HEAD of environmental group Save Port Phillip Bay and Mornington Peninsula resident Marteen Koster is leading the fight to keep VOPAK’s regasification plant out of Port Phillip Bay. VOPAK, a Dutch multinational company and energy and gas tank storage provider is proposing to build and operate a regasification plant/floating liquefied natural gas (LNG) port in Port Phillip Bay 20 kilometres offshore from Avalon. According to the Victorian Department of Transport and Planning, VOPAK’s proposal will include; offshore floating storage regasification vessel, a subsea high pressure gas pipeline, two 20-kilometre long high voltage cables that connect offshore and onshore facilities, onshore…
Author: Harrison Borthwick
The Matthew Flinders statue in Mornington Park has been stolen with police investigating the crime. The bronze statue, which was lopped at the ankles, was first noticed missing on Tuesday 6 October. A statement released by Victorian Police spokesperson Kathryn Muffett says: “Police are investigating the theft and criminal damage of a statue from a park in Mornington.” “It is understood unknown offenders stole part of the monument of Matthew Flinders on Schnapper Point Drive.” “Officers are investigating when the statue was stolen.” Mornington Peninsula Shire deputy mayor Cr Paul Pingiaro says the council condemns vandalism and theft of any…
MORNINGTON Peninsula organisation Hand in Hand for the Coast has won the 2026 EPA Waste Prevention and Reduction Award at the Keep Australia Beautiful Tidy Towns & Cities sustainability awards. The award recognises more than a decade of community-led work investigating how to clean and care for the beaches on the Mornington Peninsula. Led by local coastal advocates Josie Jones, Melanie Bird and Cara Hull, the initiative has grown from grassroots litter prevention into years of citizen science, monitoring, evidence gathering and advocacy for lower-impact beach cleaning. At the awards night held on Wednesday 30 September the Mornington Peninsula also…
MORNINGTON Peninsula Shire Council has approved the installation of two engineer protective barriers as part of efforts to help residents of three households return to their homes after the 14 January 2025 landslide. The barriers will be installed on council owned land on Penny Lane in McCrae to address the risks associated with the land slides. After assessing options, the council determined the best approach was to instal two engineered barriers using ballasted shipping containers. According to the council the barriers can be installed quickly and are designed to provide robust safety measures and can be painted or screened. The…
By Harrison Borthwick THE Mornington Peninsula Cricket Association and its member clubs are preparing for another big summer of cricket across the peninsula and Frankston. The first round commences on Saturday 3 October with one-day matches being played across the divisions. The first six rounds of this season will be one-day matches with the second half of the season leading up to finals being majority two-day games. Clubs across the association have done their fair share of recruiting over the offseason to make a push for success in 2026/27. In the Provincial division, The Red Hill Cricket Club have pulled…
THE Mornington Peninsula “Friends of Lospalos” group will this week continue their major ophthalmic cataract outreach surgical clinic in Timor-Leste. A self-funded team of five will continue the initiative to help with deteriorating eyesight and eye health at the Lospalos Hospital, led by Dr Juvinal Fonseca and his medical staff. New funding has allowed eye doctors to travel from the Timor-Leste capital of Dili to Lospalos to conduct eye operations for those most in need. This will be the fourth ophthalmic clinic funded by the Friends of Lospalos program with donations coming from the Mornington Peninsula community, Cr David Gill…
CRIME across the Mornington Peninsula has dropped by over 11 per cent in the year ended June 2026, according to newly released figures from the Crime Statistics Agency. There were 8243 criminal offences recorded in the Mornington Peninsula LGA during the year ending June 2026, down from 9301 offences in the previous 12 months; a drop of 11.4 per cent. Despite the drop, crime has still risen by 31 per cent on the Mornington Peninsula since 2022. Rosebud was the peninsula suburb most affected by crime, followed closely by Mornington and Hastings. Rosebud witnessed a similar number of offences compared…
MEALS on Wheels volunteer Joan Doyle is leading a campaign to have the program maintained by the Mornington Peninsula council after they announced they were ending its funding. After a private meeting on 9 June the Mornington Peninsula Shire council announced a transition away from aged care services to come in line with new Commonwealth Government reforms to the aged care sector. But after a change of mind from the government, federal minister for aged care and seniors Sam Rae announced funding for programs such as Meals on Wheels will be reinstated. Despite the backflip from the government, the Mornington…
MORNINGTON Peninsula bus drivers are experiencing difficult and dangerous working conditions as bus stops are becoming increasingly unsafe to navigate due to potholes. Safety Beach resident Wayne Marshall, who is a public bus driver, told The News bus stops on the peninsula are deteriorating and have been neglected making them unsafe to stop at. Marshall, who has been a bus driver since 2020, believes deteriorating bus stops have been an increasing issue for well over twelve months. Marhsall is a regular driver on the 884-bus route which covers over sixty kilometres between Frankston Railway Station and Portsea, and points outs…