A cross–generation take on IWD
WHEN Southern Women’s Action Network (SWAN) member Maureen Donelly and 83-year-old Marg Madge joined ten young people to prepare for an International Women’s Day (IWD) craft activity at Mornington Peninsula Shire Youth Services “Corner Youth Hub” in Mornington, it soon emerged that an intergenerational approach was the way to go.
The two groups came together over an IWD community consultation project conducted by SWAN’s Women Against Gender-based Violence group. For the craft component of the project the young people created the letters EQUALITY in the IWD theme colours: green, purple and white.
“During this activity we exchanged ideas about equality for women and the progress, or lack of, to date,” said Donnelly. “It was evident that inequality is a serious concern for these young people. “They spoke about the load carried by women, both now and in the past, about equality being a right, and referred to contemporary definitions of ‘woman’. “They expressed concern that women’s marches and protests to date still have not eliminated violence, so we know the struggle of the early suffragettes is not over.”
According to the Australian Government 2024 Status of Women Report Card, Australia is ranked poorly at 26th for gender equality internationally. The Report Card notes:
- Women do three times the amount of unpaid work than men.
- Women would need to work an additional 44 days a year to earn the same as men.
- Women at retirement age have 25% less super than men.
- 1 in 5 Australian women has experienced sexual violence.
- Just 9% of CEOs are women
The youth participants heard Madge talk about, as a woman, being refused a bank account in her own name, about feeling social scorn for being a “working mother”, and about how her husband doing her rostered duty at the school tuck shop was seen as such an anomaly.
Southern Women’s Action Network is a volunteer–led organisation that supports women to play an active role in the community. SWAN’s annual International Women’s Day Meeting will be held on Sunday 16 March at Mt Martha House. The guest speaker is Susan Murphy, managing director of “Women’s Spirit Project”, a grassroots volunteer-led community initiative based in Frankston. This community organisation aims to connect, inspire and empower women from all walks of life who are experiencing life’s challenges, through fitness, health and wellbeing activities. Women who would like to attend this meeting can email swanwomen@outlook.com or visit www.swanwomen.org.au
Fire Levy scam
The Mornington Peninsula Shire councillors are absolutely correct in deciding to investigate the new state government “Emergency Services and Volunteers Fund” tax. Actually, it’s more of a scam than a tax, designed to enable the state government to look after their greedy union mates and satisfy their demands at huge cost but with minimal publicity. Ratepayers can therefore expect this new tax to escalate year after year, with no accountability.
So where will all this money go? Ever since the state government made the disastrous changes to the state’s fire services, Fire Rescue Victoria has become a massive budget black hole with costs escalating annually in spectacular fashion. This week, The Weekly Times revealed that the cost of running FRV now exceeds $1.22b, with a wages component of $929m for their paid firefighters. FRV’s overtime bill is now $125m, a 20% increase over the previous year.
Compare this with the CFA’s meagre annual budget of about $339m in 2023-24. That figure is inadequate to fund the operations of around 1200 volunteer fire brigades, especially after the state was caught siphoning off $70m to plug funding gaps at other government organisations including 000 Victoria and FRV.
It’s an insult that this tax has the word “volunteer” in its title. FRV will rake in about $1.1b from the new tax, whereas the CFA will only receive around $264 million. The SES even less. There are only two FRV stations in the predominantly rural Mornington Peninsula Shire. However ratepayers are expected to fork out many millions of dollars to subsidise the costs of the paid city fire services.
Council should demand the state apply the “user pays” principle. City folk can then pay their fair share of the cost of their fire service, and the tax on our ratepayers would be greatly reduced.
Eric Collier, Somerville
Hand cleaning beaches
As the past and present coordinators of The Friends of Williams Road Beach, we are delighted by the Mornington Peninsula Shire’s hand-cleaning trial. Our overview is that it allows for holistic removal of man-made rubbish without detriment to natural inter-active ecosystems and that it maintains the seaweed which provides nutrients for birds, crabs, fish and marine organisms.
