Domestic violence causes most homelessness’
The shameful truth revealed in Victorian police statistics is that there were more than 2000 incidences of domestic violence right here on the Mornington Peninsula in 2022/2023. The majority of victims were women and, in almost one third of cases, children were present.
The largest cause of homelessness is domestic violence. It also represents the largest demand on police time and the economic costs are enormous. Yet, with increasing media exposure to incidences of such violence, we are currently at risk of becoming complacent or feeling helpless. Don’t let this happen. Change is well within our grasp. There are evidence-based solutions.
We can all work in our everyday lives to change attitudes that stereotype men and women to equal, respectful ones. This may be at home with parents, at work with employers and staff, and at play whether at sport or socialising.
Respectful relationships can be and are being taught in schools with young people learning about consent. Young people will learn from good role models. We can support men and boys in developing healthy masculinities and positive, supportive relationships with their male peers.
We can all refuse to condone gender violence in our neighbourhood, our networks and on social media. Many are already creating change. Change may at times take courage, but let’s not accept a world where there is violence and abuse in relationships.
Maureen Donelly, Mornington
Urgent help needed
I feel very sad to see occupied sleeping bags in the shelter of Mornington buildings. I have heard there are increasing numbers of both men and women on the Mornington Peninsula finding themselves without a warm bed. A major issue with this state of affairs is sky-rocketing rents aided by a dearth of public and social housing. State and local government bodies must urgently place this issue at the top of their to do list.
Vivienne Daniels, Mornington
Housing questions
There’s a new battle to preserve the Mornington Peninsula’s natural environment – its unspoilt green hills, bush and coastline: the reason many of us live here. This time the state Labor government is the culprit – setting a target of 31,000 new dwellings to be built on the peninsula in the next 27 years, up 32 per cent from 94,900 to 125,900.
Its nebulously named Plan for Victoria demands every local council find space for new houses to accommodate a population of 10 million, a 70 per cent increase. (Victoria hit 6.9 million on 30 June.) It’s a disturbing proposal with many unanswered questions. Targets have been imposed by the government with no community consultation as yet.
Where would 31,000 homes go on the peninsula, with its 30 per cent built-up areas and 70 per cent green wedge zones? Why do we even need 10 million people? We’ve seen enough of the population Ponzi economy over the past 15 years to know about the negative consequences – unaffordable housing, traffic congestion, crowded public transport (or very little in the peninsula’s case) and declining open space and tree cover. Plus, longer hospital and ambulance waiting times, crowded schools, more pressure on our physical and mental health.
No one votes for rapid population growth. Every survey shows a clear majority opposes it. The government says it’s not to blame: the federal government sets migration policy, but the state has a fancy website about how to migrate to Melbourne – finding a migration agent, the best schools, entertainment, sports and shopping (liveinmelbourne.vic.gov.au/discover).
Mornington Peninsula Shire Council issued a statement after the draft target was announced. The mayor Cr Simon Brooks said it matched the shire’s own target of 1200 new places annually, but better roads and public transport including electric rail; more sporting facilities, community halls and libraries; and more social housing would be needed. No surprises there.
Jenny Warfe, Dromana
Federal issues
Has [Flinders MP] Zoe McKenzie considered standing for [Mornington Peninsula Shire] Council? In her recent eight-page Peninsula Post mail, you’d be forgiven for thinking this was campaign material for the forthcoming council elections.
As the federal MP for Flinders, I want news of federal issues – such as the Liberal party’s commitment to fossil fuels and nuclear energy; slashing permanent migration to 140,000 a year; allowing younger Australians to use their superannuation to buy their first homes. Most importantly, I want to hear Zoe’s ideas for fixing the housing crisis in Flinders. One thousand people sleep rough in cars and tents along the foreshore – they are our neighbours, they are us. The only temporary accommodation option for 170,000 residents – The Ranch – is unfunded by government and soon to be demolished.
Rather than inform residents about these important local and federal issues, Peninsula Post includes a scone recipe. Scrumdiddlyumptious.
Stefan Raabe, Rosebud
Multi-storey solution
The state government’s prediction that the Frankston area will need to build 30,000 new houses will only be achieved by multi-storey buildings. Just building one or two storey town houses will mean that there needs to be a lot of land, which will mean that farmers in Frankston will have to sell their land, and this will mean that Melbourne will become even larger.
The 100 per cent increase in rates for farmers in the Frankston Council budget will force farmers to sell their properties and the state government may use compulsory acquisition to free land. If farms are purchased for housing then to increase housing the new housing precinct should have high-rise unit development.
There is a joint two property sale in Cranbourne Road near the overpass which should have a multi-storey development built with shops at street level, instead of having single storey town houses.
Footnote: the electric sign saying council will prosecute smoking and vaping outside the Frankston station is being ignored to the extent that a teenager was smoking a yellow vape while sitting on the sign. Is Frankston Council enforcing illegal vaping and cigarette smoking at the bus hub?
Russell Morse, Karingal
Potter ‘whitewash’
The whitewashing of Mornington Peninsula Shire Council’s original decision to hold the Harry Potter event in the Briar’s wildlife sanctuary is well underway (Coming soon: Potter’s pre-election preview, The News 4/6/24). Some councillors have taken every opportunity to congratulate themselves for bringing this event to the peninsula, giving the impression they think that that makes it OK. It doesn’t.
