A SMALL group of Dorevitch Pathology workers walked off the job outside Rosebud Hospital on Thursday, 30 April, joining colleagues at sites across Victoria in protected industrial action over a long-running pay dispute. Known as phlebotomists, they are the healthcare workers trained to draw blood from patients for pathology testing – the samples GPs, hospitals, oncology units and specialists rely on for diagnosis and treatment. Capel Sound phlebotomist Antoinette Anderson said the three-hour stoppage from 9am to 12pm drew supportive honks from passing motorists, with doctors, nurses, ambulance officers and police all acknowledging the workers as they passed. Some doctors…
Browsing: Mornington Peninsula
AUSTRALIAN environmentalist Bob Brown has joined community opposition to the proposed luge at Arthurs Seat, backing a campaign to stop the development. Brown met with members of the community group “Save Our Seat” over the weekend of 25 April, where he described the project as “madness” and urged residents to keep fighting. “They trade on us getting sad about the loss of the environment,” Brown said. “Don’t get depressed, don’t get angry, get active. That’s what saves nature, that’s what will save Arthurs Seat.” Members of the community have been advocating against the development since it was announced. Save Our…
PORTSEA Surf Life Saving Club delivered a strong performance at the 2026 Australian Surf Life Saving Championships, taking home two gold medals and a bronze. Alice Miliani won gold in 35-39 Female 2km Run, while Bev Thomas took the top spot in the 50-54 Female 2km Run. Sally Gentle added to the count after taking home the bronze in the 45-49 Female 2km Run. The competition was held at North Kirra and Tugun beaches on the Gold Coast from 10-18 April. Club president Matthew Mahon said the event once again proved why it is such a highlight every year. “Aussies…
Polls have now closed. We’ll provide rolling results during the evening until the winner of the by-election is know. 9.48PM Anthony Marsh will be the next Member for Nepean after the Liberal Party claimed victory in today’s by-election. Speaking to media, Marsh said “It was the honour of my life to be standing here as the next member for Nepean,” and that he’d be “On the ground every day fighting for Nepean.” Picture: Yanni 9.21PM The mood is upbeat among the Liberal faithful gathered at Rye Hotel. Marsh, centre, with Victorian Liberal leader Jess Wilson to his right. Picture: Yanni…
By Sarah Halfpenny Photos Yanni & Supplied There’s a handmade sterling silver charm in the shape of a cocktail on display at & Independents gallery in Sorrento that will tell you everything you need to know about its maker, 24-year-old Matisse Stynes. It’s whimsical, precisely crafted, beautiful, thought-provoking, and guaranteed to make you smile. The Sorrento-based jeweller and illustrator launched her brand Éire Jewellery in 2023, and the cocktail charm was her first piece. “I launched with 40 cocktail charms, and people are still purchasing them. They’re a bit of a favourite,” Matisse says. The business name Éire, Gaelic for…
Water Police are continuing to search southern Port Phillip Bay after a crew member was reported missing from a ship last night. The commercial Liberia flagged oil tanker vessel left Port Melbourne around 5pm on Thursday, 30 April. The crew requested assistance when they discovered a member was missing as they were approaching the heads. Police were notified about 8.30pm last night. State Police Search & Rescue Coordination Centre were deployed and conducted a search of the South Port Phillip Bay area. The missing crewman aged in his 30s was not located. The vessel returned to Port Melbourne. A full-scale…
SHOWCASING its sustainability credentials, St Macartan’s Parish Primary School has been named a finalist in the School Volunteer of the Year category of the 2026 c. David Whillas, a resident of a local retirement village, has contributed more than 120 volunteer hours to Macartan Primary School’s garden since 2025. David has streamlined the school’s compost system, improving collection processes, reducing food waste and minimising contamination. As a result, the gardens are now the healthiest they have ever been. The school has eliminated the need for store-bought fertilisers, producing high quality compost onsite for use across the gardens. David is now…