We believe that, in front of the scout hall, the seaweed traps and builds up sand. Over recent years, we have observed the presence of a winter-annual species, endangered under the Flora and Fauna Guarantee Act. This species located between the high-tide mark and the foredune must be protected from the mechanical-rake. As the Mount Eliza foreshore is a rocky headland, it is imperative that these beaches – including rock platforms and cultural heritage – are not damaged by the mechanical-rake.
The shire’s website data states that the rake picked up about 40% of rubbish and sometimes broke and buried plastics. In addition, it says that 85% of the material taken to waste disposal is organic matter, which produces unacceptable quantities of methane gas at the tip. In this time of climate change, it would be a retrograde step to return to the use of the mechanical-rake.
Finally, speaking with hand cleaners on the foreshore, over the past six months, has convinced us that these people are keen to remove plastic and other man-made rubbish, often located in areas inaccessible to the rake. Viewing their positive contribution and knowing that their input avoids the problems associated with the use of the rake, leads to the conclusion that the shire’s new approach (hand-cleaning) is imperative to sustainable and environmental living.
Ann Scholes and Melinda Gustus, The Friends of Williams Road Beach
The ‘A’ is for Arthur
Rupert Steiner claims renewables are one of the cheapest electricity forms available (Power failure, Letters 4/3/2025). No it’s not and price is only one factor for Australian industry. Reliability is essential.
The cheapest electricity is the one whose cost is best manipulated by creative accountancy and lying politicians, omission of facts, subsidised, falsified, carbon credited, costed against power generation alone without factors like remoteness, maintenance, service life.
Snowy hydro 2, pumped hydro, is an example. We’ve moved mountains and lakes and bored tunnels galore, costing eye-watering billions, to generate a modest couple of gigawatts of power using six smallish generators. Note that for every megawatt generated, it requires about 1.6 megawatts of electric power to pump all of that same water back uphill. Did you think it could be otherwise?
Rupert, devoid of sensible argument, chucks a silly slur at me, assuming that the “A” in my signature stands for “atomic”, just because I believe that nuclear has to be the way of the future – there is no other way for a larger, advanced industrial society. The “A” in my name is for Arthur, named after uncle Arthur, if you must know.
Rupert intimates that I am a (gasp) Liberal. Again wrong. I am a democratic socialist. I can never vote Liberal after their dishonest, inhumane, illegal Robodebt tragedy; or, at state level the selling off of our taxpayer owned S.E.C.V, giving us abundant, reliable electricity 24/7, an essential service in perfect working order.
Voting for a gaggle of self-interested so called independents is not the answer. We need a very strong leader of a party that will make this country great and strong again, like we once were, and to some extent follow the leads of the American Trump.
Brian Arthur Mitchelson, Mornington
Standing on the Precipice
What a predictable election we are having. The same old cries of health, education, roads and infrastructure. All very important, but little mention of the pressing problems of massive immigration and insufficient defence spending/training. Once again, no word or strategies to protect the only thing that collectively keeps us alive, our environment!
Climate change is real, but I can accept the sceptic’s view. However, species extinction is not debatable, it is happening! In my opinion biodiversity is a vital key to preserving the healthy functioning of our planet. Politicians should keep in mind that all of humanity is just one species and our actions are causing a mass genocide of other species. If you think we can go it alone, just ask the farmers about our humble bee. Preservation of old growth forests, marine reserves and National Parks are key corner and stepping stones to a healthy environment.
Some practical policies which would help biodiversity are:
– $50m could help secure the entire Daintree Lowland Forest from potential development and allow it to be attached to the Daintree World Heritage National Park.
– $50m could be allocated to independent non-profit organizations whose objective is to provide conservation to indigenous animal and plant species.
– $50m could finance feral proof fencing for roughly 85,000 hectares or 846 square kilometres within Australia’s National Parks.
– $50m could be allocated in $100,000 packages to farmers, particularly in drought prone areas, to retain, maintain and create indigenous flora reserves, thereby helping biodiversity and reducing topsoil loss.
