Author: Stephen Taylor

THE on-again, off-again saga that is the redevelopment of Sorrento’s Continental Hotel is, well, on again. The latest consortium behind a proposed $100 million rebuild has unveiled its vision and restarted construction at the iconic site which it says should open in time for summer 2021-22. The emergence of the new backers follows disappointment over the drawn-out and ultimately failed dream of Sorrento local Julian Gerner, who bowed out amid fears the heritage-listed limestone structure could “sink into its foundations” (“Hotel ‘clean’ and up for sale, again” The News 16/3/20). Consortium partners Victor Smorgon Group, Kanat Group and Trenerry Property…

CONCEPT plans for the redevelopment of the Rye foreshore are on display and open to public comment until 5pm Friday (11 September). Mornington Peninsula Shire plans to upgrade the promenade, park and camping areas as part of a $6.5 million Rye township plan. The latest plan shows the promenade linking the northern end of Napier Street to the Rye pier providing what officers say is “both a physical and visual extension of the pier”. A deck extends from the pier to the land where a pedestrian crossing at Point Nepean Road leads to the Napier Street plaza. New outdoor furniture,…

MORE charges have been laid against the homeless man accused of attacking two men with a tomahawk outside Rosebud Plaza, 10.15am, Saturday 29 August. As well as two counts of attempted murder the 48-year-old has been charged with two counts of intentionally causing serious injury, four counts of assault with a weapon, two counts of criminal damage and one of affray. The man appeared at Melbourne Magistrates’ Court on Monday 31 August and has been remanded to appear for a committal mention at the same court on 10 November. Detective Senior Sergeant Miro Majstorovic, of Somerville CIU, said the injured…

A BUSINESS group wants Mornington Peninsula Shire Council to put a “roadmap” for economic recovery at the top of its priority list. The Committee for Mornington Peninsula says many local businesses are “on the brink” as a result of COVID-19 pandemic restrictions. The group says it has “heard how the benefits of modest council relief measures do not represent a clear ‘road out’ for the local economy”. Also, that the many businesses in the retail, hospitality, visitor and leisure industries were “desperately awaiting a clear plan from the shire about how it aims to support a reboot of the local…

MORNINGTON Peninsula Shire has received 15 per cent of the federal government’s 2020-21 Black Spot road safety program – almost $6 million. The remaining $32.8 million will be divided up among the state’s other 78 municipalities. The windfall follows a tragic decade in which 75 people were killed and more than 1500 seriously injured on peninsula roads. In April 2016, the shire became Victoria’s first Towards Zero municipality with the goal of having no road deaths or serious injuries on its roads. The strategy included adopting the “four pillars” of safer roads and roadsides, safer speeds, safer vehicles and safer…

PLANS are being drawn up for a $700,000 “active recreation hub” at Mount Martha’s Eco Park, in Glenisla Drive. Mornington Peninsula Shire’s infrastructure strategy and climate change manager Davey Smith said the project is expected to be completed within 18 months, depending on the easing of COVID-19 restrictions. Outgoing Briars Ward councillors Bev Colomb and Rosie Clark pushed for the upgrade of the existing reserve with a “modest” skate/scooter bowl and skate/bike/scooter loop. Other features will include play equipment, picnic tables with shade cloth, scooter path, parkour equipment, flying fox, basket swing, and multi-use ball court. Construction of an active…

THE southern Mornington Peninsula could play host to an annual festival based around giant spider crab’s if a Rye dive shop proprietor’s dreams come true. The festival would celebrate the annual migration of the crustaceans as they gather in their thousands off Rye and Blairgowrie beaches to shed their skins. The crabs’ arrival from May to June triggers a rush by drivers, sightseers and fishers who scoop them from the water by the bucket load. While divers film under Rye pier, rays and sharks feast on the crabs made suddenly vulnerable through the shedding of their skins. Lloyd Borrett, owner…