MORNINGTON Peninsula Shire’s latest draft budget has revealed a four-year plan of road works and safety upgrades with millions allocated to projects ranging from rehabilitation and renewal, to targeted safety improvements. The proposed draft budget for 2027-2030 outlines sustained investment across road infrastructure, continuing momentum built after community advocacy recently helped secure more than $6m in road safety funding (Community input for road safety funding, The News 13/03/26). The largest share of funding is set to be allocated to the Road Corridor Contract Works program, which will receive $5.9m in 2027, and rising to more than $6.3m in 2030. This…
GUNNAMATTA Surf Life Saving Club is celebrating six decades of volunteer lifesaving service this year. The club, established in December 1966, now operates with around 95 active patrolling members, 100 nippers aged under seven to under 14, and approximately 490 total members, including social members and parents. Club secretary Barry Williams told The News the organisation has five patrolling teams that rotate through the summer season. “The average patroller does 60 to 70 hours over summer volunteering,” Williams said. “Some of our patrols will run through to over 150 hours on the beach a year.” Since its foundation, the club…
EARLY voting is open for the Nepean by-election, with voters asked to have their say on who will represent them in the Victorian Parliament. The early voting centres are located at: Early voting centres will open 9am to 8pm until Thursday and 9am to 6pm on election eve, Friday 1 May. The VEC will operate 13 voting centres throughout Nepean District from 8 am to 6 pm on election day Saturday 2 May. First published in the Mornington News – 28 April 2026
Darren Hercus, One Nation The rising cost of living affects everyone. I support expanding public transport with improved bus services. Our policies help businesses grow, creating jobs and reducing work travel. Our energy plan includes ending government subsidies for large-scale renewable projects and reserving Victorian gas to lower energy costs. The most efficient approach to the redevelopment of Rosebud Hospital is via a “Public Private Partnership”. This involves collaboration between a private consortium and the state government, with funding privately provided, resulting in an estimated $340m in taxpayer savings. The Rosebud facility would feature a public hospital, private consulting suites,…
MOTORISTS across the Mornington Peninsula are enduring extreme delays as a combination of concurrent roadworks and road closures affect the area’s main arterial routes. A southbound lane closure on Nepean Highway outside the Bata site in Mornington, where private developer Neue Space is overseeing the construction of a new slip lane and bus stop to service its development, has become the flashpoint for widespread frustration at the state of the local road network. The closure is scheduled to remain in place until 22 June 2026. Compounding the disruption are ongoing works associated with Peninsula Link, which has diverted traffic onto…
A 41-year-old man from Tyabb is facing serious traffic offences after being intercepted by State Highway Patrol officers on ANZAC Day. Police allege the man was detected driving at 120 km/h in an 80 km/h zone on Coolart Road in Somerville at approximately 6:45 pm, during Operation Tribute – a road safety initiative targeting high-risk driver behaviour over the commemorative period. Upon being stopped, the driver underwent a preliminary breath test, which allegedly returned a blood alcohol reading of 0.131. His vehicle was subsequently impounded, and his driver’s licence was immediately suspended for 12 months. The man is expected to…
A DEPARTMENT of Transport and Planning spokesperson has refused to confirm media reports that the Liberal candidate for the Nepean by-election, Anthony Marsh, is being investigated for “unauthorised roadworks”. The issue centres around a campaign stunt last month involving the filling of a pothole on a state-managed road in Dromana. In a social media video, Marsh was joined by Opposition Leader Jess Wilson. The footage shows the pair filling a pothole, using the act to criticise the state government’s handling of road maintenance. “It’s roads like this that the Labor government can’t afford to fix,” Wilson said in the video,…
CLIFF and Mary (May) Rayner celebrated their 70th wedding anniversary on 14 April. May was born in Fife, Scotland, in 1935 and came to Australia at the age of 12, living in Burnley. Cliff was born in Footscray in 1933. Both their families ended up moving to Dandenong and lived not far from each other. They met as teenagers, and would attend dances at the Dandenong Town Hall. It was through this association they became romantically involved. Cliff was 20, and May was 18, when they first met, and Cliff was doing National Service as a member of the Scottish…
