Author: Keith Platt

MORNINGTON Peninsula Shire councillors are ignoring requests for them to reverse their decision to appoint Cr Anthony Marsh to the Bass Park Trust. Councillors on 1 June voted 6/5 to replace Cr David Gill with Cr Marsh on the trust. Both the trust and Flinders Community Association say Cr Gill should be on the trust as property overseen by the trust, Flinders golf course and surrounds, lies within his Red Hill Ward. Cr Marsh represents Briars Ward, which covers Mount Martha, Mornington and Mount Eliza. The trust, which next meets on 29 July, was quick to write to councillors seeking…

THE fate of an old section of Flinders pier depends on whether it has any “significant heritage or environmental significance”, according to Nepean MP Chris Brayne. Parks Victoria will decide whether to demolish the pier based on assessments which are likely to be completed by the end of this month (June). “While the pier is not heritage listed at a federal or state level, the pier is listed on the Mornington Peninsula Shire Council’s heritage overlay,” Mr Brayne said. “If one, or both of these assessments come back with significant heritage or environmental significance, the department will not demolish it.”…

THE judgement of some Mornington Peninsula Shire councillors has been questioned over their different attitudes to the slaughter of kangaroos and spider crabs. In February, Cr David Gill failed to get any support for his call on the state government to kangaroos being shot on the peninsula until scientific evidence could justify the killing. However, last month Cr Sarah Race was able to get every councillor to agree to sign a letter calling on the government to stop spider crabs being harvested from May to July, during their annual aggregation (“Spider crabs stay on the menu” The News 31/5/21). Two…

MORNINGTON Peninsula Shire Council has been asked to revoke its decision to make Cr Anthony Marsh its delegate to the Bass Park Trust. The near century old trust was established to protect land occupied by Flinders Golf Club from developers. Red Hill Ward councillor David Gill has attended the trust’s meetings for the past four and a half years, but on Tuesday 1 June Cr Marsh put his hand up for the position and was backed by five of his colleagues to make him the council-appointed delegate to the trust. The Bass Park Trust has since accused councillors of having…

FRIDAY is the deadline for public comments to be made about Mornington Peninsula Shire councillors beginning their meetings with a prayer or a pledge. Words of a pledge have been spoken since December last year (except for one meeting in February) but the agenda item is listed as The Prayer, even though there is no mention of a god, deity or any other supernatural being considered divine or sacred. The word prayer was retained to describe the pledge following the shire’s in-house lawyer Amanda Sapolu advising that as long as what they were saying was called a prayer, there was…

ALTHOUGH no date has been announced for the next federal election, Steve Anger has already announced he will seek to win Flinders for The New Liberals. Mr Anger, of Rosebud, will need to defeat sitting Liberal MP Greg Hunt, who is the minister for health and aged in the Scott Morrison-led government. Mr Hunt has held Flinders since being elected in 2001 and managed to fend off eight other candidates to win the 2019 election. He now holds the seat with a two candidate preferred majority of 11.28 per cent, 1.37 per cent less than his win in the previous…

STUDIES into cliff stability, Aboriginal cultural values and a possible bill of $20 million are in the mix to find a “solution” to deal with problems at The Pillars cliff jumping site at Mount Martha. Mornington Peninsula Shire councillors last week agreed to hire consultants to report by October after undertaking geotechnical survey and speaking to Traditional Owners about cultural values at the site. The report will include an assessment of what could be provided to improve safety at The Pillars, such as a boardwalk and viewing platforms, toilets, paths and signs. The council has also asked the Department of…

DESPITE using an increase in Aboriginal children enrolled in three-year-old kindergarten as an example of its “positive action towards reconciliation”, Mornington Peninsula Shire will not release actual statistics. The shire says there has been a 300 per cent increase in Aboriginal enrolments since 2016 but will not reveal how many children are involved. “We cannot provide the actual numbers … because it may allow individual members of the community to be identified and this is not culturally safe,” community services manager Jo Bradshaw said. The shire also chose to highlight higher rates in “Aboriginal business procurement, and work” as…

NINE out of Mornington Peninsula Shire’s 11 councillors have voted in favour of their colleague Anthony Marsh being able to spend more than $8000 on a director’s course. The money will come from the $16,000 each councillor is allowed to spend on courses or conferences during their four-year term. Cr Steve Holland, the only dissenting councillor during debate at the council’s 1 June online meeting, said spending the money “doesn’t pass the pub test”. “I know councillors can spend $16,000 on conferences and training, but this needs to be linked to community benefit,” he said. “I don’t know how this…

POWER company AGL says it lost about $108 million because of its failed bid for a gas import terminal at Crib Point. In a statement released to the Australian Stock Exchange last week AGL said it had estimated it would spend $130 million on the project, with $22 million being “expensed” so far. “As a result, AGL expects to recognise a pre-tax loss of up to $108 million as a significant item in its FY21 financial statements,” the statement said. “Engagement with the community and relevant parties has been integral to this process and AGL thanks those involved for their…

