VISITS to waste treatment plants in China by a councillor and two Mornington Peninsula Shire executives “brings new insights into alternative waste technology on the peninsula”, according to a shire statement. The 14 September statement follows criticism of the trip by Cr Hugh Fraser, acting chief operating officer Niall McDonagh and waste services team leader Daniel Hinson and pre-empts an official report to council. The three were in China earlier this month and their report on the value of the tour and “how knowledge gained may influence the future direction of alternate waste technologies in the region and…
Author: Keith Platt
THE failure of a plan to fence off the Pillars cliff jumping spot at Mt Martha is likely to see increasing numbers of visitors to the natural attraction. Although dedicated through various policies to increasing tourism, Mornington Peninsula Shire has been trying to lessen the numbers of people visiting the Pillars. Nevertheless, it is a major attraction without signposts, steps or safety barriers. Alcohol bans, parking bans, warning signs and restricting access have all failed to lessen the steady beat of feet to the cliff top. The Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning (DELWP) has now pulled the plug…
THERE are widening cracks in the cliff face and access stairs have been blocked or cut off before they reach the beach. Cracks are also appearing in the bitumen on the Esplanade above the unstable cliffs that last week saw the beach closed at Mt Martha north. Mornington Peninsula Shire issued a news release saying the beach was being closed to the public “for safety reasons”. The building surveyor officially closed the beach, Tuesday 19 September, until further notice. This will block access to 50 boatsheds, many of which are “substantially damaged”, including those from the south side of boatshed…
OBITUARY Anthony (Tony) Muir, 1943-2017 Master mariner, diver SOMETIME over the next few weeks a flotilla of small boats will sail towards Port Phillip Heads. It will be spring, a time of renewal, regeneration and hope. Those on board the boats will look toward the Polperro, because it will be from the deck of his beloved timber vessel that the ashes of Tony Muir will be consigned to the waters that he loved. Tony Muir died on 4 July, less than one month after celebrating his 74th birthday. He had been diagnosed with cancer a decade earlier. Hundreds attended a…
THE lengthy process of formulating a business case for a car ferry from Stony Point to Cowes, Phillip Island goes a step forward next month with a series of public and industry meetings. On Friday 6 October industry representatives and members of the public can attend “information gathering” meetings at Crib Point. Compilation of the business case for the ferry service is being co-ordinated by Brisbane-based consultants Earthcheck, described as being an international tourism advisory group. The state government has given $200,000 to help Mornington Peninsula and Bass Coast shires “understand and define the community, environmental and economic contribution and…
THE outlook was certainly different for a group of girl netballers who arrived in Sorrento last week. Although well into spring, the continuing wintery weather that greeted them was a far cry from that of their home in the remote Northern Territory community of Ngukurr. The 10 girls – aged nine to 13 – experienced their first plane trip, rode in a gondola to the top of Arthurs Seat and then crossed Port Phillip on the ferry from Sorrento to Queenscliff. The group’s trip was arranged by Georgia Croad, of Sorrento, who has been teaching at Ngukurr for the past…
STANDING in the sand dunes at Rye, Josie Jones is pleased to note the absence of rubbish. She is there to promote a community walk at Hastings to raise money and awareness of the Dolphin Research Institute, for which she has designed and added a poster to her “I’m really a mermaid” series. No stranger to the foreshore at Rye, Ms Jones has for the past 12 years walked its length and breadth collecting rubbish either dropped by careless beachgoers or dropped in the bay. A graphic designer, Ms Jones estimates she’s collected four tonnes of rubbish in a personal…
SOME of Mornington Peninsula Shire’s planning staff and senior executives may soon be operating out of an office in central Melbourne. The shire’s CEO Carl Cowie told The News on 31 August that “there is nothing to report regarding a Shire office in central Melbourne”. But one day later (1 September), in his regular Friday email to shire staff, Mr Cowie described sitting in an Uber “waiting to get on the Monash [Freeway]” on his way to a meeting in the Melbourne CBD with “the exec team”. (He also praised the benefits of having a tablet, or hand held computer,…
A NEW ferry terminal at Sorrento has come a step closer to fruition following Mornington Peninsula Shire’s request for an independent panel to consider a planning scheme amendment for the project to go ahead. The panel to be appointed by Planning Minister Richard Wynne is likely to start hearings at the end of October. The hearings will coincide with investigations into the planned terminal’s effect on traffic. The panel’s findings – after reviewing submissions, including those already considered by council as well as the shire’s own positive response – will come back to council for a final decision. Council received…
A PLANNING application for a multi-million dollar hot springs and restaurant complex near Rye has been refused by Mornington Peninsula Shire because the proposal was “contrary to the purpose of the green wedge zone”. A failure by the applicant to “adequately address unknown environmental issues regarding groundwater contamination”, was one of eight reasons the shire gave for not permitting the complex planned on a 15-hectare site in Browns Rd, Fingal. In a report to the shire’s planning services committee on Monday 4 September planning services team leader Rosa Zouzoulas said the proposal “satisfactorily responds” to relevant planning policies “in particular,…
