A PILOT project to produce hydrogen from brown coal will require the gas to be liquefied near Hastings before being shipped to Japan. Kawasaki Heavy Industries says it will release more details of the project “in the first quarter of 2017 for consideration and consultation”. The company says it has been “exploring the opportunity” to create a hydrogen energy supply chain from Australia to Japan for more than six years. During that time discussions had been held with state and federal governments, industry and research organisations. “The initiative is well known,” general manager of Kawasaki’s hydrogen development centre, Dr Eiichi…
Author: Keith Platt
ANGLERS after game fish in and around Port Phillip are helping research and contributing to fish numbers with a catch and release policy. Fisheries Victoria’s acting executive director Dallas D’Silva said the population of yellowtail kingfish had “rebounded strongly” since 2010 and some were being electronically tagged as part of a two-year study. “The research aims to determine whether kingfish caught in Victorian waters are from one stock or several, and to better define population characteristics like age, growth and spawning habits,” Mr D’Silva said. “Yellowtail kingfish populations have rebounded strongly since 2010 and they are now regularly caught at…
A WARNING has been issued that plans to create liquid hydrogen from brown coal in the Latrobe Valley could ultimately lead to a polluting industry being established in Western Port. Hastings MP Neale Burgess says Kawasaki Heavy Industries has signed a “secret deal” with the state government that could lead to “long coal trains or a coal slurry pipe bringing huge amounts of coal to Hastings, building of a huge coal gasification plant at Hastings and the produced hydrogen being shipped through Western Port”. Mr Burgess was last Thursday turned away from a meeting between the Port of Hastings Development Authority…
NEW lines, new rules, wooden bollards and flashing signs are all part of a comprehensive safety plan on two of the Mornington Peninsula’s busiest roads. The traffic management changes have been made along the Esplanade between Mt Martha and Safety Beach and Marine Drive to Dromana. The main attraction for many visitors to Mt Martha is the Pillars, a swimming and jumping spot on the steep cliffs off the Esplanade between Deakin Drive and Marguerita Av. But along with its popularity – increased by its many mentions on social media – the Pillars has created traffic safety issues, including parking…
REGULATIONS designed to keep boats and jet skis away from seals, whales and dolphins have been extended to include one of the latest gadgets to take off – drones. While jet skis must not be closer than 300 metres from whales and dolphins and boats 100 metres away from dolphins and 200 metres from whales drones are prohibited from flying directly over, approaching head on or landing on the water near marine wildlife. Land and sea patrols the Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning (DELWP) are on the lookout for breaches of the regulations which can attract $233 on…
BEACHES, “country feel”, absence of high rise development, public open spaces and nature reserves are top of the list when it comes to what makes the Mornington Peninsula a “special” place to live. These findings are the first results of an analysis of responses to an online survey conducted by the self-described community advocacy organisation, Peninsula Speaks. Further analysis of the “Looking Forward – Mornington Peninsula 2030” survey taken in the latter part of 2016 showed 70 per cent of respondents believe “preserving the unique character rather than economic growth (10 per cent) is vital”, organiser Peter Avery said. “Overwhelmingly,…
A RATEPAYER group is calling for surveys to make sure public land has not been included within the fence lines of multi-million dollar clifftop properties at Mt Eliza. And once the surveys are done, the group wants a walking track built along the clifftop from Jacksons Rd to Pelican Point, near Daveys Bay. In a budget submission to Mornington Peninsula Shire, the Mt Eliza Foreshore Advisory Group (MEFAG) says the proposed walking track would provide the “missing link” between Canadian and Daveys bays. The submission ranges from calling on the shire to stop nudists from leaving the “optional dress” area…
MANAGEMENT of the Port of Hastings will come under state government control on 1 July next year. The government has decided against renewing its port management lease with the LINX Cargo Group, owned by asset manager Brookfield, and the Port of Hastings Development Authority will take over as port manager. “The Port of Hastings will continue to be very much open for business throughout this transition period and well into the future as a key bulk port for Victoria,” the authority’s CEO Malcolm Geier said. “The Port of Hastings is one of Victoria’s key bulk ports and as Victoria’s deepest…
RUSSELL Joseph has been selected as the Liberal Party’s candidate for the seat of Nepean at the November 2018 state election. Mr Joseph is the electorate officer for Martin Dixon, a former education minister who has held Nepean for 14 years and the now-defunct seat of Dromana for six years. Anonymous “party insiders” were widely quoted by the media as criticising the choice of Mr Joseph as being counter the Liberal Party’s stated aims of wanting “renewal” and a more “diverse” parliamentary representation. The Liberal Party currently has seven women MPs in the 88-member Lower House (Legislative Assembly), Labor has…
Moving house is seen by psychologists as being one of the most stressful of undertakings and the same probably applies to koalas. Monitoring stress in people is not too hard – just listen. But when it comes to koalas a more scientific approach is necessary. Thirty koalas relocated from French Island to a forest near Tallarook in central Victoria have been fitted with a radio collar so their movements and wellbeing can be closely monitored. Scientists decided it was best to make the move after the ever-increasing numbers of koalas started to eat their way through their island home. While…
