Waste charge to blame for shire’s ‘challenging budget’
Mornington Peninsula Shire Council has a “challenging budget” because of a rates cap of 3.5 per cent (“State blamed for shire’s ‘challenging budget’” The News 6/6/23). No mention of the supplementary waste services charge, a flat rate surcharge that is illegal if it is called anything else and has nothing to do with waste, which was always accommodated in the general rate. The charge, originally $50 and called a “municipal charge”, is this year $446, up another 21 per cent.
The purpose of a rates cap is to reign in and control councils’ expansion and spending, keep costs down, limit frivolous projects, perhaps even drain the perks trough.
At last, council has decided to tax tourists with parking fees (“Permanent paid parking to depend on trial results” The News 13/6/23). Tourists, eight million a year, are a terrible blight on us residents, taking over our beaches, parks, amenities and parking spaces, without any benefit or compensation to us; we pay for the clean-up.
Now, hopefully, I can have a swim.
I noticed an intelligent new service for the tip: residents will now be able to drop off for free individual items like a car tyre or a mattress. This used to incur a $10 to $28 fee and was the main cause of roadside dumping. Now, why dump it on the road when you can dump it at the tip? Sheer genius.
That’s what we pay rates for, anyway.
I recently noticed another thing at the tip: you must pay by card only; they will not accept cash and you have no alternative. Apart from everything else, there is a principle here. An arm of government in Australia refusing to accept the legal tender of Australia?
Brian A Mitchelson, Mornington
Council wakes up
Mornington Peninsula Shire Council has woken up from the Dark Ages with a revelation – charge tourists to park their cars to help pay towards the maintenance of toilet facilities and keep the parking areas clean (“Permanent paid parking to depend on trial results” The News 13/6/23).
How long will residents have to wait for the council’s next revelation?
Josephine Brand, Sorrento
Voice of equality
Federal government advertising tells us that [by] adding words to our constitution the Voice may improve the lives of our Aboriginal population and believes equality is one key factor.
The government budget is $260 million to market and sell the Yes case. However, its contribution to the No case is $10 million for pamphlets, $250 million short of equal opportunities.
Our prime minister and his supporters want to change our constitution to give Aboriginal people a better life. I speculate that the real reasons behind his action plan are because, to date, we have only heard small parts of what he intends the Voice to say and achieve.
Our state and federal parliaments have 26 elected Aboriginal politicians, including 11 sitting members in federal seats. This amount of representation must be contributing a reasonable voice already for the Aboriginal population of 872,000 people.
Further assistance includes $4 to $5 billion each year with 50 per cent going to the National Indigenous Australia Agency (NIAA) one of 200 agencies assisting Aboriginal communities. The NIAA has 1300 employees to support its people with many worthwhile projects to improve Aboriginal lives and wellbeing, particularly in remote areas.
Reading and listening to Jacinta Price, Warren Mundine and their contemporaries you hear there is sufficient support for our Aboriginal population without changing our constitution. These people are stating we have many people in government and public services working towards improving Aboriginal lives beginning with education of the young, health, housing and domestic violence. The $260million would be well spent on additional training of the NIAA field staff and other Aboriginal agencies.
Bruce White, Safety Beach
Minority won’t rule
Voice, treaty, truth: compared to other settler nations, Australia is the exception, not the rule.
Aboriginals and Torres Strait Islanders are one of the more than 100 – 27.6% of the Australian population – cultural minorities in Australia. What separates Aboriginals and Torres Strait Islanders, 2.8 per cent of the Australian population, cultural minority from the rest?
No other cultural minority in Australia gets all the “help” in legislating their daily lives and futures as does the Aboriginals and Torres Strait Islanders cultural minority.
That in itself should be reason enough for them to have a legitimate Voice that any right wing racist government cannot liquidate.
When the details of the Voice are determined by parliament, one thing that is necessary is to make sure funding is secure so that any right wing racist government cannot starve it to death by cutting funding like the Abbott government’s $42 million funding cut over four years to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Legal Services (ATSILS).
Pentecostal, evangelical religious cults, corporate mafia and special interest groups all have unfettered access to ministers, MPs and [government] executive through high paid lobbyists to suggest, intimidate, threaten, bribe and blackmail them on matters that affect them. So why should the only marginalised cultural minority who have laws passed that affect them not have the same voice?
Frankly, some of the stuff in letters published about the Voice are right out of the pages of Qanon. These people need to do a fact check here and there.
For starters, the Voice will not allow Aboriginals and Torres Strait Islanders to lay claim to your property; Australians will not be forced to pay rates, land tax and royalties to the Voice; and, the Voice will have no veto power.
Joe Lenzo, Safety Beach
‘Respect’ questioned
Flinders MP Zoe McKenzie calls for respect, yet at the same time she herself rejects out of hand the views of the First Nations people she claims to have consulted on the Voice (“Voice debate should ‘remain civil, open and … respectful’” Letters 13/6/23). Among those who opened their doors and heart to Ms McKenzie were revered local elders Peter Aldenhoven, a descendant of the nationally celebrated poet and leader, Oodgeroo Noonuccal and Helen Bnads, a highly respected community worker and Aboriginal honour roll Inductee.
Ms McKenzie has likewise acknowledged in parliament that her opposition to an Indigenous Voice runs counter to the view of “some of the finest constitutional minds” in the country.
Hardly respectful.