THE harm caused by uncollected dog poo on the Mornington Peninsula’s marine environment has prompted activist Josie Jones to bring the issue out into the open. “I shudder every time I think about the marine creatures’ exposure to these gross pollutants,” the 2019 Mornington Peninsula Australia Day Citizen of the Year said. “They already have such a mission just to become adults that they deserve our respect and help.” Ms Jones, whose work has been recognised through several awards, including the 2016 Dame Phyllis Frost Award and the 2017 Litter Prevention prize from Keep Victoria Beautiful, said: “In all the…

A MOUNT Eliza man who risked serious injury in freeing the driver of a crashed and burning cement truck at McCrae in 2016 has been awarded a medal “for acts of bravery in hazardous circumstances”. Joshua Allan Downes was among 29 people honoured for their courage by Governor-General David Hurley on Wednesday 26 August. Mr Downes was driving along the Mornington Peninsula freeway at 7am, 16 May, when he saw that a cement truck had left the freeway, crashed into trees and rolled onto its side. He pulled his car over and rushed through thick scrub and bent and broken…

MORNINGTON Peninsula Shire Council wants residents to back its push to have Planning Minister Richard Wynne sign off on an amendment to the peninsula’s planning scheme. The amendment seeks to shield land that sits outside the urban grown boundary (UGB) from “inappropriate development that could have a negative impact on the peninsula’s rural and coastal landscape”. It would do this by rezoning several sites that are outside the UGB from special use to green wedge. One of the sites proposed for rezoning is 60 Kunyung Road, Mount Eliza – the former Melbourne Business School site on which aged care provider…

MORNINGTON Peninsula Shire Council is on a collision course with farms selling “farm gate produce” not grown or produced there or on neighbouring properties. While the shire says it is “committed to supporting farm gate sales” and is “working constructively with operators to help them comply with state government planning legislation”, it says it is bound by green wedge legislation specifying what can and can’t be sold. The issue arose when some items for sale at farms – which could be presumed to be products actually grown there – were found to have come from elsewhere. State government green wedge…

MORNINGTON Peninsula Shire Council’s half-year finances had been “sharply impacted” by the effects of the COVID-19 lockdowns forcing it to make $3 million in cuts while facing a predicted $6.4 million loss of revenue in the coming year. Cr Sam Hearn said councillors had “worked hard to deliver a fair and balanced budget under these difficult circumstances”. He said council was determined to achieve an economic and social recovery, but warned “it will take a sustained collaborative effort to overcome the hurdles we are facing as a community”. “Despite these difficulties, we continue to deliver close to the lowest average…

MORNINGTON Peninsula Shire Council last week adopted a draft five-year positive ageing strategy while acknowledging the “growing body of evidence… [that] the social and economic contributions of the older population outweigh the cost of pensions and healthcare”. A report to the 11 August council meeting by officers Michelle Wright, Vicki Bishop and Tanya Gilbert, pointed out that age-friendly communities make “good sense economically and socially”. Their report said the draft strategy provided a “road map to strengthen the shire’s commitment to positive ageing”. The ageing strategy with the theme: “Our Wellbeing” and seeking “A healthy, happy, inclusive and active community”…

THE Bicycle Network – previously Bicycle Victoria – is urging Mornington Peninsula residents to provide feedback to the shire’s plans to “improve the cycling experience on the peninsula”. The RideSafe Strategy 2020 on display until 11 September aims to attract more cyclists to the peninsula to experience its “alluring rural and coastal attractions, and holiday destinations”. “The Mornington Peninsula has always promised much for riders, with its alluring rural and coastal attractions, and holiday destinations,” the network’s Garry Brennan said. “But delivering on those hopes has been slow and patchy. There is a lot of ground to make up. “There…

HASTINGS police laid a wreath at the cenotaph at Hastings commemorating the war service of veterans representing US Army Small Ships, Saturday 15 August. The small service performed by Acting Sergeant David Kennedy and Constable Kip Mulvogue on the 75th anniversary of VP Day – Victory in the Pacific – referred to Japan’s acceptance of the Allied demand for unconditional surrender made on 14 August 1945. For Australians, it meant World War II was finally over. COVID-19 restrictions prevented a larger ceremony, but the wreath-laying went some way towards honouring the memories of the 3328 Australians, including one woman, who…