MEMBERS of the Hastings Western Port Historical Society are celebrating the news that the Old Pioneer’s Cottage, located on the corner of Skinner and Herring Streets, will be saved following the announcement of a shire-funded restoration. There had been concerns the cottage, one of Hastings’ oldest buildings, would be lost to the elements, with the society lobbying the shire for years to save it (Fears pioneer cottage could be lost, The News 15/10/24). The cottage was originally in Victoria Street and believed to have been built by the Sposito family in the early 1900s. The building was donated to the…
THE upgrade of Mornington’s Schnapper Point boat ramp will commence this week. Mornington Peninsula Shire has secured funding through Better Boating Victoria to renew the ageing ramp, which currently operates as a two-lane facility with finger jetties on either side. The project will focus on increasing capacity, improving safety and upgrading infrastructure that has reached the end of its operational life. The work at Schnapper Point, Mornington includes: Acting mayor Cr Paul Pingiaro said the upgrade was essential and welcomed the state government’s support. “Clearly the asset was at the end of its life. The shire, while managing the program,…
Police have charged three Mornington Peninsula residents following erratic driving and a truck fire in Melbourne’s east, an extended follow through Melbourne’s east and south-east this morning. Officers spotted an allegedly stolen truck and a blue Holden Commodore driving erratically in Heathmont just after 2am. Both vehicles are alleged to have sped off before the Air Wing located them on Eastlink near Burwood Highway in Rowville. It is alleged the truck was set on fire underneath the Wellington Road overpass, before the offenders fled in the Commodore. Police units on the ground and Air Wing overhead followed the car down…
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…
WITH less than two weeks until polling day, candidates are now in the final stretch. Early voting opens from Wednesday 22 April until Friday 1 May at Rosebud Sea Scouts Hall, Dromana Hub Shopping Centre, and Blairgowrie Community Hall. Some big names were in town over the weekend with the highly-publicised visit by One Nation’s Pauline Hanson, and both the leader and deputy leader of the Victorian Liberal Party, Jess Wilson and David Southwick campaigning for Anthony Marsh. The Marsh campaign announced a commitment to improve roads across the Mornington Peninsula in an announcement on Sunday (19 April). Leader of…
One Nation Senator Pauline Hanson spent Friday and Saturday (17 and 18 April) campaigning with the party’s candidate for the Nepean by-election, Darren Hercus. Hanson attended a “meet and greet” function at Rosebud Football Club on Friday night before attending a barbeque at Hercus’ business in Dromana on Saturday. Afterward, Hanson held a press conference at Rosebud Hospital that started in chaotic fashion as two people in attendance interjected. As Hanson took to the microphone, a woman in the crowd yelled that the Senator was “a racist” as another attendee yelled that Hanson was planning to get rid of the…
THE heat is rising among candidates in the Nepean by-election with the Liberal Party releasing two flyers: one attacking One Nation and the other Independent for Mornington Peninsula endorsed candidate Tracee Hutchison. The Hutchison flyer asks the question “Jacinta Allan’s secret Nepean candidate?”, pointing out that the independent candidate considered running for pre-selection for Labor in 2019. The flyer also contains a quote from The Age from 2007 where Hutchison said “… our flag has become a participant in something that could easily be mistaken for a white supremacist movement”, a reference to an Instagram post from 2023 where Hutchison…
THE field is set and the electoral rolls are closed as the candidates face the final stretch to the Nepean by-election polling day on 2 May. After two late entries to the field, there are eight candidates contesting the poll. They are: Peter Angelico (Libertarian), Sianan Healy (The Greens), Darren Hercus (One Nation), Tracee Hutchinson (Independents of Mornington Peninsula endorsed candidate), Anthony Marsh (Liberal Party), Reade Smith (Sustainable Australia Party), Renee Thompson (Legalise Cannabis), and Milton Wilde (End Mass Immigration – Reform AU). The VEC has reported that 50,910 people are enrolled to vote at the 2 May poll; an…