– $50m could be provided to councils to ensure the promotion of and support for ratepayers to use indigenous plant species.
If one considers the total commitment for the (Melbourne) airport link to be $12 billion, the above expenditures are minor.
Henry Kelsall, The Sustainable Future Association
Successful appeal
The Southern Peninsula Food For All wishes to thank all individuals and businesses for their generosity whose donations and efforts helped make its Christmas Appeal a great success raising a total of $54,602. The charity was able to distribute over 380 Christmas food bags to the needy and new toys to over 460 children in our community over the festive season.
Food For All is a volunteer non-profit organisation formed in 1991 to meet the need for emergency food relief at the time. It is administered by a committee of members from churches and community groups.
President Alan Hawkins said that the members made that extra effort at Christmas and that the Peninsula Toy Run was always a very enjoyable and successful day for all involved.
Southern Peninsula Food For All
Signage lament
I am simply going mad with the proliferation of signs in Blairgowrie. In fact I am bursting with fury!
Where there is an uninterrupted view of the water, the council erects a sign right in the middle of the view.
We have ‘Your Beach is my Beach’, with some random dude’s photo on it. What does that mean? We have huge, brightly coloured signs, in once serene, green streets, advertising for South East Water, The Year of the Snake. Why? The latest desecration is a long, green coloured sign on a dirty great plank of wood, giving us emergency warnings, welcome to Whitecliffs Foreshore Reserve, and announcing Adelaide Street and the Bunurong people, erected right in the middle of the view!
This same council has, truly, practically destroyed the treed beauty of Blairgowrie. The foreshore is burdened with huge stumps where there used to be shady trees. Trees have been removed or cut back along every street for ‘fire protection’. This has weakened all the trees and shrubs behind them and degraded the soil.
What is this council doing to our once lush, green haven?
Susie Hall, Blairgowrie
Real-time donations
In the interest of democracy and making an informed vote, I attended one of Ben Smith’s listening events (a good opportunity to get free drinks and food by the way). I noticed Ben says his campaign is funded primarily by small local donations from individual supporters.
Alex Dyson, independent for Wannon, also supported by Climate 200, publishes a real time list of donors with the amount donated on his website. If Ben is concerned about transparency and integrity why is he not doing the same thing on his website? Surely he is not concerned that people will know where he is really getting his campaign funds from.
Marg D’Arcy, Rye
Become informed
As the federal election approaches it is important to look at the voting record of our current elected representative to ensure you are making an informed decision regarding the things that are important for the future of our peninsula.
A good way to see how just how involved our elected representative is in supporting some of the issues that are important to our electorate, is to visit www.theyvoteforyou.org.au. There you will see that Bills for such things as net zero emissions; the capping of gas prices; the criminalising of wage theft; increasing housing affordability; and increasing workplace protections have all been voted consistently against by the Member for Flinders… in accordance with Liberal Party lines.
When you vote why not make an informed vote for the person who you feel best represent the needs of this community rather than someone who will just blindly follow the “one size fits all” party mantra.
Peta Watson, Crib Point
Nuclear option?
I attended Ben Smith’s Somers meeting where he spoke of the issues that he would like to address if elected to parliament. While this was very informative, the majority of his talk and the subsequent questions from the audience were more to do with local government and state issues.
The one question that was primarily a federal issue was, what did he think of nuclear as part of the energy requirements. Smith’s answer was basically the same as Chris Bowen; that it is too expensive, would take too long to build and wouldn’t deliver the amount of energy needed.
Obviously it is expensive but compared to what? When Chris Bowen is asked about the cost of renewables his stock answer is that sunlight and wind are free but no estimate of getting this free energy into homes and industry is given.
As an independent, even though Smith receives funding from Climate 200, which funds most of the Teal candidates, I wonder if he would dedicate some time to hearing the facts, separate from ideology, on the costs involved in obtaining zero emissions by the year 2050.
