It was a one-man mission, but Nigel Dalkus has made it happen. And soon you too will be sporting the fruits of his labour. The new M-Plate, exclusively for Mornington Peninsula residents.
“It hit me one day when I was in bumper-to-bumper traffic on Peninsula Link. How do I know if the guy in the BMW X-5 next to me is a corporate type from a suburb I’ve never heard of clogging up our roads, or just a local battler taking his kid to Auskick?”
“The solution? A plate for your car letting everyone know you’re from the Mornington Peninsula!”
Mr Dalkus, a long-term resident of the peninsula who moved down here at the start of the pandemic, then set about lobbying the government for the change.
“I got a lot of blank stares at the start, but I managed to convince them, and look where we are now!” said Mr Dalkus, waving a new M-Plate in the air.
The M-Plate, with a pinot noir purple background and sand yellow “M”, will be required to be purchased and displayed on vehicles registered to Mornington Peninsula residents by the end of April.
“These plates are just so strong in their messaging,” said Mr Dalkus.
“When we see a learner with their L-Plates on, we know there is a dad in the passenger seat about to turn to drink because, after one hundred hours of practice, their kid still doesn’t know the difference between the brake and the accelerator!”
“When we see some young P-Plater tradie in a V8 ute scream past us at 140 in an 80 zone, we immediately know he is just a hard-working kid late for a job, who is probably filled to the eyeballs with methamphetamines.”
“So why not introduce a plate exclusive to Mornington Peninsula residents that lets everyone know who belongs and who doesn’t?”
Mr Dalkus believes demand for the plates will be so strong, that people will falsify their primary residence to a peninsula address just to get one.
“The M-Plate will let everybody know who is destroying the precious environment at The Pillars, and who is just exercising their birthright to jump off there,” said Mr Dalkus.
“It will let everyone know who is stopping at the supermarket for a loaf of bread for the kid’s lunches, and who is an ‘out-of-towner’ clogging the car park to sit on the beach all day.”
“It will be awesome!”
And Mr Dalkus is not stopping there.
“Next I’m moving on to getting J-Plates for jet ski owners, whether they have their jet ski hitched to their Ford Ranger or not!”
After 30 April, a Mornington Peninsula resident failing to display M-Plates will be liable for a $368 fine and the loss of four demerit points.
