THE Rev Father Geoffrey McIlroy will be swapping his priestly vestments for motorbike leathers when he joins an estimated 2000 fellow riders converging on Canberra in September. McIlroy plans to join the annual Wall-to-Wall Ride for Remembrance to honour fallen colleagues, raise money for police legacies and promote safe and lawful motorcycling.A priest at St Macartan’s Catholic Church, Mornington, McIlroy is also chaplain to police stations from Mornington to Sorrento. “I feel privileged in both roles – to serve the parishioners as their shepherd and to serve the police who serve us, as their multi-denominational padre,” McIlroy said.A motorbike rider…
Author: Keith Platt
REDEVELOPMENT costs of Flinders Civic Hall have blown out by nearly $400,000. Work to upgrade the “no longer fit for purpose” hall in Cook Street was completed in March.Construction started in March 2022 and the first cost blowout ($222,166) was paid in March 2023, followed by a second extra payment of $74,834 in January this year. The latest payment of $97,347 needed the approval of Mornington Peninsula Shire councillors as it lifted the total over expenditure to more than $300,000.The first two payments were approved by the shire CEO John Baker; councillors approved the third on Monday 15 July. The…
THE short film Dreamweavers – Gidja Walker OAM, by award winning filmmakers Heather Forbes-McKeon and Yanni Dellaportas, will be screened as part of the 2024 Melbourne Documentary Film Festival.The 21-minute short by the Mornington Peninsula-based filmmaking duo was one of 50 chosen from 160 entries.Forbes-McKeon, co-director, creator and producer of the Dreamweavers series, says that she and Dellaportas were privileged to make film about Walker who is “known as an icon for her work and knowledge as an ecologist, ethnobotanist and Mornington Peninsula Indigenous advocate”.“Gidja combines her immense environmental knowledge alongside traditional owner’s relationships with her local environment,” she said.…
FLINDERS MP Zoe McKenzie wants voters to “please consider” Australia’s use of nuclear power.In support of the Liberal Party’s federal opposition leader Peter Dutton, McKenzie says cheaper, cleaner and consistent electricity “involves the exploration of nuclear energy in Australia … the most uranium rich country on the planet”.McKenzie aired her views on nuclear energy on her Facebook page and Sky News, but did not respond when asked by The News to respond to comments by Labor MP for South East Victoria, Tom McIntosh. He said Dutton and McKenzie “must come clean” and provide the cost of nuclear reactors, the cost…
MORNINGTON Peninsula Shire Council officers are looking for ways to limit how long boats and caravans are left parked in streets. Councillors have told the officers to investigate ways to make sure boats and caravans are not “parked on roads for long periods or indefinitely”. However, councillors have already been warned that under existing laws registered boats, trailers and caravans can be parked in streets for up to eight weeks. After eight weeks council can consider a vehicle to be have been abandoned, although this could be contested if they are “within the vicinity of the registered owner’s known address”.…
THE Mornington Peninsula Regional Tourism Board is preparing an action plan to “help prioritise the opportunities to address the challenges” facing tourism in the region. The board, which describes itself as the region’s “peak independent tourism board and lead voice” resolved to draw up an action plan during a forum last Friday (28 June).Nepean MP Sam Groth, the opposition’s tourism spokesperson, said he had attended the “urgent meeting” as stakeholders and businesses faced “an ongoing “state of crisis”. “Attendees discussed restrictive trade and planning conditions, which are seeing already struggling small businesses face uncertainty as the cost of running a…
THE Committee for Frankston and Mornington Peninsula and Mornington Peninsula Shire Council joined forces last week to lobby federal politicians about homelessness, housing and the use of land near the Port of Hastings.The committee’s CEO Josh Sinclair, the mayor Cr Simon Brooks and advocacy, communications and engagement manager Randal Mathieson went to Canberra to express their shared concerns. The shire is a “community member” of the committee and Brooks and Mathieson extended their Canberra visit by two days to join a delegation from the Greater South East Melbourne (GSEM) for more meetings with ministers and their staff.“This face-to-face advocacy is…
