Where are theRomans when you need them?
Fortunately, as a child, I enjoyed driving dodgem cars. That skill allowed me to drive via the Boneo Road to and from Flinders this week without bursting a tyre.
Question. Has road building improved since the Romans in ancient times?
One recent repair is about to disintegrate. The others are already tyre busters.
If the ALP lose the November election, it is my view it won’t be because of the CFMEU, the Firefighters Union, Mick Gatto, cost overruns etc – but because of potholes!
Ranald Macdonald, Capel Sound
Blackspot funding choices
Last September I attended a meeting where the shire laid out plans to deal with the “Accident Black Spots” in the zone bounded by Tyabb/Dunns/Bentons Roads and the Nepean Hwy.
No evidence about how many accidents had occurred in that zone were available.
In recent weeks more than a dozen speed humps have been installed in the quiet suburban streets within the zone.
Recently there was an article outlines the petition calling for safety improvements for the Mornington-Tyabb Rd and Racecourse Rd intersection (Petition for safety upgrades at dangerous intersection, The News 4/8/26).
It is clear from the regular deposits of bits of cars that collisions are all too common at this roundabout.
What a shame the funds which have been wasted eliminating non-existent black spots could not have been used to help ameliorate the shortcomings of this intersection.
I imagine it all comes down to the government offering funds which must be used by 30 June, or they will be lost, and nothing more will be offered next year.
It’s no coincidence that the flurry of activity on the speed humps happened in late June.
Jack Wheeler, Mornington
Horrible bird flu arrives
And so it begins. H5 bird flu, a horrible threat to Australia’s wildlife and poultry industry, has been detected on the peninsula and Phillip Island (Bird flu detected on the peninsula and Phillip Island, The News 12/8/26).
It’s good that some little penguins will be protected via vaccination. But what about the millions of other birds and wildlife likely to be impacted?
The government has released a list of risks to different bird and mammal species, and there are five species of seabirds that are not likely to survive the spread of H5 bird flu.
Extinctions are imminent.
The Albanese government allocated just six cents out of every $100 in the budget to protect nature and wildlife. It’s not enough.
Amy Hiller, Kew
Pondering waste costs
During my daily morning dog walk I often ponder on the issues of the day, usually with no solution. There has been a lot of discussion lately regarding waste collection frequency and costs to ratepayers.
I have noted that most of the streets I walk past have their bins directly in front of their own house. Hence, the truck is required to service the road twice to access the bins. House owners in my street all put our bins on the same side, thereby only requiring one trip.
I appreciate this may not be feasible in all situations but it would help the efficiency of waste collection and perhaps reduce cost slightly.
Just a thought.
Mal Goldsworthy, Mount Martha
A bit much
Does taking material to the tip need to be so expensive? Each year we are given four coupons for disposal of both hard waste and garden waste.
I have a small unit sized garden. This week I had some significant pruning of material coming onto the drive, a jasmine that had outgrown itself and a grevillea past its use-by date. I gave my gardener my last two coupons for disposal. (Two left this late in the year shows how precious they are.) They were significantly not enough to cover the load, decided by the council employee at recycle. The cost an additional $60.00.
Is it unreasonable to think the number of coupons we receive for hard waste and green waste are too few and the additional cost for using this council facility more than excessive? Garden waste is chipped to provide a valuable product for council landscaping use, so there is value in it.
There is little appreciation for the ratepayers in their home environment. We receive so little. Every few years the streetscape is butchered by ugly attacks on trees and shrubs that should be more regularly cared for. Only for purpose, not for appearance, no respect for the efforts of residents who are expected to care for their nature strip, many paying for mowing.
We’ve just been notified a free green waste weekend is coming up. A pity for those of us who have done the work earlier. We pay for our green bins too of course.
If four coupons of minimal value are inadequate for a unit owner what is their use for a larger garden owner? Please, more waste coupons, greater value for them at recycle and more reasonable charges when our coupons run out. This would show appreciation residents’ caring for their environment and community.
