Author: Keith Platt

THE Arctic Circle may be a long way from Western Port, but activities this far south have an important role to play fort birds that annually fly between these two areas. Boats and other watercraft in Western Port can have a dramatic effect on the capability of birds to survive the arduous seasonal trip. The wetlands that line Western Port are a major food source and place of protection for the birds before they take off for the Northern Hemisphere. However, their wetland feeding areas are also the hunting ground for people wanting to catch fish. The wester Port Biosphere…

LIBERAL Greg Hunt easily retained his seat of Flinders in Saturday’s federal election. Mr Hunt’s seventh win in a row helped the Scott Morrison-led Liberal National Coalition regain government for a third term. A senior cabinet minister in the previous government, Mr Hunt is expected to retain his position as health minister. In the nine-candidate contest for Flinders, Mr Hunt, by late Monday morning, had received more than 46 per cent of primary votes, well ahead of his nearest rival, Labor’s Josh Sinclair, who was sitting on 25 per cent. Coming third in the vote was now independent former Liberal…

TWO little penguins are having a short stay at Melbourne Zoo before being returned to their Phillip Island home. The two birds were collected from a Greenvale house north of Melbourne Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning (DELWP) officers. “The Greenvale man alleged he rescued the penguins from Phillip Island because he believed they were sick,” DELWP wildlife officer Abby Smith said. Ms Smith said the penguins were “significantly underweight” and vets believed they had not been fed adequately for the two weeks. “The birds are making good progress and are eating well, swimming and preening normally. However, the…

MORNINGTON Peninsula Shire is calling on all Flinders electorate candidates in Saturday’s federal election to commit to spending more money in the shire. The mayor Cr David Gill says the electorate will benefit if Flinders is seen as a swinging seat. He says the peninsula has suffered because the seat has been regarded for years as “safe” for the Liberal Party, and consequently ignored by all political parties. The shire’s involvement in the election (including a full page advertisement in this issue of The News) comes at the same time as a phone poll of 440 voters indicating that Liberal…

THE finding of Matthew Flinders’ grave during excavations for the London railway inspired historians to hold a small ceremony in Mornington to mark the navigator and cartographer’s links to the Mornington Peninsula. His remains were officially identified in January by archaeologists excavating a former burial ground near Euston railway station. Captain Matthew Flinders led the second circumnavigation of New Holland in the early 1800s, which he later named “Australia or Terra Australis” and identified it as a continent. The first circumnavigation was by Abel Tasman in 1642-43, who also charted its north coast in 1644. Flinders’ return to England was…

IT is fair to say that to some extent the finished works by artist Charles Wilcox are predetermined by events that happened many years before and well beyond his knowledge or control. A painter and sculptor, Wilcox is an avid collector of driftwood and a fan of old advertisements, in newspapers and on billboards. He attributes some of his “sculptural creativity” to his engineering studies. His approach to painting to his art studies throughout his schooling and, later, graphic design. The Mt Martha-based artist is in Florence, Italy, this week where he is one of five international artists invited to…

A COMMUNITY group and several political pressure groups are out to grab the spotlight to influence voting in the Flinders electorate before the Saturday 18 May federal election. While lines outside pre-polling booths throughout Flinders show many have already decided where their votes will go, influencers such as the left-leaning GetUp and Save Westernport are making sure that climate change and the environment remain uppermost in voters’ minds. The right-wing lobby group Advance Australia said in early April that it would warn voters in Flinders about the “dangers of voting for independents backed by left-wing activist groups” (“Hunt gets support…

WHILE apartments, top left, and a new boat storage shed, bottom right, are nearing completion at Martha Cove, Safety Beach, the marina estate’s body corporate is arranging maintenance works and new camera equipment for the Marina Drive underpass. MAINTENANCE works are scheduled later this year for the underpass that takes traffic below the entrance to the Martha Cove marina at safety Beach. Once a relatively small opening to Tassells Creek, the much deeper channel now leads to the berths and launching ramp within the marina, which is flanked by houses. CCTV cameras monitor traffic in the underpass and pedestrians using…

RED Hill-based artist Michael Leeworthy regularly abandons his pallette and easel in favour of donning a pair of shorts and hiking boots. Instead of heading off to paint plein air, he’s seeking fresh air and the type of inspiration that only walking through the bush can provide. It’s now 40 years since he joined the Peninsula Bushwalking Club, inspired by his parents-in-law who had just walked to the Mt Everest base camp. “I did not know anyone who did stuff like that. It literally changed my life, as the only walking I had done before that was walking to the…

Signs of discontent: Flinders MP, Greg Hunt, above, at the corner of Loders and Godings roads, Moorooduc, is seeking re-election while the left-wing lobby group GetUp has him in its sights, centre, and independent Julia Banks can see herself up a tree in Purves Road, Arthurs Seat. LOOK at me, look at me. Vote for me. Posters with pictures of would be members of parliament (or those already elected and wanting to keep their jobs) are popping up all over the place. They’re on fences, trees, shop windows, front yards and on trailers pulled through busy shopping centres. There’s nothing…

