THE Southern Women’s Action Network (SWAN) will be hosting Roundtable 2 this November – a forum that will bring together community leaders, service providers, and government representatives to discuss strategies to address the peninsula’s growing housing and homelessness crisis.The Federal Government’s Housing and Homelessness Special Envoy, Josh Burns, will attend the event. He said he wants to hear directly from local organisations working to assist vulnerable residents. The discussion will focus on community concerns, current support efforts and both short and long-term possible solutions.The peninsula has experienced an increase in homelessness over the past few years. According to SWAN, a…
Author: Raia Flinos
DRIVERS have been left facing costly repairs after a large pothole on Mornington-Tyabb Road caused significant damage to vehicles earlier this week.The pothole, located roughly 500 metres from the Coolart Rd roundabout near Brideoake Racing, has opened along a busy detour route. With freeway closures causing an inflow of traffic to the area, drivers say the road’s condition has become increasingly unsafe.One driver, Phil Robertson, hit the pothole around 4:15pm on 22 October. “I saw a crater. It wasn’t a puddle, it was a hole, which was about a metre and a half long, and it must have been 15…
MORNINGTON Peninsula Shire councillors have backed new measures to improve landslide and erosion management, including public access to data and stronger planning controls in high-risk areas.At their 14 October council meeting, councillors unanimously voted to introduce an interim Erosion Management Overlay (EMO) across high-risk parts of the Mornington Peninsula. An EMO is a planning control that identifies land vulnerable to erosion or landslides, allowing the shire to enforce stronger regulations on development to protect safety and stability.As part of the new measures, the shire would make landslide susceptibility data from its Landslide Susceptibility Assessment publicly available. The move will help…
A FOURTEEN-year-old from Mt Eliza, Kalen Colabufalo, and his mum, Jonelle, will be taking part in a 13-day hike in Nepal to raise funds for Limbs4All.Mark Inglis will be leading the trek. He is a paralympic medal winner, scientist, philanthropist, and was the first double amputee to summit Mount Everest. They are working in collaboration with Mark’s foundation, Limbs4All, which provides support to amputees, and the Jared Dunscombe Foundation, which was started 11 years ago on the one-year anniversary of Jonelle’s brother and Kalen’s uncle’s death.“Every year we pick a major project to support and fundraise for,” Jonelle said. “We…
PENINSULA soccer clubs are experiencing an increase in female participation, driven by national success and community engagement. But as numbers grow, there’s a question of whether clubs have the facilities and resources to accommodate.At Mornington Soccer Club, where they just celebrated their 60th anniversary, the growth in female players has been promising but the outdated infrastructure is proving a challenge. “The quality of the surfaces is not great; the building itself was built in 1975 and it’s not very female friendly,” said Mornington Soccer Club CEO Craig Riley. “Every changeroom, every toilet has a urinal in it. So, attracting female…
AT Advance College of Education, students that have struggled in the mainstream education system are given the opportunity to earn their senior secondary certificates in a supportive and alternative learning environment.“What makes our school so unique is that we offer students who haven’t succeeded in mainstream education another opportunity in a different way,” Assistant Principal Kris Helisma said. “We really operate on building strong relationships with our students.”The school commits to small class sizes and personalised teaching, making it stand out from traditional methods of teaching. “They have just one teacher for all subjects for the year, which helps build…
The board of inquiry’s report into the McCrae landslide of 14 January this year has been released, finding the landslide, which destroyed a house and injured a council worker, was due to a burst water main owned by South East Water (SEW). Two years earlier, in November 2022, two landslides occurred in the same area. Nine days before the January 14 landslide, on 5 January, a smaller landslide occurred, damaging the back of the property. The report said, “given the history of landslides in McCrae, and the impact on the community, it was time to find the answers”. Inquiry chair…
MORNINGTON Peninsula Shire is rebooting the way it delivers youth services, moving from an in-house approach to a new hybrid model which relies more on external providers.The decision comes after a scheduled service review found low engagement levels and questions around whether council was best suited to deliver youth services directly. “The engagement’s low and there’s probably two reasons for that. One is maybe the service isn’t as good as it could be, and the other one is people just don’t know about it,” Mayor Anthony Marsh said.“We absolutely acknowledge that there’s a role for council to play, but in…
TWO years ago, Janet Hough was diagnosed with motor neurone disease (MND), a progressive and currently incurable condition which affects the nerves controlling voluntary muscles.Her diagnosis began with lower limb weakness and has since progressed to the point where Janet requires a walker and is unable to move either leg below her knees. The disease causes nerves to become damaged and start to die, which causes muscles to weaken and waste away. It progresses at various rates in different people, but the average life expectancy is two to three years from diagnosis. “I think any diagnosis where there is no…
MORNINGTON Soccer Club’s U13 girls took home the state championship in a 4-2 win against Yarra Jets FC on 21 September. The win comes after an impressive undefeated season, which saw them win the premiership in the local league before coming out on top in the championship.In the Southeast 13C division semi-final, they faced off against Manningham in a challenging match due to windy weather conditions. Despite being a messy game, the team held their ground and were victorious with a 3-2 win, thanks to some great saves from their goalkeeper, Charlotte Wanless.The highly anticipated grand final was held at…
A significant animal welfare operation was executed today (25/9) at a property on Moorooduc Highway in Mt Eliza, with the RSPCA seizing 35 horses. The operation, following months of investigation and concern from the local community, involved a team of ten RSPCA personnel, and followed the execution of a second warrant after evidence was seized from the property last week (RSPCA executes warrant after animal welfare concerns, The News 19/9/25). The seizure is the culmination of a long-running investigation which began in April after concerned community members issued reports on the treatment of animals on the property (RSPCA investigates horse…
The RSPCA executed a warrant and seized evidence from a Moorooduc Highway property in Mt Eliza on 18 September. The raid comes after months of community concerns and protests over the condition and treatment of animals on the property. A statement from RSPCA Victoria said, “new evidence and information lodged directly to RSPCA Victoria’s Inspectorate, from eyewitnesses, enabled us to take this swift action”. “We would like to assure the community we are doing everything in our power under the legislation to investigate this matter.” Carly Wines, who has organised continuous protests on the property since April, said she would…