Two videos on YouTube which deal with sound facts on these costs are Chris Ulmanns documentary “The real cost of net zero” and Gerard Hollands talk at an ARC conference on “The cost of renewable energy”.
As an independent I look forward to hearing his personal opinion.
Looking forward to a parliament comprising men and women of honour.
Keith Davis, Somers
Rosebud Hospital
I am writing in regard to an advertisement placed by Ben Smith on 26 February. In that advertisement Ben claims “Rosebud Hospital… is at risk of closing.” That statement as well as being a blatant lie, is causing angst amongst my elderly peers. We have enough mental health challenges in our community without fuelling them with inaccurate advertisements. I think your newspaper has a responsibility to do better and stop lies in advertising. Please do better.
Tony Dew, Capel Sound
Hospital incompetence
The Liberals have held Flinders for years, including a Health Minister in Greg Hunt, yet Rosebud Hospital is still in crisis. It’s infuriating. I attended Ben Smith’s “Save Rosebud Hospital” event, covered in last week’s paper, and the message was clear: locals are exasperated. The government has abandoned us, letting healthcare crumble while pretending to care. Decades of neglect, empty promises, and outright failure—it’s beyond disgraceful. While they sit on their hands, our community is left to fight for the basics. We deserve better than this incompetence.
Josh Reinecker, Rosebud
Hospital hypocrisy
I was bemused by state MP Sam Groth’s recent letter (State issues, Letters 4/3/25) which falsely claimed that the independent candidate for Flinders, Ben Smith, “continues to focus on issues of state government responsibility”. In fact, Mr Smith has focussed on matters of great importance to the people of Flinders, including the chronic underfunding of Rosebud Hospital.
Groth might be interested to learn that public hospitals are funded by both the state and the federal government. Both Groth and Liberal MP Zoe McKenzie have been making the claim that hospitals are only a state concern, which is surprising given McKenzie wrote a letter to the Federal Health Minister in 2023 asking for the Feds to fund the state hospital. I guess she’s changed her mind since.
Smith is right to call both levels of government to account. Another long-term problem for local residents is the dearth of bulk billing options on the peninsula, which can lead to crippling costs particularly for young families and those with long–term medical conditions. Smith been calling for this to be addressed long before the major parties decided to clamber onto the bandwagon.
Finally it is surely disingenuous of Groth to blame just one party for neglecting Rosebud Hospital. We all know that it’s been in need of help for the last 30 years, during which the coalition have been in power in Canberra for 21 years, and in Spring Street for eight. Both major parties had a chance to address the problem but have decided to sit on it.
Clearly the only way we can get Canberra’s attention is through an independent member who will put his electorate first.
Jeff Cook, Balnarring
Groth’s letter
It was interesting to see a rare letter (State issues, Letters 4/3/25) from the member of Nepean but disappointing to see why he wrote in. Complaining that a candidate running for the federal election is running on some state issues. Is the member for Nepean afraid Ben Smith might get some traction to where he has failed?
Wouldn’t it be more beneficial having more voices in support of matters that benefit the community regardless of the tier of government or political persuasion. On appearances from the letter it would seem the Member for Nepean is more interested in making accusations about the state government failure to deliver for Nepean rather than providing the best possible representation for Nepean.
If the member for Nepean had lived in either the state or federal electorate for at least one full term before he ran for office or spent some time learning about recent historical politics of the region he would know that former Federal MP Greg Hunt advocated for numerous campaigns, rightly or wrongly depending on your viewpoint like council having a public pool on Rosebud foreshore for example.
More than ever I believe that the member for Nepean’s letter demonstrates the need to vote for a candidate who has deep ties to our communities and a record of standing up for our communities as well as willing to speak up for our communities as opposed to those who ran on cheesy slogan from a former career.
Craig Thomson, Rye
Zoe’s newsletter
Is it a coincidence that I got Zoe McKenzie’s newsletter the same day this letter from Sam Groth was published (State issues, Letters 4/3/25)? Lots of local stuff but not a word on Coalition policies or solutions. Of course the standard Labor bashing. Has taken credit for every local issue addressed on the peninsula. And takes a headline credit for a promise as if it were a done deal by the Coalition.