TWO sitting MPs are among the nine candidates contesting the seat of Flinders in Saturday 18 May federal election. Liberal Greg Hunt, who has held the seat for 18 years, is being opposed by former Liberal colleague now independent Julia Banks, the MP for Chisholm, as well as two other independents and five party-aligned candidates. Two candidates, Susie Beveridge and Reade Smith, are former Mornington Peninsula Shire councillors. Candidates as they appear on the ballot paper: Harry Dreger, independent; James Persson, Animal Justice Party; Greg Hunt, Liberal; Reade Smith, Sustainable Australia; Josh Sinclair, Australian Labor Party; Nathan Lesslie, The Greens;…

Mornington Peninsula Shire mayor Cr David Gill wore his gold chain to go shopping at Mornington’s Wednesday street market. But it wasn’t just the gold adornment that made Cr Gill stand out among the crowd, it was also the small party of fellow shoppers he was leading, followed all the time by a film crew. The mayor’s shopper “reward” came later when the market’s fresh produce was used by a three-star Michelin chef to make Chinese meals for a dinner at Barmah Park Restaurant and Cellar Door, Moorooduc. The shopping expedition, making and eating of the meal was all part…

CANDIDATES for the federal seat of Flinders will again have their chance to explain their views on power company AGL’s plans to import natural gas through a floating terminal at Crib Point at a public meeting on 1 May. They were grilled on their views about importing the gas and the building of a pipeline to Pakenham at a public meeting in Dromana last Wednesday (17 April), although the May meeting is being held by Save Westernport, which was formed specifically to fight the AGL proposal. Save Westernport spokesperson Julia Stockigt said most of the candidates for Flinders had accepted…

FIVE candidates contesting the seat of Flinders in next month’s federal election faced a crowd of about 100 at a meeting last Wednesday (17 April) in Dromana. Organiser Robyn Coughlin said the top five areas of interest in questions to candidates submitted by those at the meeting were the national disability insurance scheme (NDIS); housing affordability; wages growth; income support payments; and the environment. The main issue for the candidates had been “representatives’ connection to their electorate”. Candidates at the event were Greg Hunt (Liberal), Joshua Sinclair (Labor), Julia Banks (independent), Nathan Lesslie (Australian Greens) and Susie Beveridge (independent)., Ms…

The fence along the Esplanade at Mt Martha designed to cut off access to The Pillars cliff-jumping site will be pulled down after Easter. Although not entirely effective, the fence did lead to a large drop in numbers of people gathering on the cliffs, but it also saw police refusing to cross it in pursuit of anyone drinking alcohol in breach of the shire’s local laws. Mornington Peninsula Shire councillors will decide whether the fence is reinstalled in time for next summer after receiving a report from council officers. The 400-metre long fence effectively blocked a walking track along the…

Mornington Peninsula and Frankston councils want to meet with the Minister for Public Transport Melissa Horne and Minister for Transport Infrastructure Jacinta Allan to discuss extending the electric train service to Hastings. The two councils have written to the state government “clarifying their combined support for the electrification of the existing rail line from the Frankston city centre to Hastings on the Mornington Peninsula”, according to a news release from the municipalities. Frankston mayor Cr Michael O’Reilly said the councils would support “Frankston-Langwarrin as stage one and Langwarrin-Hastings as stage two”. While acknowledging “the complex consideration for the future metropolitan…

Parks Victoria is seeking expressions of interest (EOI) to operate the hop on hop off visitor shuttle service within the 560 hectare Point Nepean National Park. The shuttle is part of the state government’s master plan for the park and the latest chance for a private operator to run the shuttle comes 16 years after the John Howard-led federal government first announced plans for 90 hectares of the former Defence land to be subdivided and sold for housing. The announcement that the prime coastal land near Portsea could pass from public to private hands sparked a wave of protests that…

CAMPAIGNING for the Saturday 18 May federal election has begun in Flinders with a backward look at still unresolved issues. Despite the drip-feed of “good news” from the incumbent, Liberal Greg Hunt, whose health portfolio provides a seemingly endless supply, it’s his time as environment minister that is being targeted by his opponents. The federal government’s approval last week of the massive Adani coal mine in Queensland revived memories, and criticism, of Mr Hunt’s role the first time the Indian company received the all-clear from the government. Mr Hunt approved Adani’s plans for its Carmichael mine one month after he…

The right-wing political lobby group Advance Australia will be trying to influence the outcome of the Flinders electorate in the lead-up to the May federal election. Held by Liberal MP Greg Hunt since 2001, Flinders is also being contested by his former Liberal colleague Julia Banks, now the independent MP for Chisholm; Labor’s Josh Sinclair; The Greens Nathan Lesslie; and independent Susie Beveridge, a former Mornington Peninsula Shire councillor. Advance Australia says a members’ survey showed Flinders as being one of the seats chosen as in need of the organisation’s “attention”. “We’ll be talking with voters about the dangers of…

Candidates for the seat of Flinders at the May federal election are being invited to state their policies and answer questions from the public at a forum in Dromana on 17 April. Robyn Coughlin said she was organising the “meet your candidates” event for residents of the Flinders electorate “to get to know their potential representatives”. Candidates who had agreed to attend by last week were sitting MP Liberal Greg Hunt, Labor’s Joshua Sinclair and independent Julia Banks. Ms Coughlin said she had also invited independent Susie Beveridge, a former Mornington Peninsula councillor. Ms Banks was elected MP for Chisholm…