AN extra $400,000 is being spent on a business case to expand the Tyabb-Somerville recycled water irrigation scheme to Pearcedale. Flinders MP Greg Hunt says the new investigation is being paid for by the federal government, Mornington Peninsula Shire and South East Water. If proved economically viable and then built, the project will see class A recycled water from the Eastern Treatment Plant made available to farms in Tyabb, Somerville and Pearcedale. Statistics for 2019 on the National Outfall Database show that the south eastern outfall at Boags Rocks, near Gunnamatta, services the Eastern, Mount Martha, Somers, and Boneo treatment…

THREE Mornington Peninsula businesses have been added to the list of places visited by people confirmed to have COVID-19 while infectious. Visitors to all three premises who were there at the same time as the COVID positive person have been advised to get tested immediately and then quarantine for 14 days. The identification of the three sites and listing by the DHHS came as Greater Melbourne was plunged into a seven-day lockdown. The three businesses listed last week by the Department of Health and Human Services are the Enchanted Adventure Garden, Purves Road, Arthurs Seat; Peninsula Hot Springs (bathhouse reception…

DUCKS have just two weeks to lie low until the end of this year’s shortened duck hunting season. The season, which ends Wednesday 16 June, was limited to three weeks instead of the three months the state government could have declared. Nationals Leader Peter Walsh said the cutback was “a deliberate attempt to put another nail in the coffin of legal, legitimate recreational activities in regional Victoria”. Mr Walsh quoted a report commissioned and paid for by Field & Game Australia that found “the justification [for the shortened duck hunting season] masquerades as a science-based decision, when in reality it…

STAFF from Hillview Quarries joined members of the Habitat Restoration Fund to plant 100 trees in Arthurs Seat State Park. The trees planted on land managed by Parks Victoria above the Hillview Community Reserve, Dromana were paid for by a seven-year grant from Hillview to the restoration fund. The Habitat Restoration Fund was started in 2006, “by a group of people who wanted to take a more hands on approach to preserving their local environment”. “The quarry crew offered a combination of enthusiasm, dedication, horticultural skill and area expertise to the job in just two hours, under direction of the…

PUBLIC hearings into Mornington Peninsula Shire Council’s proposed 2020/21 budget has exposed a clash of expectations between the shire and a business lobby group. Included in the Committee for Mornington Peninsula’s detailed submission was its gratitude for the shire’s “$50,000 commitment” towards a study into whether the shire should be seen as a region or remain in the Melbourne metropolitan area. However, the money was not included in the draft budget and has left councillors wondering how the committee could have thought they were its “partners” in such an investigation. Cr Steve Holland said he had “not been privy” to…

MORNINGTON Peninsula Shire says its Reconciliation Action Plan has led to more Aboriginal children attending three-year-old kindergarten and more goods being bought from Aboriginal-run businesses. The shire last week released a list of “important actions” – but no details about kindergarten numbers or business figures – it has achieved since adopting the Reconciliation Australia-endorsed RAP plan. Canberra-based Reconciliation Australia is a non-government, not-for-profit foundation established in January 2001 to promote reconciliation between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians. The shire’s list of achievements coincides with National Reconciliation Week (27 May-3 June) and this Sunday’s Reconciliation Walk held at Hastings by the Willum…

DIVERSIONAL therapist Michelle Lowe knows that small things can make a big difference in troubling times. The latest proof of this was brought home to her when a small stone that had provided comfort to a woman living rough on the streets was found by a troubled young girl who also saw it as uplifting. The reality is that the stone was just a stone but, first to the woman and then the girl, it presented as something to physically grasp, something in which they saw hope and found comfort. Ms Lowe runs Talk to the Animals, a NDIS (National…

MEL Barker is the new chief executive officer of Mornington Peninsula and Western Port Biosphere Foundation. The biosphere’s chair, Jo McCoy, said Ms Barker’s appointment was a “significant milestone in the evolution of the organisation” which wants “innovative approaches to biodiversity conservation and sustainable development in the Mornington Peninsula and Western Port region”. “Mel brings an extraordinary depth of knowledge, experience and networks to our organisation,” Ms McCoy said. “We are confident that she will provide great leadership to help ensure the biosphere is a trusted provider of evidence-based scientific programs and advocacy for the environmentally sensitive region centred on…

TWO entries from the Mornington Peninsula are finalists in the search by the Victoria Tourism Industry Council to find the state’s top tourist towns. Online voting ends 27 May, although voters wanting to physically visit the entries will have trouble finding one of the peninsula’s “towns”. There is no mistaking Dromana, which is easily found between Safety Beach and McCrae, but the other entry, Fingal, is not so obvious. There is no town named Fingal on the peninsula and a search of the internet will show a Fingal village in Tasmania and Fingal Head (commonly known as Fingal) in NSW.…

FOUR people have died so far this year on peninsula roads, but no deaths have been recorded on the 33 roads where speed limits have been set at 80kph. The speed cuts from 100kph and 90kph to 80kph were introduced in December 2019 on about 110 kilometres of selected Mornington Peninsula Shire-managed roads as part of a two-year trial. Now, half way into the trial, results of an online and phone survey into public acceptance of reducing speeds shows 59 per cent of the 1059 respondents in support and 21 per cent against. A further seven 7 per cent were…