Max Garrard, Mornington
Shire dissatisfaction
Reading the letters page in The News over the last few weeks, it was apparent from half of the contributors that significant dissatisfaction exists with the current management, efficiency and overall performance of our shire.
Somewhat ironic then that, later that day, I received a copy of the latest edition of Peninsula Wide, the shire’s periodic, self-congratulatory publication.
I was particularly drawn to the assertions surrounding the budget on page four, that the budget “delivers what matters most to our community”; that the “proposed” waste charges were reduced; and that the ratepayers “overwhelmingly support a 2.75% cap, rather than a rates freeze or rebate”.
I can only assume these claims were Trumpian in nature; always claim victory, particularly after a heavy defeat.
Jonathan Atherton, Tyabb
Service cancellations
The shire’s website is littered with buzz words and policies about “connectedness”, participation, access, engagement, “we all belong”, and “positive ageing”.
It declares “it supports and encourages individuals to stay active, socially connected, and engaged in their communities.”
The death of home help threw many of us under a bus. It now plans to kill the community bus and Meals on Wheels.
This change in policy will effectively rob people of independence, further adding to organisational elder abuse.
We know:
- The peninsula has one of the highest ageing populations in the state
- Many of us have lived here and paid rates for decades
- Social isolation and poor nutrition increase the risk of early death and dementia
- Just when we need more help, such assistance is being removed
- More people are being told they are ineligible to apply for federal Aged Care Support assessment – this eliminates access to transport or meal providers
- Private frozen meals have been shown to lack nutrition, accountability for contents and have included substitutions like iron oxide and horse meat
- They do not cater for allergies and individual needs
- Western Port is already particularly adversely affected by lack of access to public transport
- “Meals on Wheels” has provided a wonderful service, volunteers serving often as the only face people see on a regular basis. They serve both nutritional aspect but as an unacknowledged welfare check.
The economic rationalist approach operates from ignorance and denial of reality.
How many more will die, alone and unsupported, from these proposed changes?
Barbara Rimington, Balnarring
Forgotten Flinders
While I regard it as a positive to be a forgotten and neglected seaside village in these days of high level tourism and over development, what I don’t see as positive is the lack of pride, support and appreciation from government, Mornington Shire Council and Parks Victoria towards a very special place of nature and beauty in Victoria where many people call home.
I phoned council to ascertain whether Flinders is considered metropolitan, rural regional or greater Melbourne.
Metropolitan was the answer.
So why do almost 2,000 people living in metropolitan Flinders not have a direct or limited daily express bus route to Frankston station?
At the very least, a regular bus that transports people to and from Flinders with stops along the way (Shoreham, Merricks, Balnarring) to link in with the Stony Point line at Bittern to Frankston.
The buses could be smaller electric versions (16 to 19 seated passengers) of the larger vehicles that currently service routes on the peninsula. These buses often run without passengers at all due to tenuous routes and unhelpful timetables.
In Chris Crewther’s recent letter he quite rightly championed the 2,000 residents of Mt Eliza Village and their public transport access (or lack of it) to and from Barkly Street Mornington (Bus improvements should not leave others worse off, Letters 4/8/26).
Chris, when you are next communicating to the Transport Minister Gabrielle Williams, would you kindly mention the need for an efficient bus connection from Flinders to Frankston/ Bittern please?
As Dr Neil Hallam alluded to in his letter (Flinders Pier attention, Letters 4/8/26) regarding the unacceptable, unfinished Flinders pier situation, Flinders appears to be forgotten or willfully ignored by all ruling bodies.
Tori Potter, Flinders
Tree heartbreak
Rosemary’s letter is a grain of sand in the avalanche of complaints about trees (Tree change, Letters 11/8/26).
Some time ago we bought a house with a beautiful old tree. The tree sat on the back boundary of two gardens, no danger of limbs falling onto houses, no roots in drains, no deciduous leaf-shedding. And it was home to a koala.
