Public golf course is there for all to use
I am writing to correct and give some perspective to a recent front page headline and, in particular, the subsequent comments from Cr David Gill stating that Mornington Peninsula Shire was effectively subsidising $9000 to each member of the Mount Martha Golf Club (MMGC) (Market call to end golf losses, The News 7/5/24 and Questions over golf ‘shire subsidy’ claim, 14/5/24).
Mount Martha Public Golf Course (MMPGC) exists to make the game of golf accessible to all members of the community. Historically, much of the land was donated for this use and for many years members worked voluntarily, with council, to create this wonderful asset. This comes at some cost to the shire, which is exactly the same as all other sporting facilities such as football, netball and swimming centres.
MMGC does not run at a loss. It has been operating efficiently and within budget since its inception (1980). All golf club members pay the same fees for playing golf as any member of the public. MMGC fees contribute significantly to the revenue of the facility.
Cr Gill’s implication that ratepayers are subsidising a privileged group who could easily go and play elsewhere, is incorrect. MMGC is one of many local groups who use the facility. The reality is that most of the 17 courses on the peninsula are not easily accessible to the general public due to eligibility criteria, physical limitations of players or cost.
MMPGC provides a special and unique location for all community members and visitors to the shire. It is accessed by various groups and individuals (not just for golf) who appreciate its beauty and value. MMGC is committed to the continuation and further development of the MMPGC facility. MMGC fully supports the shire and its current approach through the EOI process.
Malcolm Goldsworthy, acting president Mount Martha Golf Club
Public v private
Would someone please explain to Cr David Gill the difference between a public golf course and a private golf Course? He seems confused (Market call to end golf losses, The News 7/5/24).
I would think that a responsible officer from the Mornington Peninsula Shire Council would brief the councillors before a meeting as such was held on 29 April. This ongoing discussion points to a spectacular fail. On figures taken from the @Leisure report of 2020, we know that the members of the Mount Martha Golf Club only take up less than 40 per cent of the utilised slots on the Mount Martha Public Golf Course. The other slots are used by members of the public. This can include clubs such as U3A and random private social groups that exist within the community.
Cr Gill has now made two statements that I believe can only cloud the issue and mislead public opinion. The council is responsible for many fields of play, including football, soccer and netball. Rarely do we see published figures for the costs of maintenance versus revenue of these places. Perhaps we should.
Martin Thraves, Mount Martha
Open for business
The general store in Capel Sound is always open. In your article discussing the plans to establish the Capel Sound shopping precinct as a new “vibrant coastal destination” to serve the southern peninsula I was quoted as saying the general store and gelato shop had closed down. This was a misunderstanding (Voices raised in call to ‘improve’ Capel Sound, The News 14/5/24).
Anthony and Duong have owned the general store for seven years and keep it every day from 7am till 7pm. It’s probably the most opened shop on the Mornington Peninsula. The gelato shop at The Yard is a booming seasonal business. Frank and his family provide a “must visit” place for thousands of families in need of a special treat during “play season” on the Mornington Peninsula. There’s plenty of action in our shopping village.
Terry Wright, Capel Sound Community Group
Refuges ignored
Having worked in a women’s refuge, I experienced first-hand the critical importance of a place of safety and support for women and children fleeing violence. Why has the federal budget, although acknowledging the need to subsidise transition out of shelters, not allocated funding levels which would allow these frontline services to provide adequate support?
Despite all the lip service paid to addressing the wave of gender-based violence across the country, frontline support services are still having to turn traumatised and often very isolated women and children away from the help they desperately need!
Maureen Donelly, Mornington
Rail loop on track
The suburban rail loop has had much media focus, particularly the cost and that the rail line goes to nowhere.
But of course, this is not so, it goes from Box Hill to Cheltenham. The problem is that the media and columnists are old fashioned in their centralised economy of “all trains lines should go to the Melbourne CBD”.
The policy of cutting across Melbourne suburbs is not a new policy, but the [Jacinta] Allan state government is bringing this policy into being. Of course, the cost is large, because it requires tunneling in parts of the project and this is due to poor planning by past governments when they sprawled Melbourne without putting corridors for above rail networks across Melbourne.
Frankston and other councils should start investigations into taking advantage of the suburban rail loop to attract business and therefore employment in their municipalities. With the invention of “work from home” work, Frankton can take advantage to lure consumers to Frankston from the loop suburbs.
Melbourne roads are full of traffic jams and a decentralised rail network would give workers the opportunity to not have to drive or take public transport to the Melbourne CBD and save travelling time and give more economic opportunities to outer suburbs economies.
Thumbs up for the decentralised suburban rail loop.
Russell Morse, Karingal
Thanks for support
International Clinical Trials Day is on 20 May each year and I would like to say thanks to the staff at Peninsula South Eastern Haematology & Oncology Group (PSEHOG), for their ongoing commitment to improving treatments and outcomes for people diagnosed with breast cancer, through their participation in the breast cancer trials research program.
More than 20,000 women will be diagnosed with breast cancer across Australia this year alone. That is 54 women a day. But while we still have a long way to go before we have a cure for every person, more women are surviving this disease than ever before.
Over the past three decades survival rates for breast cancer have increased by more than 30 per cent and clinical trials research has made a significant contribution to this. My team and I at Breast Cancer Trials would like to extend our deepest thanks. We would not have been able to achieve what we have without you, and we look forward to what will be achieved together in the years to come.
Soozy J Smith, Breast Cancer Trials
Gruesome slaughter
For well over 20 years the government has been promising to stamp out the horrendous cruelty and abuses fundamental to the live export of Australian sheep and cattle. They have utterly failed.
A shocking new PETA expose shows that workers in Indonesia are still butchering live, conscious animals from Australia, even though the Australian government repeatedly promised to stop the gruesome practice. A PETA Asia investigator recorded video of two cows with Australian ear tags writhing after workers slashed their throats. Both animals were still kicking, and one was gurgling as they were dragged by their legs across filthy floors and hoisted.
One of the cows continued to struggle until a worker cut deeper into her throat.
A similar PETA expose of seven randomly selected slaughterhouses in 2021 found the same, even though some were registered with the Australian government’s Exporter Supply Chain Assurance System (ESCAS). While exporters are required to comply with ESCAS, Australia’s meat industry still ships cattle overseas to countries where they are killed in ways that would be illegal in Australia.
The Labor Party has finally set a date (2028) to phase out the live export of sheep, but the abuse of cattle has been ignored. We’re closer than ever to stopping boats crammed with terrified animals from leaving our shores, but we need your help. The live-export industry is the meat and leather corporations. Stop buying meat and leather and you’ll stop paying for this cruelty.
Mimi Bekhechi, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals
