Avoid electing ‘stepping stone’ council candidates
As the dust settles on Christmas and New Year’s Eve, I’m betting neither the [Mornington Peninsula Shire’s] CEO or councillors were left sitting in detritus, without decent access to good food and a clean bed.
I continue to question their reliability and accountability.
How many people have been left hanging with no in-home support, including the person I heard of recently who suffers MND?
With a by-election [in Watson Ward] in the offing, it is critical that people elected have the interests of residents and ratepayers front and centre and are not using this as an avenue or pathway to political game playing nor a stepping stone to state or federal government.
Question candidates carefully.
Barbara Rimington, Balnarring
Editor: The Watson Ward by-election is being held in March to replace Paul Mercurio who resigned as a councillor after being elected to state parliament in November as the Labor MP for Hastings.
Age with dignity
As 2022 draws to a close, senior citizens on the Mornington Peninsula are blessed to receive the news that VCAT [the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal] has granted Ryman Healthcare a permit to build a retirement village and restore and preserve the historic Moondah mansion [at Mount Eliza]. Many in their twilight years can now look forward to ageing with dignity within the landscape they love, with the care and safety they need.
“He makes me lie down in green pastures, He leads me beside quiet waters.” VCAT and Planning Panels Victoria, both independent statutory referees, have found that the site is appropriate for a retirement village.
As supporters of the village celebrate, those who opposed the application will be very disappointed.
This is neither a time for triumphalism nor recrimination. While healthy debate is healthy for any community, ongoing bitterness is not.
I believe all citizens are united around the desire to preserve and enhance our unique peninsula environment and community, and respect and cohesion within the diversity of convictions about how this is best achieved is vital.
Frank Hoogenraad, Patterson Lakes
DIY graffiti removal
Apparently it’s not enough our Mornington Peninsula Shire Council has pulled the proverbial plug on pensioners requiring the services of cleaners and handymen, some with no services since July and myself with two 30-minute visits, also since July. Now, a letter from the senior shire ranger on the matter of graffiti, particularly the brick wall fronting a set of four units, two with pensioners, one rented, seeking our cooperation in the removal of said graffiti, despite doing our best unsuccessfully to do just that.
Then, the added request to do so “within 14 days of the date of this letter.”?
Assuming we are able to locate a successful graffiti removal specialist, and obviously pay for the service, and in a fortnight or so the graffiti bandits strike again, as is their custom, can we expect a follow up letter and another 14 days? The genius, the simplicity, of getting rid of a problem. Hail Caesar?
Cliff Ellen, Rye
Signs of summer
Ah, indeed. Summer on the Mornington Peninsula is here again.
An extra serve of litter on the beaches, foolhardy tourists dicing with death as they pick their way along a narrow strip beside a busy road, just to jump off a cliff.
Surly visitors who are “just too busy to queue”, and see no reason why it may not be a good idea to take your pooch shopping with you.
No chance of getting a signal between 9am and 9pm because the telcos refuse to acknowledge the extra thousands soaking up the bandwidth allocation.
But perhaps the most visible sign of the season, the multitude of young things sporting their best “rectal floss” bikinis in this year’s exciting new colours. But really, do colours matter when you cannot actually see them?
David Martin, Mount Martha
Harvest at Hastings
Do the residents of Mornington Peninsula Shire wonder what they are paying their rates for? It certainly is not for the shire’s services on the western side, because Hastings foreshore [on 31 December] is just about ready for harvesting the hay. This used to be a premier spot to walk your dog or just for general walking, now it is a disgrace and a haven for snakes.
Obviously the local councillor does not live in the Hastings locality, otherwise she might do something about it. Or is there not enough money in the council coffers to cut the grass, after gifting the Peninsula Aero Club $350,000?
David Lines, Somerville
Low notes at carols
I was very disappointed with the crowd behaviour at the carols [at Mount Martha] this year. Many people attended and it was beautiful weather, the artists were very talented, and the show was well thought out, so it should have been a perfect occasion.