THE office of Flinders MP Greg Hunt was in lockdown last Tuesday morning as a group of grandmothers protested about the federal government’s treatment of refugees. The protest by the South Peninsula Grandmothers against the Detention of Refugee Children came one week after police forcibly evicted members of a church group from the office who were calling for better treatment of asylum seekers being detained on Manus Island and Nauru (“Police praised by ‘evicted’ church group” The News 29.8.17). “Other members of the public who came were not able to enter to talk with office staff. A woman visiting before…
A TRIP to inspect the latest technology being used in China to generate electricity from rubbish and lessen the amount going to landfill is part of Mornington Peninsula Shire’s bid to attain carbon neutrality by 2020. Cr Hugh Fraser said moving to a waste-to-energy system could lead to the shire being able to close its Rye tip and avoid a $2 million a year state tax to keep it open. “The Rye landfill is the shire’s largest contributor to its greenhouse gas and carbon footprint,” Cr Fraser said. He said the only question remaining was when the tip could be…
THE Mornington Peninsula’s plovers seem destined to be both victims and indicators of the pressures of population. The hooded plover has for years been fighting for its very existence, mainly on the peninsula’s ocean beaches. Its plight is so precarious that dogs have now been permanently banned on the sand within the Mornington Peninsula National Park. Rope barriers were erected along parts of Balnarring beach in Western Port yesterday to protect red-capped plovers, cousins of the hooded plover. Not regarded nationally as being endangered, the red-capped plovers are rapidly losing ground on the peninsula, again to off-leash dogs and foxes,…
PLANS to build a maritime centre at Hastings centred on the Otama submarine are not included in draft plans for the foreshore because they require state and federal government approvals. The draft Hastings Foreshore Precinct Plan – designed to “establish a consistent identity” for the Hastings foreshore from Hodgins Rd in the north to Reid Pde in the south – is now on public exhibition and open for public comment. Investigations conducted into forming the draft plan included consultations with 21 groups, organisations and government departments, but not the proponents of the maritime centre, the Western Port Oberon Association. The…
Mornington Peninsula Shire is sending a three-person team to China to investigate “alternative waste facilities”. Cr Hugh Fraser, acting chief operating officer Niall McDonagh and waste services team leader Daniel Hinson will be in China 2-9 September and report back to council within 30 days on the value of the tour and “how knowledge gained may influence the future direction of alternate waste technologies in the region and the shire”. The trip will cost ratepayers about $7500. The shire is a member of the Metropolitan Waste and Resource Recovery Group (MWRRG) and its team will join representatives from Greater Dandenong…
MORNINGTON Peninsula grape growers are being urged to sign up to a program which would provide an early alert to threats from pests and diseases. Agriculture Victoria and the Mornington Peninsula Vignerons Association (MPVA) are working to improve biosecurity management practices on the peninsula by encouraging growers to embrace the property identification codes (PIC) program. Less than 45 per cent of peninsula grape growers have registered so far. MPVA technical chairman Tyson Lewis said by registering for a PIC, Agriculture Victoria is able to quickly alert local growers about a plant pest infestation or disease outbreak that may hit hard…
MOVES to change “foreshore” to “coastal” when it comes to naming volunteer groups on the Mornington Peninsula involved with foreshore management are designed to iron out misunderstandings over the groups’ roles and powers. A review ordered by council in 2014 conducted by consultant Janine Haddow recommends asking foreshore advisory groups what they think of adopting “a less formal foreshore consultative group model”. Changes suggested in Ms Haddow’s report also take away the requirement for a council officer to attend up to 30 meetings of the various groups each year. Ms Haddow says the changes would provide the groups with greater…
IT’S not obvious to patrons, but a red line on a planning permit shows just where (and sometimes when) alcohol can be consumed at outlets throughout the Mornington Peninsula. A bid to extend the red line to include building extensions and two paths at the 19 hectare Mantons Creek Winery, Shoreham, has been knocked by the shire’s planning services committee. Despite planning services team leader Clydie Brewer’s assurances that moving the red line at the Tucks Rd property met all planning and legislative criteria, councillors agreed that it did not meet “objectives and decision guidelines” in the shire’s planning scheme.…
PUBLIC comment is being sought for a plan designed to “establish a consistent identity” for the Hastings foreshore from Hodgins Rd in the north to Reid Pde in the south. Mornington Peninsula Shire councillors are expected to approve the draft Hastings Foreshore Precinct Plan tonight (Tuesday 22 August) and place on public exhibition for four weeks. As well as creating a consistent identity, the plan aims to “celebrate” the environment heritage while creating “connections” and support “activity”. Strategic planner Jeska Dee said the priority of building the various projects in the plan would be driven by feedback from the public,…
OVER the past few decades there has been no shortage of reports about bird species being wiped out or their numbers facing rapid decline. Most often these reports involve the northern hemisphere and birds that have to navigate several countries to satisfy their migratory instincts. But speak to Max Burrows of the Mornington Peninsula branch of BirdLife Australia and what seems a problem half a world away becomes an event in our own backyard. It’s not that long ago bird watchers were confronted by the local extinction of the grey-crowned babbler. Probably not a bird on everyone’s easily identifiable list,…