Maureen Donelly, Mornington
Voice rights wrongs
After my letter last week [Flinders MP] Zoe McKenzie posted it on her Facebook page and reminded people I had been the campaign manager for [Labor candidate] Surbhi Snowball and was a member of the Progressives of the Peninsula, suggesting I was politically motivated (“Walk supported Voice” Letters 13/6/23).
I have been blocked from her Facebook page, although I have never made offensive or personal remarks in comments on it, so I could not respond.
I am a longstanding member of [the] Labor [Party] because I believe in the values of justice and fairness. I support the values of the Progressives of the Peninsula of action on climate change, gender equity and social justice.
I have written to Kate Carnell, congratulating her on establishing Liberals for Yes. I applaud John Pesutto and the state Liberals for supporting a free vote for their parliamentarians on the referendum. I would have been extremely happy to applaud Zoe if she had supported a Yes vote.
To me, this is not a party political issue, it is a response to the invitation of the Uluru Statement for us to walk together for a better future for all Australians. It is a moment that we can unite and recognise the history of our beautiful country truthfully. It is a chance to right the wrong that occurred over 120 years ago when the people who had lived her for tens of thousands of years were not recognised in the Constitution and were expressly barred from voting when the legislation that sat behind the Constitution was enacted.
Marg D’Arcy, Rye
Mystery interpretation
In my letter published last week I argued that due to the high rate of intermarriage Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal Australians are no longer discrete populations and that, consequently, the euphemistically named Voice will split families (“Voice splits families” Letters 6/6/23). Married couples are being told that one of them needs special access to governments, but the other doesn’t. Grandparents are being told that some of their grandchildren need special access to governments, but that they and the others don’t.
I am quite familiar with the arguments of the intellectual contortionists who claim that dividing us all on the basis of race will unite us, but I am at a loss to understand how my arguments are interpreted to mean that people “should be wary lest their homes be compulsorily acquired” (“Families were split” Letters 13/6/23).
Albert Riley, Mornington
Use old mines
The brown coal discovered at Schnapper Point, Mornington in 1899 never became a mine because of community opposition. Today, however, there are 80,000 disused and abandoned mines in Australia, and they have enormous potential for nearby communities. These range from rehabilitated pits converted to recreational lakes to sources of critical minerals and renewable energy.
The Genex pumped-hydro project in northern Queensland for example will generate up to 900 jobs and store its water in two pits of the old Kidston gold mine. It has a storage/generation capacity of 250MW for eight hours (2000MWh) and will ramp up in less than 30 seconds.
A second example of long-term storage is Broken Hill’s underground compressed air energy storage (CAES) system being built for Transgrid by Canadian company Hydrostor. The air is stored in purpose-built caverns and, when needed, is released to spin a turbine. When completed, it will be the world’s biggest CAES facility and provide at least eight hours of storage.
Another exciting use of old mine sites is the recovery of critical and rare metals from tailings dumps. Critical metals are vital for clean energy and advanced technologies like smartphones, computers, solar panels, batteries and electric vehicles.
Reusing and rehabilitating old mine sites could well be the next “mining boom” in regional Australia.
Ray Peck, Hawthorn
Unfinished business
There is another road sign in the Carrum Down area informing residents that Cadles Road will be impacted by further roadworks from 19 June to 14 July between 7am and 5pm. No one seems to know what roadworks will be performed.
At present, we have at least five unfinished major roadwork sites affecting the residents in Carrum Downs and causing delays and frustrating motorists.
Why can’t these contractors finish one project before they commence any new work, or is that too simple a plan?
One project has been going for more than three years with no sign of completion.
Phil McDonald, Carrum Downs
Mental health champions
The wellbeing and mental health of Australians have been significantly impacted by the mounting pressures they have faced in recent years. It is crucial that we acknowledge and address the hardships our communities are enduring.
Amid these challenges, there is a dedicated army of individuals working tirelessly to improve mental wellbeing.
The Australian Mental Health Prize, established by UNSW Sydney, aims to honour those making ground-breaking contributions in advocacy, research, and community service.
Nominations are now open, and we strongly encourage individuals from every corner of Australia to join us in paying tribute to the mental health heroes in their communities. Whether it be a researcher shedding light on innovative treatments, an advocate fighting for policy change, or a community service provider making a tangible impact, their efforts deserve recognition.
To nominate someone for the Australian Mental Health Prize, please visit australianmentalhealthprize.org.au. Submissions close 17 July.
Let us unite as a nation to honour those making a profound difference in the lives of others. Together, we can foster a society.
Lucy Brogden AM and Allan Fels, co-chairs of the Australian Mental Health Prize Advisory Group
Tides of time
Having been born and bred in Hastings, we were well accustomed to the occasional king tide (“Coastal strategy still ‘two years away’” The News 14/6/23). In my early years, our family lived on Marine Parade a few doors up from the present historical society building and I can remember the tide being at our front door and, once, forcing us to leave home.
I can recall the old swimming pool, when the only thing above the water was the high diving board and the amenities. Each time this happened the pier would be under water and the fisherman had to keep adjusting mooring lines. One year the tide even got up to the Western Port Hotel.
So, you see in Hastings, we were quite used to such abnormalities and global warming was not an issue then. Spring tides are always the highest tides of the year and if we get excessive rain, well that just makes a bad situation worse.
Max Bryant, Hastings
