Nature seen as a mere asset to be plundered
The spectre of the Harry Potter experience being held in the sanctuary at The Briars, Mount Martha for several months has many questioning the genuine commitment of Mornington Peninsula Shire Council to its documented standards of transparency in governance, due diligence in decision making, and its actual care for our precious and delicate ecological systems.
Highly credentialed and professional people with very deep ties to the community have consequently rallied together to protect the community’s sanctuary at The Briars, bringing to the cause their considerable resources – personal and professional networks, expertise, fervour and a sense of disbelief and indignation.
This matter has highlighted a divide in values. Decades of school children, volunteers and staff have worked to nurture this conservation area. This ecological system is home to a diversity of species, which until now have been safe at home in their environs. The community believed it to be sacred.
A sanctuary is a place where those inside are protected from harm. A sanctuary is a place where no risk is knowingly or carelessly imposed. A sanctuary is a place where no action is taken that may deliver unintended adverse consequences.
Our wildlife sanctuary has been violated by this contract between the council and unknown parties; for transparency died with non-disclosure agreements and employee silencing, and nature has been viewed as a mere asset to be plundered.
This is a case study in modern day foreign extractivism and corporate externalities, of a mismatch between the interests of commercial entities and the interests of the shire’s stakeholders.
Violated, too, is the community’s belief that decision makers understand and value priorities we hold dear: community, history, transparency, dialogue, a belonging to place and the sanctity of these values.
Lea Care, Mount Martha
Sanctuary under threat
I write as a resident of 20 years previously living at Mount Martha and Mornington and as a dedicated (Essential Services) Wildlife Victoria volunteer, as I am deeply troubled by the potential impact of the proposed Harry Potter Warner Brothers Discovery and Fever event at The Briars wildlife sanctuary from April to July. Despite my commitment, as a Wildlife Victoria volunteer, I lack jurisdiction to directly assist the Australian marsupials and birdlife affected.
The Briars sanctuary, cherished for its unique biodiversity and vital role in wildlife conservation, is now under threat. The prospect of loud noises and flashing lights poses serious risks to the sanctuary’s delicate ecosystem.
As someone who has witnessed firsthand the resilience and vulnerability of our native wildlife, I am compelled to raise awareness about the potential impending dangers.
My concern extends beyond the environmental implications. The Briars sanctuary has been a refuge for wildlife, a place where Australian marsupials, including kangaroos and wallabies, thrive undisturbed. It is alarming to note that these mammals, when scared, tend to run, and jump fencing, risking getting their paws entangled. This poses an added layer of danger that could have severe consequences.
While I acknowledge the desire for community events, it is imperative to choose venues that do not compromise the welfare of our precious birdlife and wildlife. The relocation of the Harry Potter event to a more suitable venue is paramount to ensure the continued protection of The Briars wildlife sanctuary; where my child attended with other students learning of the unique wildlife and birdlife as this continues still with local schools.
Rosemary Race, Moe
Protect wildlife
When every effort should be made to protect our precious wildlife and the remnants of bushland they call home, when nature should be celebrated for its intrinsic value and not used as a theme park for human entertainment, our councillors deem it appropriate to hold this event in the area their own website describes as “a sensitive natural environment”.
Did the environment become less sensitive when the waft of money drifted across the council chambers? And what is this lack of transparency and the signing of non-disclosure agreements? Is this Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets or Harry Potter and the Chamber of Commerce? How appalling.
Poor form Mornington Peninsula Shire Council, very poor form. Contract or not, this event must not go ahead.
Karen Wootton, Blairgowrie
Credibility lost
Mornington Peninsula Shire Council is out of its depth, financially aligning itself with the Harry Potter show in a top secret deal. This decision is at odds with council’s own policy of transparency. Council spent a decade setting up the wildlife sanctuary at The Briars with help from now-disillusioned volunteers. Until now, small quiet groups equipped with red cellophane covering their torches, led by experienced rangers could walk after dark through bush paths to view the wildlife, some endangered.
Council anticipates 3000 people for more than two months will nightly traipse through enlarged paths to experience Potter antics such as cars in trees, light shows, and huge scary plastic creatures all fired by generators. Equipment to be housed in 17 sheds will be dotted around the sanctuary.
Potter character Nearly Headless Nick says it all: “Once again (council) you show all the sensitivity of a blunt axe.”
The amount of money council has spent on this event is secret. This is the culture of the council. No planning permits were required.
I can’t imagine anyone in council who is streetwise enough to negotiate with Warner Brothers or Fever. Are we allowed to know who did?
The change.org petition to relocate the event currently exceeds 18,000 signatures.
I love Harry Potter, but a home invasion of this important wildlife sanctuary when so many other options exist on the property makes no sense. Harry Potter fan clubs are getting the word out. Kids love wildlife and will not buy tickets if they know animals will be hurt.
We can’t let The Briars be forever remembered as the place where greed won over the pain inflicted on wildlife, stuck, frightened and fearful in a fenced sanctuary.
The only way for council to regain any credibility is to relocate the event.
Ann Scally, Mount Martha
Australia Day lost
Last year I was advised by Mornington Peninsula Shire Council that it would not communicate with me again and I should take any grievances to the Ombudsman. I had asked when it would take down the Pride flag, which was never answered.
As we approach Australia Day I asked the council about celebrations organised in Mornington Park and when the flag raising was scheduled. I suspect most ratepayers will be astounded to hear that council no longer organises any events such as the Australia Day celebrations we enjoyed in the past. Who can forget the Australia Day picnics in the park, the proud flag raising ceremony accompanied by a band, supported by all types of people who are the fabric of a proud Australian community?
Our council has outsourced these events to us, the ratepayers. That means, if you want to organise a celebration for Australia Day for a group of people, with food vans, games and a band you must obtain a council permit and pay an exorbitant fee for something that was previously part of the council’s role.
Not only has council failed in its service to the community but it has restricted access to public parks and demands a fee for doing so. When were ratepayers consulted or informed of this change in procedure?
So now we have a seriously ridiculous situation where a Pride flag is flown indefinitely, and the council will not raise an Australian flag in our public park to acknowledge Australia Day.
It appears gouging more money out of the community is the only purpose of our council, with no accountability or intention of supporting the community.
Or perhaps it’s more important to follow the state government’s woke agenda and unelected World Economic Forum.
Ellen Bigelow, Blairgowrie
Editor: Mornington Peninsula Shire has paid for Australia Day events at Dromana, Mount Eliza, and Rosebud.
- Dromana Pier, 8.30am to 1.30pm with a flag raising ceremony at 11am.
- Mount Eliza Village Green, 9am to 12.30pm “fun filled family day”, 10am flag raising.
- Rosebud: The annual Australia Day fun run and festival will start at Rosebud Village Green, 9am to 3pm, with an invitation only citizenship ceremony being held at Rosebud Memorial Hall at 2.30pm.
Details: mornpen.vic.gov.au/ausday
Celebrate survival
Australians remember Captain Cook, the Endeavour, and the flag planting. But are we guilty of selective memory? Do we fail to remember the impact of white settlement on the original occupants of the land, including here on the Mornington Peninsula?
Huge tracts of land were taken from the 1830s onwards, without any compensation to the Bunurong/Boon Wurrung people living here.
The sheep and cattle of the settlers ate the roots and grasses that had fed the kangaroos and emus, thus destroying much of the Aboriginal people’s means of subsistence.
Access to staple diet plants and water was fenced off.
Bunurong/Boon Wurrung women were cruelly abducted from their people at Point Nepean and dragged to the Furneaux Islands where they were used by sealers for their own ends.
Men, women, children, the old, and the infirm were herded off the land.
Starvation combined with white diseases to decimate the population: by 1857 the numbers of Boon Wurrung and Woi Wurrung had fallen from an estimated 350 people to 28, with only 11 Boon Wurrung remaining, according to the Aboriginal protectorate official at the time, William Thomas.
Yet it is a testament to First Nations people’s spirit and resilience that they have continued to survive and contribute to the fabric of the nation. That’s certainly something worth honouring on 26 January.
Maureen Donelly, Mornington
Environment first
The announcement by the federal government that the wind turbine industry at Hastings has been defeated for environmental reasons is long overdue.
Destruction of wildlife habitat from dredging has been blindingly obvious since the 1960s when the Port of Hastings began. Sixty years later our government has seen the light: no more shipping port industry in Western Port.
In memory of many outstanding people since the 1960s who foresaw environmental destruction from industry (my father Brian Cuming’s ashes are swirling around the bay) this is final vindication of their vision, intelligence, advocacy and compassion for the future.
