Author: Keith Platt

RSPCA Victoria and Lort Smith Animal Hospital have joined forces to encourage owners to annually vaccinate their cats to curb a spike of the infectious viral disease feline panleukopenia. In the past three months, RSPCA has diagnosed 20 cases of feline panleukopenia compared to one case in the same period last year while Lort Smith Animal Hospital has diagnosed 50 cases. The outbreak has forced RSPCA Victoria and Lort Smith Animal Hospital to lengthen the stay for some cats before they can be adopted. About 80 per cent of unvaccinated kittens who contract the disease die. Symptoms include loss of…

A CLOSE encounter with Port Phillip’s resident dolphins during a day on the bay can be memorable. But there is a right way and several wrong ways to enjoy the experience – preferably from a safe, non-threatening distance. Dolphin Research Institute executive director Jeff Weir says the bay is a “giant nursery for dolphins, so it’s crucial we show them respect”. The institute is set to release a summer Dolphin Distancing campaign, but Weir last week was prompted to speak out before it gets underway following reports of dolphins being harassed at Canadian Bay, Mount Eliza. “Sharon”, who did not…

MARIANNE Dalton, of Balnarring, was “placed in a queue” after a doctor said she required the type of in-home help previously provided by Mornington Peninsula Shire. The shire has handed over its responsibilities for the type of service Dalton was eligible to receive to two commercial providers chosen by the federal government. The doctor filled out the request for two hours of home help a fortnight in June last year but, after hearing nothing by October, Dalton called the appointed provider mecwacare only to be told that her paperwork had not been misplaced but “I was in a queue, they…

IT was a gourmet catch of the day on Sunday (7 August) for three friends aboard No Excuse when fishing off Phillip Island’s Woolamai beach. After leaving Wasternport Marina, Hastings at about 8.30am the three, Christian Ellul, Sean Quinlivan and Ben Gargaro, hooked onto a southern bluefin tuna about one kilometre offshore. It took about 40 minutes to bring the 106 kilogram fish onto the boat. Ellul said he had been trying for about 10 years to catch a tuna of that size. Although classified by the International Union for Conservation of Nature as an endangered species, recreational and commercial…

THE Animal Justice Party has endorsed Austin Cram as its Upper House candidate for Eastern Victoria in the November state election. Eastern Victoria includes the three seats of Hastings, Mornington and Nepean. The seat is currently represented by four MPs, Cathrine Burnett-Wake (Liberal), Melina Bath (The Nationals), Harriet Shing (Labor) and Jeff Bourman (Shooters, Fishers and Farmers). In October last year, Mornington Peninsula Shire councillor Steve Holland missed on being chosen to fill the Liberal Party vacancy in Eastern Province created by the resignation of Edward O’Donohue. The position was won by Burnett-Wake. The Animal Justice party’s candidate Cram lives…

MORNINGTON Peninsula Shire Council is going to keep track of financial pledges made by candidates in the lead up to the November state election, similar to what it did before the May federal election. The pledge tracker will list the dollar amounts of promises made for specific projects in the shire but not broader issues such as climate change, social welfare, education or integrity. Missing from the tracker will be election issues that do not attract a financial commitment, such as whether the shire should be classed as regional or metropolitan. The shire is pressing for a peri-urban classification, Liberal…

ALTHOUGH it may be redundant as a source of domestic drinking water, Bittern Reservoir and surrounding bushland is home and a source of sustenance to many native birds and animals. Bittern is the smaller of two water storages within the 1000 hectare Devilbend Natural Features Reserve and on Sunday 24 July was circumnavigated by a group of 18 members of Birdlife Mornington Peninsula. Armed with binoculars, cameras and spotting scopes, the group recorded sightings of 43 bird species. Birdlife Mornington Peninsula holds two walks a month, which usually end with lunch and a discussion about birds seen and, maybe, heard.…