A NEW business-based lobby group being formed on the Mornington Peninsula automatically includes its $21,000 a year “platinum” members on its strategy and policy committee. The group’s $7000 “corporate gold” and $3000 “corporate” packages can nominate for membership of the key body that will steer the Committee for Mornington Peninsula. A $1000 “small business package” buys the “ability” to join one or more “round tables”, while the $500 “not for profit” membership level comes with the “ability to join one round table”. While the strategy and policy committee is described driving “hands on policy decisions” the round table discussion groups…

Owners of those cute, colourful bathing boxes scattered around Mornington Peninsula beaches are facing massive licence fee increases. Visitors take pictures of the beach boxes that also regularly attract the eye of the metropolitan-based media because of their escalating values. Their values are compared to those of family houses elsewhere. But this year Mornington Peninsula Shire is seeing the beach boxes as a source of increasing revenue. The shire’s 2019/20 budget, now open for public comment, replaces the flat $445 a year licence fee for bathing boxes with a fee based on the structure’s size. Beach boxes measuring five to…

Mornington Peninsula Shire has given the all clear for its officers to sign a $120,000 two-year lease for an office in central Melbourne. Called a “satellite office”, a trial of the Collins Street premises was originally proposed to “provide a better customer service and improve efficiency for lost travel time”. That trial, according to Lisa Sturgess, the acting executive manage in the shire’s planning department, has proved so successful that she has recommended entering a new two-year lease. She says a review of the benefits of the city office since July 2017 has shown it is responsible for the planning…

The declining numbers of a bird once frequently seen in Western Port are being used as an example to persuade political parties to do more to protect native birds. BirdLife Australia president, John Barkla says the critically endangered eastern curlew was once a drawcard for visitors to Western Port but its numbers had now dropped to “a handful”. “I’ve been visiting the Ramsar wetlands in Western Port for decades. Once it was the perfect site to see and hear the calls of flocks of hundreds of these glorious birds, but now you are lucky to see more than a handful,”…

The Victorian Trades Hall Council has announced it will specifically target Flinders MP Greg Hunt in the May federal election. Phone callers and door knockers will play on Mr Hunt’s role in the overthrow last year of then Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull that led to Scott Morrison taking over leadership of the Liberal National government. Health Minister Mr Hunt sought to be deputy leader in the failed leadership bid by Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton. The union umbrella group THC will also target Mr Hunt’s Liberal colleague, Chris Crewther in neighbouring Dunkley. The involvement of Trades Hall comes weeks after…

The Save Westernport group has succeeded in getting most candidates for Flinders in the coming federal election to align themselves against plans for a floating gas terminal at Crib Point. Independent Julia Banks – elected as a Liberal to the seat of Chisholm at the 2016 federal election – says she will table a petition next “to stop this development and to protect the Western Port (Crib Point) site”. In a news release, Ms Banks said plans by power company AGL to process liquified natural gas “will mean the discharge into the sea of vast amounts of chilled chlorinated water…

Cancer patients could be treated in Mornington within two years. The federal government has allocated $10 million in this week’s budget for a cancer treatment centre to be built at The Bays Hospital. The hospital’s CEO Elena Allen on Friday was “fully optimistic” the new centre could up and running in 18 months to two years if the hospital could raise another $10 million. “I’m thrilled about members of the Mornington Peninsula being able to be treated close to home,” she said. In 2016, 17,470 people living in the Frankston and on the peninsula were treated for a cancer or…

The popularity of The Pillars, a cliff jumping spot at Mt Martha, has led to the banning of alcohol, restricted car parking, dire warnings of death or injury and “the wall” – a fence to try and stop entry. Mornington Peninsula Shire, which has used its officers to book errant motorists and drones to count the number of people on the cliffs as well as paying for the hire of the fence, has called a public meeting for Wednesday 10 April to discuss a “permanent solution” to the problematic tourist attraction. The Pillars has also become a political issue with…

Recycled material collected by Mornington Peninsula Shire is set to resume being “processed” instead of being taken to landfill. Bans on the shire’s recycling processor SKM were lifted late last month and infrastructure services executive manager Jessica Wingad was late last week hoping to have “an update and timeframe for when our recycling will start to be processed again in the coming days”. “Once our recycling processing resumes, the shire will be able to confirm the total quantity of recyclable material sent to landfill as a result of the shutdown,” she said. The recycling processor was unable to take waste…

Five of the Mornington Peninsula’s Port Phillip beaches are ranked in the top 10 for water quality by Environment Protection Authority Victoria. Top of the 36-beach list for having the best water quality over summer was Santa Casa, followed closely by Easter, The Dell and Portarlington – all beaches on the Bellarine peninsula. Portsea and Rosebud came in at equal five, up from eight the previous summer. Overall, water quality at the bay’s beaches was rated good throughout summer, except after large rain events which produced days when swimming should not take place. Brighton came in as the worst of…