Grunting snorts up the garden path at night meant a koala would be home in the morning. How fantastic!
Our joy was short-lived. It turned out that absolutely nothing will keep some folks from getting a view of the bay. Even if it means killing a tree.
It was a very long, extremely sad, gut wrenching process.
The last time the koala visited, it came onto the deck and leant against the glass door, as if to say, “What have you done?”. We slowly walked it to another tree. After that it left the area and never came back.
The sadness of it all came back to me at a talk recruiting people to plant trees. Trees take around 10 years to grow into a viable habitat. The leaves can be eaten sooner, but a sapling won’t support the weight of an adult koala.
Meantime, where do koalas live? No wonder numbers have declined. We forget that every tree supports an ecosystem above and below ground.
There are so many disputes about trees. Fighting about trees costs litigants and taxpayers thousands.
Imagine how much money and stress we would save if we paused before planting.
If Rosemary’s neighbour had thought about it, and planted an evergreen with non-invasive roots, they would have planted a legacy, not a problem.
If whoever planted our tree had chosen a spot away from the fence, it would have saved the koala and us considerable heartbreak.
Eva Eden, Balnarring
Tree close call
Rosemary’s letter about planting the right tree in the right spot reminded me of a near miss I had.
In the local indigenous nursery, I spied a lovely little Manna gum and popped it in my basket. Luckily, the person serving me asked a few questions about my property and then firmly removed the pot from my basket.
“It grows to 50 metres, drops limbs and has aggressive roots,” they said.
“So not suitable for your back yard.”
There were plenty of other trees and shrubs to fill my needs, without causing a headache for me, my neighbours or wildlife.
Anne Carney, St Andrews Beach
Same wolf, different clothes
The machete ban is working a treat. Melbourne youths are only using them to legitimately cut sugar cane.
The disgraced head of the Victorian CFMEU, and his bikie cronies, are using their $15b slush fund to build housing for mothers, and their kids, sleeping in cars.
Lastly, the golfers have decided to no longer “work from home” on Fridays, and have returned to the office.
Same wolf, different clothing. Who is Ben Carroll kidding? Not me!
Sharon Forrest, Mt Martha
BarleyCharlie@90
Twilight, August 2026 “Boys and girls come out to play, happy and well the Laxative way.” Recalling, when watching/reading of the current crop in our State parliament.
Also federally, PM Albo (podcasts, needs to pull his head in).
I ponder; the Commonwealth Bank posting profit, $11 billion dollars, @7%.
Orchids to Kim Robbins, homelessness, and Anne Kruger, past and future (Letters, 11/8/26) axes to Ten 5PM News, 12/8, heavily biassed interview with our Liberal leader, Victoria.
A big week on gambling, wowsers on demand. Breath of fresh air via Orchids to Barrie Cassidy, ABC Insiders, celebrating 25 years’, classy as always.
Then to “Dangerman” some 50 years old episode featuring favourite of mine, Dirk Bogarde, GTG.
And our James Packer, wife number 3; “Is it love?”
Apparently many thousands watch “The Bold and the Beautiful” on 10, at 4.30pm. None at my RSL, unless in hiding?
I switch to Channel 9 6pm, where Heidi Murphy sprout (her) daily politics, fooling the fools. Then Greens Senator Jordon Steele-John, and Megan Spindler-Smith? Where do they find them? As if Sarah Hanson-Young’s “matter of moral courage” on gambling nonsense isn’t enough; recalling my 22 shillings win with Foxami, Melbourne Cup 1949, riding the big dipper, Luna Park, 16 times, winnings dispersed.
And to ponder; working from home a right? At two days a week? That’s funny. In my day four days a year sick leave, no doctor’s certificate; home in bed, reading, socialism?
Like one Terry Miles (Letters, 11/8). I’m breathing steadily, in from the nose, to a weathered diaphragm, out exit via the (rarely opened?) mouth, calm, unruffled. Keep yourselves nice.
Cliff Ellen, Rye
