MOUNT Eliza teenager Gemma Scott has been selected for Australia’s Skillaroos team to compete at WorldSkills Shanghai 2026 in September. The 18-year-old Restaurant Service competitor will join 37 other skilled apprentices, trainees and students representing Australia at the world’s biggest vocational skills competition. WorldSkills is a biennial international competition where more than 1,400 young hospitality, construction, tech and trade workers compete against peers from over 70 countries and test their skills. Scott is a student at the William Angliss Institute with a Certificate III in Hospitality and a Diploma in Hospitality Management. Involved in hospitality since she was 15, her…
Author: Sarah Halfpenny
By Sarah Halfpenny THE Westernport Regional Band’s U19 Jazz Ensemble will make history when it becomes the first non-school band to compete at the Generations in Jazz festival, held in South Australia from 1–3 May. Established in 1987, the festival holds a special place in Australia’s jazz culture, attracting both jazz legends and young musicians to Mount Gambier to learn from each other, study, and perform. The U19 Jazz Ensemble was established in May 2025 to address a shortage of music opportunities for young people on the Mornington Peninsula. Headed by school music teachers, Kate Makrikostas and David Hedges, it…
By Sarah Halfpenny A HASTINGS woman who channelled her passion for animal welfare into grassroots activism has successfully brought a decade-old animal protection bill closer to reality. Tracey Asquith’s petition calling on the Victorian government to introduce the draft Animal Care and Protection Bill was tabled in Parliament by Animal Justice Party MP Georgie Purcell on 2 April. Last year, Asquith heard about horses at 550 Moorooduc Highway in Mt Eliza being kept in terrible conditions and dying from neglect. The discovery spurred her to act. She created social media posts, organised protests at Parliament House and the RSPCA’s head…
PARKS Victoria has ordered contractors to stop work on the historic Flinders Pier restoration just four months after construction began, citing a lapse in funding. The direction issued to lead contractor Bridgewater Marine comes less than five months after Minister for Ports and Freight Melissa Horne announced that works had commenced as part of the Allan Labor Government’s $18m investment to restore some of the state’s most historic piers. Construction had been expected to finish by mid-2026. Chair of the Save Flinders Pier campaign, Charles Reis OAM, said the decision had shocked and dismayed supporters who fought for the pier’s…
By Sarah Halfpenny A BRIGHT blue cypress tree trunk now stands as a symbol of hope on Hotham Street in Sorrento, marking the arrival of the Blue Tree Project to the Mornington Peninsula. The tree, located at McFarland Reserve near the Sorrento Football and Netball Club, was painted as part of a global initiative to raise mental health awareness. The Blue Tree Project started as a grassroots movement in Western Australia in 2019, following the death of Jayden Whyte by suicide in 2018. It has since grown into a worldwide movement, with 1,600 blue trees now registered in Europe, the…