TWO Saturdays ago Jim Kolokithas turned his wheelchair along a strip of plastic matting down to the water’s edge at Mt Martha beach. “It was amazing; a good feeling,” he said. “I got a bit emotional just sitting there.” The emotion was not just for himself, but for the other disabled people who will now be able to enjoy the simple pleasure of crossing a beach to the water. With the new matting being regularly rolled out in front of Mt Martha Lifesaving Club the soft sand will no longer be an insurmountable obstacle for narrow-tyred wheelchairs. Although Jim Kolokithas…
ALL 11 of Mornington Peninsula Shire’s newly-elected councillors have been handed copies of a “Councillor and staff interactions policy”, which reminds them that the CEO is in charge of shire staff, not the ratepayer elected representatives. Councillors were not consulted about the policy before it was drafted and will now have to consult council’s governance department who will decide whether a request by elected representatives will be granted or denied. If a request is refused, councillors can raise the issue with council CEO Carl Cowie – the only officer appointed by councillors – or governance manager Joe Spiteri. The policy…
PULLING up at a foreshore car park and walking across the beach to the water’s edge is as natural as putting up a beach umbrella and spreading out a towel. But try enjoying those simple pleasures if you are in a wheelchair. Suddenly the beach becomes and obstacle rather than a pleasure. Saturday 12 November is likely to become known among wheelchair-bound residents on the Mornington Peninsula as the day they were first able to cross Mt Martha beach. They were able to confidently make their way to the water on plastic matting provided by Mornington Peninsula Shire in conjunction…
AFTER eight years of studying their behaviours, diets, relationships as well as photographing their every visible move, Sue Mason gives the impression there are still more unknowns than knowns when it comes to a “community” of dolphins living in Port Phillip between Frankston and Dromana. “There are always questions to be answered.” Ms Mason’s interest in cetaceans (whales, dolphins and porpoises) dates back to when she and her husband John, spent three weeks each year for eight years – their Christmas holidays – as volunteer whale watchers in Hawaii for Earthwatch. Like any good carer, Ms Mason is now checking…
FORMER Cerberus ward councillor David Garnock blames not residing in the ward and “anti-shire rhetoric” for his defeat in the October municipal elections. Mr Garnock, elected in 2012, was one of five candidates for Cerberus. The seat on Mornington Peninsula Shire Council was won by Kate Roper who had 54 per cent of votes after preferences; Mr Garnock had 24 per cent and David Cassels came third with more than 16 per cent. In an email sent after his loss to 125 “movers & shakers”, Mr Garnock said he was disappointed he would be unable to “finish-off quite a few…
INFRASTRUCTURE Victoria is holding a “community workshop” at Hastings as part of its investigations into the need for a second container port for Melbourne. Previous state governments – Liberal and Labor – have backed Hastings as a site for a new container port, but the current government changed tack and nominated Bay West in Port Phillip as its preferred location. The first report by Infrastructure Victoria into the best site for Victoria’s second container port is scheduled to go to the Victorian Special Minister of State, Gavin Jennings, in May 2017. The workshop in Hastings on Wednesday 23 November follows…
IT’S not that unusual to develop a cough after spending weeks either in air conditioned rooms and cars or outside on 40 degree days. On his first back in England after three weeks in the Middle East Alan Cane woke up wrapped in clammy sheets. He coughed and there was blood in his handkerchief. A visit to the doctor led to blood tests and an x-ray. Two days later he was admitted to a sanatorium with tuberculosis, TB. This all happened in the mid-1970s and such a diagnosis, even then, was commonly regarded as a death sentence. Antibiotics meant this…
The high legal cost of protest is the latest stumbling block to face residents angry at plans for concrete paths at Somers. Faced with unforeseen fee increases at VCAT (Victorian Civil Administrative Tribunal), the owners of about 25 per cent of properties in the town were yesterday (Monday) facing the prospect of only being represented at half of the scheduled four-day hearing. This week’s hearing was the latest instalment of a long running campaign against the footpaths by three groups associated with the Somers Village Community Association (SVCA). The fight has already highlighted deficiencies in the shire’s use of special…
A DRUG conviction for a crime committed nearly 40 years ago has become an election issue for one of the three vacant Briars ward seats on Mornington Peninsula Shire Council. However, judging by comments posted to social media, an obvious attempt to smear candidate Leigh Eustace (pictured) may have backfired. Most people involved in the online debate since last Wednesday’s revelations of Mr Eustace’s conviction for trafficking heroin have argued that he has paid his dues and his three years spent in jail should not be held against him. “This is a sad day for local government. A lovely guy…
A former Mornington Peninsula Shire councillor and candidate for the Briars ward in this month’s municipal elections, has come out and publicly admitted to having being jailed for drug trafficking. Leigh Eustace was 22 when he was convicted of trafficking heroin two years earlier. Now 58, he says he “did the crime and served the time”. Mr Eustace readily admits to making mistakes earlier in life but sees no reason, other than for political gain, why his crimes have been published on social media. He said he had made “some poor decisions” and supplied friends during the 1970s “when hard…