MORNINGTON Peninsula Shire Council has taken the unprecedented step of publicly airing its grievances with the Peninsula Aero Club in the form of a “position statement” before the two parties headed to the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal last Friday. The first of three VCAT sessions (14 August was a practice hearing day) will be followed by a compulsory conference on 26 October and a five-day hearing starting 12 April 2021. The shire says it wants to formalise a “coexistence” between the Tyabb airfield and the council after years of claim and counter claim over what operations are permitted at…

AGE offers insight and understanding; it provides a well-rounded perspective on life’s events often overlooked by a youth-focused society. The benefits of longevity certainly haven’t been lost on Mornington 107-year-old Thelma Kirkman, who can look back on her experiences during the momentous events of the early-to-mid-20th century: World War I, the gay 1920s, Great Depression and the foreboding and horror of World War II. More relevant to today’s events, she can remember seeing people “dying on the streets” during the 1918-20 Spanish flu epidemic, which infected 500 million people – about a third of the world’s population at the time…

A RYE woman says she will never again walk her dogs in her street after they were savagely mauled by what she thinks is an American pit bull. Leila Ivanoff and her 16-year-old, deaf, and almost blind miniature poodle Sini, and 11-year-old lowchen Skye, were on their daily walk about 200 metres from home when a “huge white dog came running across the main road to the beach at top speed towards me”. The aggressive terrier-cross started attacking her dogs and Ms Ivanoff admitted she “panicked and started screaming at the top of my voice to get it off”. “The…

VANDALS are chopping down trees at a Crib Point reserve for firewood. Mornington Peninsula Shire Council planning compliance manager Paul Lewis said the council was aware of the illegal felling and was investigating. “The peninsula has less than 10 per cent of its original native vegetation left and the shire is serious about protecting it,” he said. “Native vegetation is an important part of what makes our region such an attractive place to live.” Resident Ross Mules said he had seen several men with four-wheel-drives and trailers in the past few weeks using chainsaws to fell gums up to 100cm…

THE state government has given $1 million towards supplying recycled water to Mount Martha. The money will be used to connect The Briars property and surrounding areas to the Mount Martha treatment plant, allowing access to class A recycled water from the South Eastern Outfall. The project is part of a larger plan to help drought-proof the peninsula. The outfall pipeline carries 350 million litres of water a day from the Eastern Treatment Plant at Bangholme to be discharged into Bass Strait at Boags Rocks, near Gunnamatta. The shire has long advocated for money to tap into the secure water…

TWO of the most insidious, yet often hidden, scourges of modern Australian society are linked. One, gender inequality between men and women, is recognised as a key driver of male violence in the home; the second, male suicide, can result from the pressure exerted on men to follow outdated stereotypes of masculinity leading to anxiety, depression and risky drinking. The two issues are central to Mornington Peninsula Shire’s long-standing commitment to addressing the gender drivers of violence against women and their children through its Gender Equality Strategy 2020-30. The strategy also supports efforts to promote women’s independence and decision-making, questions…

SATELLITE tagging research is keeping tabs on some of the hundreds of thousands of spider crabs off Mornington Peninsula beaches after their early winter moulting event. Victorian Fisheries Authority officers, with help from others including Spider Crabs Melbourne founder PT Hirschfield, attached electronic tags to 15 crustaceans hauled aboard a research vessel last week. The crabs were in 13 metres of water and beginning their annual migration into deeper waters after shedding their shells off Blairgowrie. VFA director Dallas D’Silva said data transmitted from the tags would provide insight into the crabs’ movement characteristics: where they come from; where they…

CYCLING within five kilometres of home for an hour a day is allowed under tougher COVID-19 restrictions, but the reality is that there are few safe biking options for residents of Mount Eliza, Mornington and Mount Martha. Mornington Community Safelink Group’s Graeme Rocke said none of the existing trails were connected, meaning access to trails from people’s homes “may present road safety risks”. His call for safer riding areas was amplified by the death of a 41-year-old woman cycling along Frankston-Flinders Road, Shoreham, Monday 3 August, and injury to a cyclist knocked down by a car on the corner of…