REACTION has been mixed to news that studies will resume into the environmental effects on Western Port of a terminal to assemble offshore wind turbines near Hastings. Business lobby group the Committee for Frankston and Mornington Peninsula “welcomes the news” while the Save Westernport group has said the Port of Hastings Corporation will need to prove “that all environmental impacts can be managed”.Plans for the terminal to assemble and ship wind terminals offshore to Gippsland were put on hold in January when federal Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek’s rejected the project for having “unacceptable and unmitigable risks to the Ramsar Wetlands…
By Keith Platt and Liz BellTHE movement of suspected carcinogenic chemicals known as forever chemicals continues to be tracked at HMAS Cerberus, Crib Point. The Health Department says there is no “consistent evidence” that exposure to per- and poly- fluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) causes adverse human health effects but warns that their release into the environment “is an emerging concern” as they can accumulate in animals and people.The Australian Defence Force says that while monitoring at HMAS Cerberus had found “no significant changes to how PFAS is moving in the management area”, remedial works were expected to reduce PFAS from leaving…
CONCERN is growing over the increasing numbers of native animals being killed or injured on roads across the Mornington Peninsula.While exact figures are not available, 28 koalas and an unknown number of kangaroos and wallabies have been hit and killed by vehicles. The carnage on the peninsula’s roads is reflected throughout the state and nationally, with one insurer warning that animal collisions jumped 22 per cent last year.“Alarming” research from Australian Associated Motor Insurers (AAMI) “found more than 40 per cent of Aussie drivers don’t pay attention to wildlife warning signs, and most drivers (60 per cent) would dangerously swerve…
MORNINGTON Peninsula Shire councillors have been told that Victoria Police and not the shire should pay for CCTV cameras in the fight against crime.Information recorded by the shire’s 44 surveillance cameras is not accessed by the shire and is “solely for the use by Victoria Police”.A report to council’s public meeting on Tuesday 11 June said the shire’s CCTV policy was “out of date and rarely consistently adhered to”. The report recommends the shire continues to maintain its CCTV cameras but does not install any more unless they are paid for by the police or the state or federal governments.…
THE latest review of Mornington Peninsula Shire Council’s planning scheme has found it to be “strategically robust and operationally sound”.The mayor Cr Simon Brooks said last year’s four-yearly review of the planning scheme covering “our amazing and diverse shire” also supported continued lobbying of the state government to release “surplus land” around the Port of Hastings. He has also called on peninsula residents to back the shire by lobbying their local MPs.Other issues involving approaches to the state government included action on sea level rise hazards; reforming bushfire controls to minimise unnecessary vegetation loss; stronger controls to protect the green…
POLITICIANS can expect to face increasing pressure to provide housing for the homeless, especially women, on the Mornington Peninsula.A report on the “homelessness crisis” by community group Peninsula Voice showed that more than 1000 people couch surf, sleep in their car or sleep rough every night on the peninsula. Increasingly, these people are women and children fleeing family violence. Emergency accommodation is virtually non-existent and women on the foreshore have experienced family violence and sexual assault before and while on the foreshore.These statistics and first hand experiences of the crisis were given to Housing, Water and Equality Minister Harriet Shingh…
BOATERS are being asked to watch out for southern right whales which have made their seasonal return to Victorian coastal waters. The Conservation Regulator says southern right whales visit Victoria’s coast from May to October to give birth and raise their young.Restrictions on boats include lowering engine noises which can interrupt whispering between mothers and calves to avoid predators. It is believed there are about 300 southern rights left in the south-east population. The endangered whales are vulnerable to vessel strikes, and boaters are being encouraged to watch out for the whales as they have no dorsal fin and can…
MORNINGTON Peninsula residents are being urged to join Reconciliation Week activities to learn about the shared history with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples “and explore how you can take meaningful actions to help achieve reconciliation in Australia”.Reconciliation Week started on Monday 27 May. “Whatever your background or upbringing, we all have a responsibility to learn about Australia’s history and to acknowledge and value the past, present, and continuing contributions of our First Nations peoples – the oldest, continuous living cultures on earth,” the mayor Cr Simon Brooks said.“Mornington Peninsula Shire Council has an important role to play in promoting…