But there was no discipline – children ran amuck; parents helped them carry large pieces of cardboard and plastic toboggans for them to slide down the grassy slopes, so they never intended to encourage their children to listen respectfully to what was happening on stage.
My 68-year-old friend was knocked by a child and fell down the slope near the tennis courts and skidded into a chair, resulting in a lump on her head and sore ribs.
When Santa arrived on the fire truck, the young teens mocked his arrival; the adults all around me talked right through the concert and the children ran, weaving their way in and around the audience, so we were dodging pieces of cardboard all night.
A lost child was not claimed until two songs had been performed. The MC begged for the parent to come after the first song: “He’s getting upset,” she said.
A big thank you to all the people who worked so hard to make it a fun night, it’s a pity that so many parents didn’t listen to the advice from the stage which was that children need your presence, not so many presents.
Wake up Mount Martha parents, you are bringing up very selfish children.
Marjorie van Dorssen, Mount Martha
Premier chance
The Premier Daniel Andrews stated after winning the last election that he was here to govern for all Victorians, now is his chance to prove it.
If he can give more than $12 million of taxpayers’ money to Netball Australia, it should be no problem to conjure up a larger amount to help homeless people who live in tents and cars because they cannot afford to pay rent.
Instead of pouring outrageous amounts in to a circle rail line he could put that money to upgrading Victoria’s major highways which are becoming increasingly dangerous to drive on.
He could look at finishing upgrading the major rail line from Mildura to Portland or Geelong so that grain and other products can get to a port quickly for shipment overseas.
This would also help to get a lot of big trucks off the highways, making them safer for other road users.
He could also use some money to get fast track the Melbourne Airport rail Link.
If he had not reportedly wasted nearly $1 billion cancelling the Eastern freeway to Tullamarine freeway link we would now have a connection finished and being used.
I know he is a politician, but politicians seem to think differently to rational people and seem to go on a power kick to put their names on monuments.
Mr Andrews has done a good job on a lot of projects (city loop rail, level crossing removals) but has failed miserably on others like our disgraceful health system .
So, my point is, he should stop, rethink his priorities and change direction a little for the people of Victoria – concrete is not everything.
Barry Kirkpatrick, Mount Martha
Liberal Nepean
Pats on the back for being a self-funded retiree and having an unnecessary shot at people less fortunate ignores the fact that, while it was a fluke that Chris Brayne won the Nepean seat for Labor, he hit the ground running (“Liberal majority” Letters 20/12/22). He got funding to refurbish schools, got an express bus up and running and many other things.
Previous Liberal pollies who have won that seat have continually treated the Nepean electorate with contempt.
The critics are gob smacked that the voters chose to go back to stagnation rather than progress.
Obviously, Donald Duck could win in Nepean provided he had a Liberal membership card.
John Cain, McCrae
Trump and tax
Donald Trump was talking on the television today saying what a sad day it was for America because he was being treated so badly by the authorities revealing his tax documents to the public.
As far as I can see he is still allowed to run for president of the US, and he has not been jailed for tax fraud like Al Capone was many years ago. These two facts are why this is a sad day for America.
Mary Lane, Mornington
Invest for climate
In 2022, extreme weather events were widespread around the globe. In fact, in my 72 years, I am unable to remember a worse year. The European Commission’s Global Drought Observatory declared the 2022 drought the worst in 500 years. China experienced its worst ever heatwave – lasting more than 70 days. And in the US, an ongoing “megadrought” in the west and southwest is the most extreme in the past 1200 years, according to a new study.
In this country, the February-March floods in southeast Queensland last year have been described as “Australia’s worst floods in modern history”.
These extreme weather events are “climate-fuelled”, driven by a warmer atmosphere and oceans, thanks to the burning of fossil fuels producing greenhouse gases.
So, it was worrying to see that the top performing stock on the ASX at the end of 2022 was Whitehaven Coal.
A New Year’s resolution for those with shares would be to divest from fossil fuels. The Australia Institute’s Divest Invest resources can help with this. The rest of us can switch our super and mortgages.
The Market Forces websites comparing super funds and banks are good places to start.
Ray Peck, Hawthorn
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 – 10 January 2023