Today many of us feel an overwhelming sense of relief and joy that the truth about Western Port has been revealed to the world. It is now time for our governments to embrace this new reality and see the bay as an environmental asset with economic tourism and social recreation potential, as well as acknowledging its global significance.
Richard Cuming, Bittern
‘Dirty’ hydrogen
Federal Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek rejected the wind farm terminal in the Port of Hastings due to unacceptable environmental impacts. Yet the Victorian Government is powering ahead with the hydrogen energy supply chain (HESC), a massive new fossil fuel project that will have a devastating impact on Western Port, including areas protected by the Ramsar convention.
This project is flying under the radar, yet the federal and Victorian governments – together with Japanese partners – invested $496 million for a pilot study.
There is now pressure on the Victorian government to approve full scale production.
If this project proceeds, it will create around three million tonnes of new CO2 equivalent emissions a year.
The project is pinning its hopes on carbon capture and storage technology to miraculously turn dirty brown hydrogen into a “clean energy source”.
How on earth can Victoria meet its emissions targets reductions of 75-80 per cent by 2035 and net zero by 2045 if this project is allowed to proceed?
Sarah Russell, Mount Martha
Limit climate damage
To anyone who has been paying attention, the threat of rising sea levels to coastal areas is a very real issue (Sea level threat to coastal living, The News 16/1/24). Evidence of polar ice caps melting is being reinforced at depressingly regular intervals. Furthermore, the consequences of a warming ocean are manifold. Aside from the damage to marine environments other physical consequences will exacerbate the effects of warming.
The oceans, as they warm, will expand and that will cause sea level rises regardless of any polar melts. Secondly as the oceans warm they will start releasing the vast quantities of dissolved carbon dioxide stored in them, further compounding the carbon dioxide levels already damaging the atmosphere.
Perhaps it is already too late to stop the oceans rising, but a sensible climate policy may at least limit the damage.
Ross Hudson, Mount Martha
Legal costs
Mornington Peninsula Shire’s legal fees of $3,37 million over two years make it a contender for one of the top spots among Victorian municipalities. The shire must have lots of legal problems to spend this much.
It would be a good place to start cutting some costs to offset rate capping.
This is a reply I received from one councillor: “You take up a disproportionate amount of my inbox, so perhaps before sending these emails, you could do some basic research. Absolute ($ [dollar] amounts) legal spending figures tell us very little. These should be looked at in the context of # [the number of] planning applications, population, and total budget. What is the point of having us compared with the Borough of Queenscliffe purely based on a $ [dollar] amount – it’s a lazy, unsophisticated, and useless comparison.”
I then asked the councillors to provide me with the facts, and I’m still waiting. Try finding the information on the council website. Of course, there is always FOI which you will be charged a fair amount to get the information unless it is “confidential”.
I am guessing that the councillors do not know either, which is a shame. Soon the council will be going to the Essential Services Commission for a 25 rate rate variance.
My guess is that 45 per cent of the legal costs are to get sycophantic legalese from sycophantic legals to ensure that the councillors are directed by officers.
I have been checking the much heralded Frankston transparency hub but cannot find the information for Frankston either. Just some great propaganda stories like the council wants to publish and where to find a toilet or barbecue.
It’s basically a redesigned council website repurposed to give the illusion of transparency.
Joe Lenzo, Safety Beach
Corporate speak
What’s in a name? This question, partly articulated by Shakespeare, still holds true today, especially for some of the world’s largest corporations.
For example, we have the Las Vegas casino titan, the iron ore heavyweight BHP, the assumed corporate titan Richard Goyder, the retailing behemoth Wesfarmers, the gas giant Woodside, the consultation giant KPMG, the global media giant Netflix, the Deloitte consulting giant (another one with PWC), the banking giant CBA, the DIY giant Bunnings, the banking oligopoly ANZ vs Suncorp, the global juggernaut Andrew Forrest, who built his empire from nothing, the Commonwealth-owned behemoth Australia Post, the Victoria monolith State Library, and the giant La Trobe reading room – the palace of knowledge. Let’s not forget Target, which plays second fiddle to its superstar, Kmart. We pause and wait for the next line of defence, expecting exaggerated and hyperbolic statements.
Anne Kruger, Rye
Letters – 300 words maximum and including full name, address and contact number – can be sent to The News, PO Box 588, Hastings 3915 or emailed to: team@mpnews.com.au
First published in the Mornington News – 23 January 2024