MORNINGTON Peninsula residents and businesses now have a new way to recycle soft plastics, with collection bins launched at the Mornington and Rye Resource Recovery Centres as part of a trial. Delivered in partnership with Solo Resource Recovery, the new bins provide a free and practical drop-off option for soft plastics, which can’t be placed in kerbside recycling bins. From bread bags and chip packets to shopping bags, bubble wrap and frozen food bags, these everyday items can now be kept out of landfill and turned into new resources. Once collected, the plastics are processed into plastic oil, gas and…
THE Rosebud Hospital Kiosk, a cherished part of Bayside Health Peninsula and the community, is calling for volunteers to join its dedicated team. Since opening its doors, the kiosk has raised more than $500,000 to fund life saving medical equipment, a milestone made possible by the tireless efforts of its volunteers. “Most of the funds come from selling sandwiches and plenty of coffee,” kiosk president Helen Hasler said. “We also sell lots of knick-knacks like baby clothes, toys, lollies and jewellery. “Rosebud is an exceptional community hospital – I’m so proud that our kiosk has raised funds to help improve…
By Molly Broadfoot* AS homelessness hits a record-high on the Mornington Peninsula, The Block has begun filming its latest season in Mt Eliza. In an $11m deal to purchase the site, the show plans to construct five luxury houses across 1.35 hectares on Old Mornington Rd. While the show may bring excitement and publicity to the area, critics argue it highlights a broader issue: a focus on luxury property while the region’s housing crisis remains unaddressed. The Mornington Peninsula now has the highest number of rough sleepers out of any local government area in Victoria – including Melbourne City. Despite…
OCEAN activist Josie Jones believes ratepayers and the community are being shortchanged by a new hand-cleaning model that fails to clean the entire beach. Jones has spoken to shire-contracted beach cleaners and questioned them about their cleaning from the low water line to the high tide mark, and failure to clean the rest of the beach. Jones was told the water line is all they were contracted to clean. Jones’ concern is that the contracts for the hand cleaning falls short of what is required to keep those beaches clean, providing poor value for ratepayers and increasing the workload for…
MORNINGTON Peninsula streets are shining a little brighter, with 3,648 outdated streetlights now replaced with modern LED technology across the Peninsula. Acting mayor Cr Paul Pingiaro said “the new lights are more energy efficient and require less maintenance, which means significant savings over time that can be reinvested into services and infrastructure for our community.” The project will receive approximately $630,000 from State Government through the Victorian Energy Upgrades program. The upgrade is expected to save the shire around $526,000 every single year. Over 20 years, that adds up to $8.3m back into community funds after project costs. Pingiaro said…
MORNINGTON Peninsula Shire councillors have endorsed a developer stormwater fund as a permanent initiative, aiming to improve stormwater management and fund Water Sensitive Urban Design (WSUD) projects across the region. The decision, made at the council’s 17 March meeting, also saw councillors support a $60,000 grant application to the state government’s Integrated Water Management Grant program for 2025–2028. If successful, the grant would fund detailed design work for priority WSUD projects at Olympic Park Recreation Reserve and Murrowong Reserve in Rosebud, and Dromana Parade Reserve in Safety Beach. According to a council report, urban development increases impervious surfaces, which generate…
Mornington Peninsula drivers are set to face road restriction to lower traffic on roads and reduce the number of potholes. In a first anywhere in Australia, the state government has introduced restrictions limiting peninsula drivers to only driving every second day with an “odds and evens” number plate schedule. Vehicles with number plates ending with an odd number can drive Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays and those ending with an even number can drive Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays. “Look, the roads are getting worse by the day,” said Cliff Snufkin, a spokesperson from the Department of Transport and Planning. “We…