THE Port Melbourne-based Happsa Group has won the cleaning contract for more than 100 Mornington Peninsula Shire-run community services. The $2.3 billion worth of shire assets include halls and maternal and child health centres, public toilets, foreshore amenity blocks and public barbecues.Happsa will also be responsible for litter collection in “high profile precincts”. The group’s contract starts in July and could last for seven years. The contract is separate to beach cleaning which, also from July, will be done by hand instead of mechanical beach cleaners. The 12-month trial on Port Phillip beaches will cost about $733,000 (Hands up for…
A NEW $30 million mental hospital in Mount Eliza has “salutogenic design principles” that creates “environments to support health and wellbeing rather than simply treating illness”.The design of the 60-bed Avive Clinic Mornington Peninsula in St Johns Lane recognises “the connection between a person’s health and their physical surroundings”, Avive Health co-founder and co-CEO Mark Sweeney said. Avive, which describes itself as a progressive, privately-owned company, was founded by Sweeney and co-CEO, Greg Procter and partnered with Northwest Healthcare Properties (“Northwest”) through its New Zealand stock exchange-listed Vital Healthcare Property Trust as property owner and partner. Kingdom Projects built the…
THE Committee for Frankston and Mornington Peninsula wants the state and federal governments to “confirm” Hastings as the site for a terminal to assemble offshore wind turbines following the awarding of feasibility licenses to companies involved in the project.“This development means the future of the Victorian Renewable Energy Terminal (VRET) proposed for the Port of Hastings is now crucial to the advancement of Victoria’s offshore wind industry,” committee CEP Josh Sinclair said.He said Hastings was “perfectly poised for the terminal and that the community now wants certainty”.This latest call from the industry lobby group for governments to back Hastings as…
WITH an estimated $1.5 million needed over the next five years to fix “ageing infrastructure” Mornington Peninsula Shire Council is now looking for ways of making money from its golf course at Mount Martha.The expressions of interest (EOI) campaign comes nearly four years after council hired consultants and sought ideas from the community for ways to “develop a vision and long term plan” for the 50 hectare, 18-hole course (Golf course future to the fore, The News 4/11/20).The latest move to find ways of paying for the golf course off Forest Drive was agreed to at council’s 29 April public…
MORNINGTON Peninsula Shire Council is again calling on the state government to “develop a strategic framework” for Western Port. According to the shire the framework should include the restoration and protection of Western Port’s marine environment and catchment area. It would also establish an “ecologically sustainable and thriving economy”.The shire’s meeting was held later on the same day that the business lobby group Committee for Frankston and Mornington Peninsula held a Future Forum which will also see state and MPs come under pressure over developments in Western Port.The shire’s policy update for the Port of Hastings comes in the wake…
DESPITE having some reservations about the name, Mornington Peninsula Shire councillors have agreed to investigate having a “watchdog” citizens panel to look over their shoulders when considering annual council budgets.It is too late for the panel to be established for the coming year’s budget and, if followed through, the watchdog panel would work with a new council after the October elections.Chief financial officer Bulent Oz said an alternative could be to name a meeting of the existing citizens panel “a Budget Watchdog session”. Discussing budget performance and financial goals with the Citizens Panel “will provide valuable insights”, he said. “It…
RESIDENTS and Mornington Peninsula Shire councillors have agreed to accompany each other in finding a way to reopen the Beleura cliff path at Mornington. The councillors last week agreed to spend money on both lobbying the state government for help and finding a cost effective way of restoring parts of the path, which has been closed since October 2022.Peter Nicholson, of the Save Beleura Cliff Path group, welcomed their decision for the shire’s infrastructure department “to get on with the job of reopening the path by finding a cheap and practical way to repair the two areas damaged by landslips”…