DEVELOPERS and objectors to a multi-million dollar hot springs and restaurant complex near Rye have been put on hold because of an administrative bungle by Mornington Peninsula Shire. A planning application for the complex on nearly 15 hectares in Browns Rd, Fingal, was withdrawn from last week’s planning services committee meeting because objectors were not given enough notice. The delay will enable them to be present and ask questions when the issue next comes before the committee. Planning services executive manager David Bergin said the report was pulled “due to an administrative error”. The item would be on the agenda…
ENERGY supplier AGL confirmed last week that it wants to have a floating gas import terminal at Crib Point. The company says the Western Port site will “increase energy security and supply for customers in south eastern Australia”. If given the go ahead by the state government, AGL says it will “invest roughly $250 million” and begin construction in 2019 with a view to bringing the terminal online within the following two years. The government issued a statement on Thursday saying it “welcomed AGL’s decision … [and is] working closely with AGL to ensure approvals processes are streamlined to avoid…
MEMBERS of St Macartan’s Catholic Church, Mornington are writing letters to members of parliament opposing the assisted dying Bill about to go before the Victorian Parliament. Melbourne Archbishop Denis Hart has urged all churches in his archdiocese to campaign against the Bill. If passed, the proposed legislation would open the way for Victorians to ask for a medically assisted death. Supporters of the Bill say terminally ill Victorians are sometimes taking their own lives, “alone and in violent ways”. MPs will be allowed a conscience vote on the Bill which, if adopted, could be in place by 2019. The Bill…
FIVE years ago Mornington Peninsula Shire paid $5.1 million for a block of shops in Wannaeue Place, Rosebud. Rosebud Central Shopping Centre was promoted as an alternative site to the foreshore for an aquatic centre which the shire had been struggling to build in the face of state government restrictions and technical problems. A nearby shop housing a dry cleaners was also bought for $770,000. The face-saving entry into the commercial property market was made in late September 2012, just weeks before the shire would have moved into the pre-election caretaker mode. The shire has now been told it will…
TO BORROW from book terminology, there will be a lot of “lively reads” in High St, Hastings at the end of the month. As part of the town’s second annual book day traders will dress as book characters and read stories to pre-school and prep pupils. The pupils and their teachers will also be dressed as characters from books as they visit shops and businesses between 10am and 11.30 on Tuesday 29 August. Shop fronts will be decorated in book themes and students will also read to young pupils who will be touring the street with their teachers. The book…
THE number of young people committing suicide in Frankston and on the peninsula is causing alarm. The state government has announced funding for the South Eastern Melbourne Primary Health Network to deliver the Lived Experience project designed to “help reduce stigma and promote help-seeking in the Frankston, Mornington Peninsula and Dandenong regions”. Roses in the Ocean, an organisation supporting those with lived experiences of suicide, will provide training and mentoring to help people talk about suicide. A 2012 study by Communities that Care commissioned by Mornington Peninsula Shire revealed an estimated 25.5 per cent of students in years seven, nine…
POPULATION projections and demand for housing on the Mornington Peninsula over the next 15 years show there is no need to increase height limits, according to the mayor Cr Bev Colomb. “Restricting height limits encourages developers to consider smaller dwelling types that would increase housing diversity without having a negative impact on the character of our residential areas,” she said. Cr Colomb’s comments are the latest criticism by the shire of the state government’s decision to allow three storey dwellings of 11 metres in at least 10 towns – Capel Sound (formerly Rosebud West), Rosebud, Dromana, Mt Martha, Mornington, Baxter,…
WESTERN Port may play a role in easing Australia’s energy problems if energy supplier AGL goes ahead with a floating gas terminal at Crib Point. The terminal moored at the end of the jetty would warm chilled LNG into gas to be fed straight into a pipeline for the domestic market. Although Victoria produces more gas than it uses from fields in Bass Strait, the LNG would be imported from elsewhere in Australia and overseas. LNG is exported from the Esso plant at Long Island Point, Hastings, a few miles north of the proposed import site at Crib Point. “This…
PARKS Victoria expects to release a master plan in September for the use and development of Point Nepean National Park. The plan will be largely based on one adopted by the Labor state government in 2010 but jettisoned by the Liberal-led Coalition in the lead-up to the 2014 election. The current Labor government reportedly paid at least $1 million in 2015 to buy out a 50-year lease the Coalition had entered into with the privately owned Point Leisure Group for a health and wellness retreat with hot springs, a spa, restaurant, hotel and conference centre. In a 10 February letter…
MORNINGTON Peninsula mayor Cr Bev Colomb says looking after and finding new homes for unclaimed cats and dogs is “high priority” for the shire. However, a group of animal lovers plans to demonstrate outside the shire’s Mornington offices on Sunday over their claims of secrecy surrounding how many unwanted animals are being put down. The Save Mornington Pound Animals group wants to stop cats and dogs being killed and for the shire to increase its efforts to find new homes for strays. The protest comes just weeks before the shire prepares to unveil $900,000 in changes to its new community…