MINIMISING controversy while running for the vacant Watson ward seat on Mornington Peninsula Shire Council has not come cheap for a least one candidate, and the shire. Just weeks before nominating as a candidate in this month’s elections, Lisa Dixon took the unusual step of withdrawing a request she and her partner Ken Ingersoll had made for a planning scheme amendment to allow them to keep aeroplanes on private property abutting Tyabb airfield. The shire says Ms Dixon and Mr Ingersoll had paid a $798 application fee for the amendment and that the processing the amendment had taken “approximately one…
ACTION, camera, lights and sound. The sequence might sound out of order, but it all adds up to security when applied to a new light developed by a Braeside company. Sengled The light has an inbuilt digital camera that transmits images straight to the Cloud and can be monitored by smart phone or computer. Even if the light is turned off, an infrared camera will record images in the dark. The Snap light also comes equipped with a speaker and microphone, which provides the opportunity to converse with someone knocking on the door, even if you aren’t at home. David…
TUTANEKAI “Tui” Wordley should be an inspiration to every surfer. Not because of the size of the waves he rides or the latest overseas trip he’s made, but because, at 80, he’s still out there, catching swells that bend towards the shore, steepen up and then crash down, peeling off to the right or left. He’s at home on Western Port’s reefs and points and the beach breaks at Gunnamatta or Phillip Island with visits to the west coast, from Torquay to Lorne, when the surf is on. A New Zealander by birth with a mixed Scottish, English and Maori…
IT might be a relatively narrow stretch of water, but Bass Strait is a major factor in the survival chances for the critically endangered yellow-bellied parrot. With the number of birds in the wild estimated at less than 50 experts say they face most dangers when flying to Victoria from their breeding grounds in Tasmania. Most of the surviving birds are banded and are easily tracked in Tasmania as they breed in a relatively concentrated area, but the bigger problems arise on the mainland where they are spread more thinly in small groups or individually. Michael Johnson’s Moonlit Sanctuary at…
THE weather’s warming up and snakes are waking up. Just as warmer, sunny days send a signal that it’s fine for outdoor recreation the same applies for snakes, who see it as time to “get some sun, look for food and a mate”, according to scientist Nick Clemann. Senior scientist from the Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning (DELWP)’s Arthur Rylah Institute Mr Clemann said people were likely to see snakes when “walking dogs, cycling, bush walking, enjoying parks and gardening”. “Snakes are more common in areas around the urban fringe or in rural areas, but they do turn…
FOOTPATHS, foreshores … and frogs. There is seemingly no end – and some cases no relation – to the variety of issues and concerns listed by the 50 candidates for the 11 seats on Mornington Peninsula Shire Council. Easily added to the three mentioned above are “over development”, waste disposal, planning for coastal “villages” and, certainly an elephant in the room, how much councillors should be allowed to spend above their $29,000 a year stipend ($92,000 for the mayor). The candidates’ buzz word for this election is community. Although not a definable issue, community will be a frequent persuader used…
WHILE speaking with portrait artists Fiona Bilbrough and Vicki Sullivan it becomes clear that their subjects are much more than mere objects to be represented as one-dimensional art. Sullivan likes to have lunch with her subjects and have at least two sittings in her Rye studio. The lunch provides a relaxed way “to study the structure of the head, skin tones and the character in the hands”. Bilbrough, who is exhibiting her works alongside Sullivan’s in a Portraits exhibition at Mornington Peninsula Regional Gallery, spends “many hours conjuring up a concept that will hopefully look appealing to me enough to…
STATUTORY proceedings are now being used to resolve Mornington Peninsula Shire’s embarrassing position of wanting to build an $800,000 skatepark on land it has leased to Mt Martha Tennis Club. The tennis club has refused to relinquish the land, so the shire is now taking steps to force changes to the lease which does not expire until December 2023. A report to Monday night’s meeting recommended council begin the legal proceedings to require the club to give up its hold on the land. The eventual building of a skatepark on what used to be a parade ground near Mt Martha…
TWENTY-two candidates had signed up by close of business on Friday to contest next month’s election for the 11 seats on Mornington Peninsula Shire Council. The shire has six wards, with three councillors each in Briars and Seawinds wards, two in Nepean and one each in Cerberus, Red Hill and Watson. By Friday, just two of the shire’s 10 councillors – Hugh Fraser (Nepean) and Bev Colomb (Briars) – were listed as candidates by the VEC. However, Cr Antonella Celi (Seawinds) emailed The News to say she would be a contender; Cr David Garnock (Cerberus) has previously said he would…
NOMINATIONS for the 11 seats on Mornington Peninsula Shire Council open on Thursday and close midday next Tuesday (20 September). A list of candidates in ballot paper order will be available on the Victorian Electoral Commission website late Tuesday afternoon. The Saturday 22 October election will be conducted by post with candidate statements and photographs published online from Monday 26 September. The close of nominations signals the shire going into “caretaker mode” – a 32-day period which bans the current council making “inappropriate decisions” or “those that would affect voting at an election or decisions that may unreasonably bind…