MORNINGTON Community Information and Support Centre has a supply of free reusable and single-use masks for those struggling amid the tougher COVID-19 restrictions. This has come about after Mount Martha Rotary’s Roger Skipsey and Mount Martha Boomerang Bags’ Robyn Ruhl came together and arranged to provide the centre with 100 reusable masks. “Mount Martha House co-ordinator Jenny Mihan had called asking for help,” Mr Skipsey recalled. “She said Mornington Peninsula Shire was trying to source 500 reusable coronavirus masks to be distributed to the under privileged.” Keen to help, Mr Skipsey called Robyn Ruhl, of Boomerang Bags Mount Martha, whose…

CAITLIN Parker is still chuckling at the memory of her first fight. The Safety Beach boxer, who’s been chosen to represent Australia at the now-2021 Tokyo Olympics, was aged 13 with two years’ ring experience when she fronted up to a 25-year-old opponent in a bout in Western Australia. “I was always big for my age, but it must have been a shock for her to see how young I was,” she says, laughing. “I think I stopped growing at 13.” Although there was no “winner” in that exhibition bout, Parker felt right at home and took to the sport…

MORE than 1700 people have signed an electronic petition supporting the building of a community cycling and walking path from Moorooduc station to Mornington. The proposed path is one of the 11 so-called “missing links” in the Bay Trail given priority status by Mornington Peninsula Shire as part of the overall objective of completing the trail. The Mornington Community Safelink Link Group’s Graeme Rocke said he had been working with peninsula state and federal MPs in a bid for government money for the path to “kick start the economy in a post-COVID-19 environment”. The group is aligning itself with Mornington…

THE Flinders Cove Motor Inn at Flinders may be demolished to make way for a residential hotel, conference centre and restaurant. Retirement village pioneer Zig Inge is behind the planned $14.5 million two-storey proposal on residential land in Cook Street opposite his 1889 Flinders hotel. The project, if given the go ahead, could compete with existing conference venues attached to golf course and residential developments at Fingal (Peppers Moonah Links), Red Hill (Lancemore Lindenderry) and Cape Schanck (RACV). The neighbouring Wood Street corner is another of Mr Inge’s landholdings bought in 2015, when it was slated to become a service…

PENINSULA Community Legal Centre has been working to address urgent housing and homelessness challenges during the COVID-19 lockdown. CEO Jackie Galloway said Homelessness Week (2-8 August) highlighted that “everyone needs safe accommodation, including those sleeping rough, living in overcrowded conditions, such as rooming houses, or otherwise needing to self-isolate but without means to do so”. A specialist tenancy team from the centre, which has branches at Rosebud, Frankston and Cranbourne, has been helping people maintain their tenancies during the pandemic so they do not end up on the street. “We’ve been fielding a large number of inquiries from tenants about…

MORNINGTON Peninsula Shire Council has welcomed the six-month extension given to the operation of the Mornington Centrelink office, but wants the arrangement to be permanent. The mayor Cr Sam Hearn said news the Centrelink/Medicare service centre in Main Street would remain open until March next year would “come as a relief to the many local residents who use the service”. “This is a crucial support for our community and to close it in the middle of a pandemic would have been disastrous,” Cr Hearn said. “Having that extra six months will ease concerns about the inadequacy of the new agency…

THE car park and road leading to Canadian Bay beach – described as the most popular in Mount Eliza – are a disgrace, according to the Mt Eliza Association for Environmental Care. Member Judy Smart said the “whole area is very run down, with car parking dominating the landscape, and the road barely driveable. The picnic area is sub-standard”. “We have been trying to get the shire to upgrade the car park and picnic ground because the whole area is very run down and ugly, and the road in has massive pot holes,” Ms Smart said. “It’s the only beach…