THE coronavirus pandemic may have put a firm brake on international travel for many people, but it has had no effect on the flights of migratory birds. The birds continued their annual hazardous 25,000 kilometre round trips from the northern to the southern hemisphere. Western Port and Port Phillip bays are the favoured destinations for many species and more than 300 artists have contributed to an exhibition that highlights the tenuous existence faced by these intrepid international travellers. A family day was held at Mornington Peninsula Regional Gallery, Mornington last weekend for World Migratory Bird Day and The Overwintering Project-Westernport…

PROJECTS and activities to improve or sustain the environment make up most of the nine projects entered by Hastings in this year’s Australian Sustainable Community – Tidy Town awards. Representatives from Mornington Peninsula Shire met with Keep Victoria Beautiful and Keep Australia Beautiful to present the projects as part of Hastings’ bid to win the tidy town award. The national winner, out of seven competing towns, will be announced at Beechworth in June. The nine projects in Hastings’ bid are: Devilbend-Hastings Landcare Group’s fox control program centred at Devilbend Natural Features Reserve, one of the cornerstones of the peninsula Landcare…

A PUBLIC meeting will be held on Saturday (8 May) in support of keeping the remaining 180 metre wooden section of Flinders pier. The pier was built in the mid-19th century and substantially reconstructed about 100 years later. A new concrete section was built in late 2011, and there is growing pressure for the remaining wooden section to be kept for pedestrians. News that the wooden section was under threat came in July 2020, when the Ports and Freight Minister Melissa Horne issued a media release headed Upgrading piers and jetties that included “the demolition of the inner section of…

RED Hill artist Michael Leeworthy is pleased to see his books “walking out the door”. A keen bushwalker, Leeworthy has self-published a book detaining 12 walking trails that he says have previously gone undocumented. Each of the tracks has a starting point at the Red Hill Post Office (based inside the red Hill Wine Cellars at the corner of Point Leo and Shoreham roads) and individual times and distances have been measured by Leeworthy. The book also includes 20 of his illustrations, including paintings of what has become known as the Mornington Peninsula’s hinterland area. “The book is already on…

SPOTTING birds and taking long walks to see the country close up are some of the activities on the “life list” of Greg Hunt, who has retired after two and a half years as executive officer of the Western Port Biosphere Reserve Foundation. His position at the biosphere will be filled by Mel Barker, who Mr Hunt describes as “a very well-credentialled local”. At the time of Mr Hunt’s appointment, the biosphere foundation’s chair Duncan Malcolm pointed out that he was “not the Flinders MP” of the same name, but the previous executive officer of the South East Councils Climate…

SATURDAY 1 May was a day of celebration for those opposed to the now-withdrawn plan by power company AGL to import liquified natural gas through a terminal at Crib Point. However, the more than 400 people gathered at Balnarring common to revel in their shared victory were also warned to be wary of governments and vested interests eyeing parts of the Mornington Peninsula’s green wedge for development. “Governments cannot be trusted to protect Western Port and the peninsula’s green wedge,” Cr David Gill said. He listed “concerning issues still being pushed by the state and federal governments” as including Kawasaki’s…

SOME business fees charged by Mornington Peninsula Shire Council are likely to be frozen for four years if the Liberal Nationals opposition wins the next state election. Although the election is not due until November 2022, Mornington MP David Morris said “freezing the cost of fees levied on local businesses is a practical and effective way to deliver that support”. Without giving any examples, Mr Morris, in a joint news release with Opposition Leader Michael O’Brien, said some councils had not been able to resist “the temptation to bolster their financial position by slugging local small businesses”. “Small traders who…

A 45-person “citizens panel” is a “key pillar” being used by Mornington Peninsula Shire to find a “community vision” of what the peninsula should “look like in 2040”. The “random” group will be chosen from residents and non-resident ratepayers who register their interest in being on the panel. Members of the panel will be chosen by an independent, specialist company hired by the shire to make sure they are “a completely representative cross section of the community”, according to Andrew Wood, the shire’s advocacy and innovation coordinator. Mr Wood told council’s Tuesday 20 April meeting that there were a number…

THE federal government has been spared the need to make a formal decision on power company AGL’s plans to import liquified natural gas through a floating terminal at Crib Point. Flinders MP Greg Hunt last week said that “neither an approval nor refusal” would need to be made as AGL had withdrawn its proposal from consideration under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999. The withdrawal at the federal level by AGL comes one month after the state government knocked its plan back on environmental grounds (“State terminates AGL’s gas import plan” The News 31/3/21). In the following weeks…

Mornington Peninsula Shire’s deputy mayor Cr Sarah Race, pictured, has been appointed to the state government’s Gender Equality Advisory Committee. The committee was established to “drive” gender equality across Victoria’s 79 municipal councils and will advise Local Government Minister Shaun Leane and the Minister for Women, Gabrielle Williams, on how to achieve the government’s target of 50 per cent female mayors and councillors by 2025. Seven of Mornington Peninsula Shire’s 11 councillors are women, about 63 per cent,  including the mayor, Cr Despi O’Connor. The appointment of Cr Race to the 16-member gender committee follows Cr O’Connor’s inclusion on the…