Disappointment at Peace Walk reporting
We were very disappointed to read the article about our walk (Peace Walk Concern, The News 9/7/24). As the organisers of Peninsula Peace Walk for Palestine, we informed the police that we were planning a peace walk four days before the event. We had several conversations with police officers at Frankston, Hastings and Mornington police stations. We also welcomed the attendance of four police officers at our walk.
Peninsula Peace Walk for Palestine is for people on the Mornington Peninsula who want to show their support for the Palestinian people in a peaceful way. Furthermore, the groups named in the article did not organise the walk. We invited several community groups to share information about the walk to their mailing lists and to post the flyer on their social media. Our initial flyer invited people to meet outside a specific shop in Main Street, Mornington. However, after receiving feedback, we quickly changed that to a more generic description. We also phoned the shop owners to apologise for our mistake.
Finally, the article referred to the protests in Melbourne, possibly leading some readers to believe we are linked. Peninsula Peace Walk for Palestine is not associated with any other group. We have simply organised a walk that enables people on the Mornington Peninsula to peacefully express their concern for the huge death toll of women, children and non-combatants in Gaza
.
Stefan Raabe, Marg D’Arcy and Sarah Russell (organisers of Peninsula Peace Walk)
Peaceful walk
I was part of the peaceful small group of 35 people and some dogs who walked along Main Street to the Eastern ring road and then back along Main Street to Mornington Park on Sunday 7th at midday. We carried a Palestinian flag and some signs and just walked quietly without trying to speak to people uninvited. There were 4 police people caring for us. There was no disturbance to shoppers or community.
The sunshine had encouraged lots of people to be out and about – there was no sign that we ‘turned shoppers off’ and no loud words from any of us outside the shoe shop where we started. The concerns expressed in the article by Liz Bell seem to be encouraging people to think there may be violence and anti social behaviour in such a walk. My experience over many such walks both locally and in Melbourne CBD is that the walks are peaceful. I have been on seven of the Sunday Support Palestine walks in Melbourne with over 10,000 participants and no incidents!
This is a much needed opportunity for peninsula people to show their quiet support of a people suffering death and destruction. I let the Melbourne organisers know about our walk on 7th July and they were pleased to know. I thank our local organizers for doing this in peace.
Georgie Stubbs, Mt Martha
Save the children
I caught a glimpse of the Palestine protest at Mornington on the weekend. The impression from The News reporting in the paper (Peace Walk Concern, The News 9/7/24) was that Mornington was going to be razed to the ground by a violent mob. Alas, the gathering was rather small and completely innocuous.
I find it hard to comprehend that protesting against the wholesale slaughter of a people can be so maligned in this day in age. Where have we gone wrong? How have our beliefs deviated so far from decency? I may be old-fashioned and out of step, but I always think that we must protect children at all costs.
An unforgiveable crime occurred on 7 October where the terrorist organisation Hamas brutually murdered over a thousand innocent people, including 38 children. Unforgiveable. They have to be held to account for their actions.
But the Israeli response has left, it is estmimated (by Save The Children UK), 13,800 children dead in the tiny enclave of Gaza.
13,800 children dead. That’s 13,800 children murdered in an area half the size of the Mornington Peninsula.
13,800 children murdered simply for being Palestinian. How can this be? Save the children. For goodness sake. Save the children.
C. Jenkins. Tyabb
Nuclear too late
I feel that Anne Kruger may well be disappointed (Nuclear Changes, Letters 9/7/24), in hoping for more detail in Dutton’s nuclear idea. I think calling it a plan, which suggests structure and substance. is somewhat generous.
If Australia was going to go nuclear it is about 20-30 years late. Back then renewables weren’t really an option but now they are, and far cheaper, more readily available option than nuclear. Dutton isn’t saying how he intends to keep power prices down for the next fifteen years before the nuclear plants, that will contribute very little to the power grid, come online. What he is doing is ensuring that prices will go up as investors respond to this new uncertainty in the energy sector.
Sadly Dutton is only interested in trying to create confusion before next year’s election in the hope that he might gain a few votes.
Ross Hudson, Mt Martha
Poor planning result
Mornington Peninsula Shire Council is concerned about residents parking boats, trailers and caravans on the streets, but it is mostly because of poor planning by council, together with the fact that it is illegal to park on nature strips (Shire’s limited parking powers, The News, 9/7/24).
Too many modern housing estates have either small “pocket blocks” or quite large houses – fence to fence – on smallish blocks where it is not possible to get a boat or van into the backyard which is, anyway, too small to accommodate one. I’ve driven down some of these narrow streets and noticed front lawns, nature strips and kerbsides chock-a-block with cars, vans and boats because the dwellings have only a single, or small double, garage, if any.
You can’t blame these people as they are only trying to live the Australian way of life in the great outdoors. Being located in an older part of Mornington, when there was once good planning, we are blessed with wide streets and footpaths and adequately sized blocks with a driveway, space for car port, garage/workshop, gazebo/barbecue, garden, boat, caravan, and for the kids to play on a lawn. A standard modest home. But even here, blocks are being re-developed to have two or three dwellings with limited space for cars and none for anything else.
This is because of the push by council and state government for high density housing which is much cheaper to develop but creates future slums. Significantly, the council can then collect more rate revenue from a given block of land. Then there are the young couples unable to afford to buy or even rent a house, forced to move in with the parents, thus requiring more vehicles to be parked.
Brian A Mitchelson, Mornington
Good Samaritans
Community spirit is alive and well in the township of Dromana! I am an 87-year-old man. On the 12th June I went to post a letter in the post box opposite the post office in Dromana. I stopped my car and posted my letter. As I turned to step off the curb, I fell flat on my face! As I lay with blood everywhere, three women came to my aid. My nose was streaming blood, my hands where cut and my jacket and the right leg of my jeans were soaked in blood.
One of the ladies came with a handful of tissues to try to stop the bleeding. Then a gentleman came and took my arm and took me down to South Coast Medical. In the mean time the tissue lady got my car key, parked my car for me, and came down to the medical centre and return my key.
The young doctor and nurse cleaned me up and patched me up. The doctor gave me a good examination and said he thought I had broken my nose, and told me to stay at the surgery for an hour and then go down to the Rosebud Xray dept for a scan on my head. He gave me a paper to take with me, I had the scan and returned home. Later that day got a call from the doctor saying that I had broken my nose. Could I come in on the Friday to have the dressings changed which I did. The nurse told me that someone had been in to the surgery to inquire about me. It was the chap that had brought me in on the Wednesday.
I would like to express my Heartfelt thank you to all the people involved that Wednesday! I have made a complete recovery. All dressings off. God bless you all!
Eddie Cuff, Dromana
Cyclists in danger
Point Nepean Road is used by lots of cyclists daily. We all “run the gauntlet” because there’s no bike lane where it’s needed. It’s dangerous. For this 200 metre narrow, curved bit of road, VicRoads has simply installed signs – Bike Lane – END. Maybe a big bike blockade will help, before a cyclist is killed.
Warwick Spinaze, Tootgarook