ALLIANCES and joint ward representatives will end at the October elections when voters on the Mornington Peninsula will elect one councillor for each of the shire’s new 11 wards.The single councillor wards replace the existing six wards, which have three councillors in Briars and Seawinds, two in Nepean and one each in Cerberus, Red Hill and Watson. The new single-councillor wards are Brokil, Beek Beek, Benbenjie, Briars, Coolart, Kackeraboite, Moorooduc, Nepean, Tanti, Tootgarook and Warringine. The redrawing of ward boundaries follows an electoral structure review in late 2023 by the Victorian Electoral Commission (VEC).The shire was one of 39 municipalities…
WORK is expected to start soon on installing traffic lights and widening roads at the intersection of Forest Drive and Nepean Highway, Mount Martha.Flashing warning signs will warn motorists that they are approaching the pedestrian and traffic operated lights. Plans for the road widening, realigning Forest Drive and installing traffic lights include removing more than 100 trees to improve visibility and safety.VicRoads says it will plant 160 native trees and 9000 shrubs and tussocks when the intersection works are finished in early 2025. Some of the trees to be removed will be mulched and used for landscaping works within the…
MORNINGTON Peninsula Shire is seeking public reaction to plans that could see a 3.3 per cent levy on new houses.The levy would not apply to renovations to existing home; new houses replacing existing ones; granny flats; or public buildings.Calling the proposed levy an “innovative solution to ease the housing crisis”, the shire last week issued a statement asking if residents would “treat social housing as essential infrastructure, much like public open space, car parking and drainage”. It said the peninsula’s “growing housing crisis” was “devastating families and individuals”.While acknowledging social housing as being “largely” the responsibility of state and federal…
MORNINGTON Peninsula Shire councillors have been urged to reject the “gloomy” view presented by shire officers and instead find a “sensible cost” way of repairing a now-closed cliff path at Mornington.In a report to council’s Tuesday 16 April meeting water and coasts team leader Laura Crilly recommends $10,000 be spent on an “advocacy campaign” to persuade the state government to pay $10 million on the Beleura cliff path closed by landslides in October 2022.The preferred option to repair and reopen the path is to use gabions – rock-filled cages – to support the path which is on a steep slope…
THE usual sounds of nature and an air of tranquility they help produce at Devilbend Reserve, Moorooduc, are set to be shattered by gunfire at any time from next month, May. But the resident kangaroos should have nothing to fear – except the noise – as Parks Victoria has enlisted the help of deer hunters to “reduce” the number of deer in the reserve.Signs posted by Parks in the reserve say deer will be hunted at Devilbend over 16 weeks. The signs say, “effective control [of deer] requires the implementation of coordinated ground shooting operations”. The signs include the logos…
THE state government’s tightening of land use and development controls within green wedge zones is unlikely to have any immediate effect on the Mornington Peninsula.Mornington Peninsula Shire mayor Cr Simon Brooks welcomed the government’s Green Wedge and Agricultural Land Action Plan as it “reinforces the non-urban purpose and character of the green wedge”. He said the government’s plans did not require any changes to the shire’s green wedge management plan adopted in December 2018 and updated the following year.The peninsula’s 520 square kilometres, or 70 per cent, green wedge is one of 12 that form an irregular ring around the…
NINE golfers lined up for the first all abilities Get Into Golf event at Mount Martha Golf Course last Friday (22 March).Following the One Club program initiated by PGA pro Sandy Jamieson, the all abilities session aims to teach golf fundamentals to participants in a relaxed and fun environment.The program was led by instructors from the club who underwent their own training last month (On course for all abilities at Mt Martha, The News 27/2/24). Accompanied by carers, friends and family, the nine golfers played on two holes which were divided to make four. Organiser John Bowers, of Mount Martha,…
THE Dolphin Research Institute last week celebrated 33 years of its achievements and efforts to “improve outcomes for dolphins, whales, and our precious marine environment”.Executive director Jeff Weir said the picture chosen to mark the institute’s one third of a century “shows something you don’t see every day — a dolphin riding on the head of a humpback whale”. The picture was taken in 2020 when the same humpback had spent a week feeding off Phillip Island, the first time such an event had been recorded.“Our role in capturing knowledge and filling these knowledge gaps is integral to our work…