self absorbed city, piece of cake, or The Everly Brothers – Dream?
“Whatever makes the past or the future predominate over the present, exalts us in the scale of thinking beings” [Johnson]. Not sure about the future (mine) average additional 3 to 5 years, hopefully eyes ears brain in working order, not too much below the neck?
Repeating: positivity, or Reality for Reality? Pies, Premiers, 2026.
The modern philosophy “It is what it is” What happened to “That ‘s Life”?
Wondering, do those nodders get bonuses for nodding behind Albo or others? Dry July motivations, nonsense. It’s COLD! Just saying…
Cliff Ellen, Rye