Notably McKenzie happened to weigh in on all the issues Ben Smith was criticised for by Groth. If McKenzie is serious about being a federal MP, she should be talking more about federal issues where she can have a direct impact, rather than grandstanding on state issues where she would have no jurisdiction and stop asking questions on immigration where the Coalition wants to prevent 14,840 Australians and New Zealanders entry into Australia.
Smith has called on the state Labor government to give Mornington Peninsula residents a say in the $25 million Arthurs Seat Eagle redevelopment, and for stronger regulations around jetski usage.
The point is if you want to put an end to the political duopoly which is only interested in maintaining power and always vote the party line you must vote “independent” to make every bill a negotiation, not a shoo-in.
Just think, if we have a hung parliament every bill will be scrutinised and any party, including the opposition (should they actually have any policies to put forth), can put an issue forward that will be judged on its merits. Independents will not give up their independence in voting to become a slave to either of the political duopoly.
And don’t forget the sham donations law just passed to keep the political duopoly in power.
Joe Lenzo, Safety Beach
Zoe McKenzie
After spending almost three years wearing an invisibility cloak Flinders MP Zoe McKenzie has been a hive of activity seeking support and information from local community groups. I reckon there might be an election coming. Just guessing.
Ross Hudson, Mt Martha
Honesty box bread
Known as the Bread Box Baker, Michele Ball has sold handmade sourdough bread from her home in Mount Martha twice a week via an honesty box for over three years. She usually make around 70 loaves and they are sold within 60 to 90 minutes.
She was told in February by the Mornington Peninsula Shire she had to get a permit, and until she got one she had to stop selling her bread. She is now selling her bread via a doorway at a wine bar. So far the council has not acted further and it appears the only option for Michelle is a $13,000 food van handling permit.
How it appears the that shire is targeting soft targets instead targeting:
- Nature strip parking (a by-law) which is rampant over the shire.
- Dangerous intersections with narrow fretted pavement edges up to 150mm deep highly dangerous and against proper road engineering.
- Cleaning up of side road Bell Mouths covered with washed down grave from the existing unmade road, highly dangerous.
Come on councillors, do your jobs and make the rate payers proud.
Gerard van de Ven, Mt Martha
Agree with Arthur
I am writing to express my total agreement with Arthur Ranken (Cat o’ nine tails, Letters 4/3/25). No doubt the do-gooders of this world will object to his views but I suspect there are many people who will agree that we need to take much stronger action to deal with these thugs who are causing so much physical and mental harm to so many people. Maybe we have reached the point where these people need to be identified and shamed.
Nancy Pitson, Mornington
Corporal punishment
Now you’re on to something Arthur (Cat o’ nine tails, Letters 4/3/25). What an inspiration from your perspective in Mount Eliza. But why stop there? Taken to its logical conclusion we could borrow from earlier times, and re-introduce capital punishment. We could have public hangings, and even the delightful spectacle of “hung, drawn and quartered”. Not only that, we could charge admission. Think of it – we could fill the MCG, solve the “crime epidemic”, and our economic problems all at the same time! Come on Arthur, you can’t be serious!
Mike Wilton, Safety Beach
Chaos?
When I grow too old to dream? OMG. No Labor no Liberal, Independents with the power. Add in Trump, Vladimir and the suitless little fella, not to mention Netanyahu, and the hovering Alfred typhoon?
Time to take my bat and ball home, back (or forward?) to old memories, influences: Festival Hall, Johnny Ray, but Little Richard for mine. And Danny Kaye as Walter Mitty 1947, jump to 1956 (Tutti Fruitti) not forgetting Gene Vincent, jump to Gene Krupa (Sing Sing Sing) on drums 1971, then to my dotage 2018, Tuba Skinny. And AFL football, the mighty Magpies, season 2025, can’t wait, and so it goes…
Cliff Ellen, Rye