THE state government is likely to drastically reduce the amount of land set aside for port related purposes around Hastings. The decision to investigate using the land for non-port industries follows the decision to build a container port at Bay West, near Geelong. Already under consideration is a 350 metre long multi-purpose double berth jetty to be built on 35 hectares of reclaimed land between the BlueScope and Esso jetties off Long Island Drive, Hastings. The government has set a two-year time limit on reviewing how much of the “port-related” land should be kept and how much “unlocked”. The Hastings…

THE Save Westernport community group has joined calls for a full investigation of the likely environmental effects caused by an ethane gas fired power station at Hastings. The group, which was instrumental in preventing AGL’s floating gas import terminal being anchored at Crib Point, says essential details are missing from Esso’s plans to generate power at Long Island Point. It says the need for Esso to find a use for its excess gas raises questions about the viability of the Esso plant and, faced with declining gas resources in Bass Strait, suggests it should be “considering decommissioning its operations at…

MORNINGTON Peninsula Shire councillor Paul Mercurio is hoping his next move on the political front will be to state parliament as the new MP for Hastings. Perhaps more widely known for his dance moves while playing the lead role of what he hopes will be the prophetically named Scott Hastings in director Baz Lurhmann’s 1992 movie Strictly ballroom, Mercurio has been signed up as a candidate by the Labor Party. Now, 30 years after the release of Strictly Ballroom, Mercurio has teamed up with Nepean Labor MP Chris Brayne for a special showing of the movie to promote their respective…

Mornington Peninsula Shire is starting a feasibility study after identifying three possible sites for a “world class” regional arts and conference centre. Council-owned properties at Hastings, Mornington and Rosebud have been recommended by consultants as the best of 23 possible sites for the cultural arts centre. The cost has been estimated at $110 million to $150m with possibly an extra $60m for a “future workplace” if Mornington is chosen as the location. The financial projections come with a warning that construction costs are likely to blow out by 3-4 per cent a year. The shire’s 2021/22 budget included $350,000 for…

RETIRING Liberal MP for Hastings has yet to publicly respond to reports that he was suspended from state parliament and then banned from attending party events or involving himself in Liberal affairs following allegations of inappropriate behaviour towards parliamentary staff. Two Melbourne metropolitan newspapers last week reported that the Department of Parliamentary Services had launched an investigation into the alleged misconduct by Burgess which started in November. The allegations led to Burgess being banned from attending parliament for one month, which was followed in April by Liberal Party leaders telling him not to attend party event or be involved in…

RED Hill artist Michael Leeworthy is drawing on his talent and promotional skills to make Hastings the “cultural capital” of the Mornington Peninsula. He uses words to illustrate the affection he feels for Hastings and says he is indebted to its businesspeople for giving him “an opportunity to be self-employed back in the 1970s”. Describing himself as a secondary school dropout, lacking in self-confidence and starting work at 16, Leeworthy says he came “very close to getting into trouble”. “I was a window dresser to a major clothing chain and at night I would do letter drops under any shop…

ALTHOUGH they “invested” thousands of dollars on their election campaigns, six of the nine failed candidates for Flinders have been repaid more than $10,000 by the Australian Electoral Commission and may have more to come. The AEC automatically pays more than $2 a vote to candidates who receive more than 4% of the primary vote. Candidates can also claim the same amount of money a vote over the minimum 4% by claiming against their campaign costs. The money is paid by the AEC to registered political parties and to candidates standing as independents. Mornington Peninsula Shire councillor Despi O’Connor who,…

MORNINGTON Peninsula Shire has called on the state government to investigate health risks and environmental impacts of a plan by Esso Resources to use ethane gas to generate electricity. Esso has an oversupply of ethane, a by-product from natural gas used at its fractionation plant at Long Island, Hastings. The company says burning the gas – or flaring-off – is the alternative to setting up an ethane-driven electricity power plant. It says the plant will produce enough electricity to power 35,000 household a year will increase the peninsula’s greenhouse gas emissions by six per cent a year. While the decision…