Last January at a public meeting, the mayor admitted there had been mistakes made in the decision-making process and that a review would be conducted. We learn now that the review will be scoped by the architects of the original decision (CEO and the mayor), and they will also choose who is to conduct the review. It will also be expensive if the previous costs of shire consultants are anything to go by (the CEO’s performance and remuneration review in 2023 was $103,500).
The end result, potentially costing hundreds of thousands of dollars of our money, will be a headline that councillors can point to like: Some mistakes were made (but we can’t tell you what they were because of confidentiality concerns) but overall, the event was amazing, so let’s all be happy now.
There has never been any question about the quality and attractiveness of the global phenomenon that is Harry Potter. It could be held next to a sewerage treatment plant and be hugely successful. I think the shire would be better served to forget about a sham review and just be honest. Tell us what really happened, why it was thought OK to risk a valuable public asset and disregard community sentiment (which was clearly identified in their own preliminary risk assessment) and why the shire sought to obfuscate and cover up from day one. The money saved from consultant reviews could then be allocated to The Briars, which we were led to believe was the rationale for “selling” the sanctuary in the first place.
Keith Old, Tyabb
Hospital of care
I was diagnosed with ovarian cancer in November last year. I attended Rosebud Hospital’s emergency department, and I cannot thank the staff there enough. From the nurses, radiologists and the amazing paramedics who transferred me to Frankston Hospital with lights and sirens, thank you. I underwent two major surgeries and had a total of 11 organs removed.
However, undergoing chemotherapy has been the most challenging and difficult. But having the Rosebud cancer clinic just up the road made treatment so much more tolerable and easier. From the moment you walk in the door the staff make you feel at ease and for what has been the most traumatising part of my journey, the nurses there made sure I never felt alone. When you are scared, they hold your hand or make you laugh with a joke and, on top of the extraordinary work they do, every single staff member genuinely cares about you.
If it wasn’t for the Rosebud Hospital and its dedicated staff and all the nurses and staff at the Rosebud cancer clinic, who are all angels in my eyes, I know I wouldn’t be around today to write this thank you. We are so lucky to have these two medical facilities and their staff down on our pointy end of the Ninch. I, like so many others, thank you all from the bottom of my heart.
Alana Chantry, Blairgowrie
Stop take-away
We attended the information meeting on 20 June at the Dromana Hall (Fast food franchise still a hot topic, The News 26/6/24). Really, a properly advertised meeting at an appropriate venue would have demonstrated a commitment to public consultation. We have attended a similar meeting about plans for Pier Street, Dromana, which was properly promoted and very constructive.
You’d have to wonder about a complete absence of information on the Mornington Peninsula Shire Council website. A council staffed information facility was at Dromana Hub the day before, and no mention of the meeting was made there either. This seems to be an extraordinary effort to squeeze a totally inappropriate business onto an unsuitable site against the community’s wishes
.
Emotively, the applicant was characterised as a “family”. As we understand it, the “family” already owns many BP service stations. Traffic count figures were from two years ago, when all camping facilities on the peninsula were closed. Surely 2024 traffic count should have been presented?
Traffic and parking plans were totally confusing. Are vehicles to remain parked at the site while customers enjoy the company picnic facilities that are planned on beach front community land? Are there charges for the use of that land?
From our admittedly limited experience of these sites, we have never seen an “acoustic tunnel” for drive through customers. Surely this is an admission that the site, next to residential housing, is not suitable for the proposed use.
Traffic and parking, already difficult in the area, particularly in holiday time, would descend into mayhem. We understand the council’s difficult position, but surely it’s time for it to stand up and fight for the interests of ratepayers, and not bow to the wishes of a developer.
Loris and Mike Wilton, Safety Beach
Debate nuclear power
Adult debate about nuclear powered electricity is required; the important issues are being overlooked. The overstated initial cost is not a burden, it is an investment, and if financed and owned by the government, as it should be, it will return all profits to the taxpayer. Victoria once had such a conglomerate in the State Electricity Commission, huge and very successful, the basis of massive Victorian industry, until an inept politician wrecked it by selling it all to private investors whose overriding interest is maximum profits.
Factor into the debate the need to replace, every 25-30 years, all solar panels, gigantic batteries (we need many more and lots bigger), and all windmills on land or salt water. A nuclear power plant will last 80 years, some Americans are now talking 100 years, and nuclear technology is progressing rapidly, mitigating or eliminating many old problems.
Consider the future. Explore the fantasy of all motor vehicles becoming electric vehicles. The consumer electricity demand will at least double in order to charge these things, mostly overnight when there is zero solar power.
Consider the expanding population, now grossly so in the need for economic growth, there being little else. We will have millions of panels, windmills, batteries, all over the place, all needing replacement every 20-odd years, in lieu of a number of big nuclear power stations lasting 100 years, in maybe 10 locations.
Consider the economy. Should vast quantities of cheap, reliable electricity be available, manufacturing and other industries, and heavy industry, might once again be attracted, as they once were in Victoria. At present, with power sources on the brink as they are with a scattered mishmash of intermittent and seasonal renewable energy, we can have no substantial industry and consequent wealth.
Brian A Mitchelson, Mornington
Students clean up after vandal attack
Students from Somerville Secondary College volunteered to repaint the fence of an elderly resident whose fence was the target of vandals who graffitied it after the resident had just repainted it, after a previous attack. Also volunteering was Chris Symons owner of Funky Farm, in Somerville. The owner thanks these volunteers.
Alice Lydall, Somerville