MORNINGTON Peninsula Shire councillor Desi O’Connor wants to make it clear that her decision to suspend campaigning for last month’s federal election was due to questions over her employment as a teacher by the Victorian education department and not retaining her role as a councillor. “Just a clarification that I did not suspend my campaign because I was still holding an elected position as a Mornington Peninsula Shire councillor,” she said. “The suspension occurred because I discovered that being a public school teacher constituted holding “… any office of profit under the crown…” – Section 44 (iv). Therefore, there was…

THE Voices of Mornington Peninsula group which backed independent Dr Sarah Russell in the May federal election, is now turning its sights on local government. The group’s latest newsletter criticises Mornington Peninsula Shire for removing $200,000 to buy carbon credits from its 2022/23 budget “despite the many letters and 299 petition signatures that were presented to them”. “We don’t think the process that was followed in this instance could be held up as best practice,” the online newsletter states. “The council now wants us (peninsula residents) to help shape their draft public transparency policy.” Russell was the second candidate chosen…

THE number of remaining buildings on the Mornington Peninsula clad with combustible aluminium should be public knowledge in August. Mornington Peninsula Shire in May directed its officers to “update our community on the situation regarding combustible cladding of buildings”. Officers said they could provide councillors with “a brief update” by 19 July. Concerns worldwide about combustible aluminium being used in multi-storey buildings were raised in June 2017 when 72 people died when London’s 20-storey Grenfell Tower caught fire. In March 2019, a cigarette was blamed for a blaze in Melbourne’s Neo200 building that that jumped five storeys. However, in January…

ALTHOUGH not always rigorously enforced, Mornington Peninsula Shire has powers that enable it to be involved in many aspects of peoples’ daily lives. Rules to manage alcohol use, parking, open air burning, and short-stay rentals are well known, but they also cover feeding birds in the backyard; leaving rubbish bins out for too long; and the need to provide council with details of anyone who is being given a cat or dog. Anyone thinking of taking a three-day break may soon need to take account of rubbish collections. Bins must not be put out for more than one day before…

THE behaviour of whales in Port Phillip and Western Port appears to be changing. Data collected by the Hastings-based Dolphin Research Institute includes a blue whale being recorded in early June near Portland. The sighting was the on record as they usually leave those water in autumn. Questions are being asked about the effects of climate change on whale habits when the Portland sighting is competitive pods of male humpbacks appearing in Port Phillip and a humpback whale song recorded near Port Phillip Heads. DRI Executive director Jeff Weir says these “are things that would normally occur in the sub-tropics”,…

MORNINGTON Peninsula Shire Council has reappointed chief executive officer John Baker for a further four years but is yet to decide on any change to the amount and terms of his $425,000 salary package. The contract terms will be reviewed and approved by the shire’s Chief Executive Officer Remuneration and Employment Committee before being negotiated by Baker and the mayor, Cr Anthony Marsh. Baker’s current contract ends in November and the new contract must be finalised and agreed on by 8 November. Council said Baker’s current package was decided in November 2021, after it had been “advised on industry standards…

ALTHOUGH now into the sixth year of a five-year plan to achieve “carbon neutrality”, Mornington Peninsula Shire dropped $200,000 from its $273 million budget earmarked to buy credits from “offset” projects. Cr Kerri McCafferty criticised some of her colleagues for claiming credits previously bought by the shire involved “fraudulent activity”. “But we’re not buying offsets from poorly regulated rogue projects,” she said during council’s Tuesday 7 June budget meeting. “We’re buying them through the federal government’s accreditation system, Climate Active.” McCafferty said the credits came with a guarantee that each one “corresponds to one tonne of carbon dioxide removed from…

THE Local Governance Inspectorate says there is “insufficient evidence” to substantiate any offences under the Local Government Act in the lead up to Mornington Peninsula Shire adopting amended Governance Rules in October 2021. David Walker, the inspectorate’s investigations team leader, said the shire’s “administration” said it had been “regrettable” that proposed changes to the Governance Rules had not been circulated to councillors before a meeting on 24 August 2021, but it had not prejudiced the outcome. The inspectorate was investigating a complaint that the then mayor Cr Despi O’Connor, CEO John Baker and legal and governance manager Amanda Sapolu had…

MORNINGTON Peninsula Shire mayor Cr Anthony Marsh has defended his inability to carry out a pre-election promise to implement a “rate freeze”. In March 2021 he seconded an unsuccessful move by fellow Briars Ward councillor Steve Holland to give ratepayers a 1.5 per cent rebate, but this year was hamstrung by being mayor, a position that prevents him moving motions or amendments. “Given no other councillor tested a motion or amendment to freeze or reduce the proposed rate increase, I had no opportunity to vote in support of a ‘rate freeze’ this year,” Marsh, who was elected in late 2020,…

MORNINGTON Peninsula Shire councillors have adopted a 1.75 per cent rate increase as part of their $273 million 2022/23 budget. The rate hike is the maximum allowed by the state government and is 0.25 per cent higher than last year. CEO John Baker said the government’s rate cap “in terms of current economic trends, it’s not a great outcome”. “With this year’s increase being less than half of the consumer price index (CPI) rise of 5.1 per cent for the March quarter, it means our revenue has shrunk in real terms,” he stated in his introduction to the “challenging budget”.…

SOME Mornington Peninsula Shire councillors underwent “additional training” before this week’s public meeting to adopt the municipality’s $282.8 million budget for the next 12 months. The shire on Monday last week issued a statement saying the budget meeting scheduled for Tuesday 7 June was rescheduled to give the mayor, Cr Anthony Marsh “enough time to recover and participate as chair”. Marsh claimed on Facebook that the report in The News was “misreported and corrected”. “The meeting was postponed to conduct a training session on request of councillors as elements of the new governance rules were not understood by many councillors”.…

MORNINGTON Peninsula property owners and residents are being asked their views on the care and use of nature strips. Although Mornington Peninsula Shire already has a set of rules for the use of nature strips, they do not appear to be uniformly regulated or applied. A walk around many peninsula towns and suburbs reveals the most basic of rules – keeping a minimum 1.5 metre wide strip for pedestrian access – is often ignored. Nature strips have been incorporated into front yards, rocks, stones and sleepers used to delineate driveways and trees or bushes planted to prevent public access. As…

THE state government has been accused of ignoring the “unique” environmental qualities of where an artificial reef has been installed off Point Nepean. Designed to be a lure for kingfish, the reef has been put in place despite calls for it to be delayed – including from Mornington Peninsula Shire Council – until further studies had been carried out. In the days following news that the 16 purpose-built concrete “reef modules” had been installed on the seabed their main attraction was criticism. Conservationists and dolphin watching business operators have accused the state government and the Department of Environment, Land, Water…

THIS week’s scheduled public meeting of Mornington Peninsula Shire Council has been postponed until Tuesday 7 June. Included on the agenda was the adoption of the 2022/23 budget. It is understood the mayor Cr Anthony Marsh requested the delay while he undergoes treatment in hospital. Although there is a deputy mayor, Cr Lisa Dixon, Cr Susan Bissinger said “really, it is in the community’s interest that we have the best chair possible” at the final budget meeting. “We’re trying to do the best we can for the community. The deputy was willing to step in, but the consensus was that…

HUNDREDS of people are homeless on the Mornington Peninsula while at least 26 state government-owned houses are sitting vacant. Another 18 are also empty, although they are slated to be demolished or redeveloped. The shortage of permanent houses is also exacerbated by the number of privately-owned properties used as short-stay, or holiday rentals. A report by the Salvation Army last year estimated there were 2600 people experiencing homelessness in the federal electorate of Flinders, which covers most of the peninsula. Unverified data provided to The News puts the number of holiday rental properties at 4529, with most being located between…