IT might be a relatively narrow stretch of water, but Bass Strait is a major factor in the survival chances for the critically endangered yellow-bellied parrot. With the number of birds in the wild estimated at less than 50 experts say they face most dangers when flying to Victoria from their breeding grounds in Tasmania. Most of the surviving birds are banded and are easily tracked in Tasmania as they breed in a relatively concentrated area, but the bigger problems arise on the mainland where they are spread more thinly in small groups or individually. Michael Johnson’s Moonlit Sanctuary at…
Author: Keith Platt
THE weather’s warming up and snakes are waking up. Just as warmer, sunny days send a signal that it’s fine for outdoor recreation the same applies for snakes, who see it as time to “get some sun, look for food and a mate”, according to scientist Nick Clemann. Senior scientist from the Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning (DELWP)’s Arthur Rylah Institute Mr Clemann said people were likely to see snakes when “walking dogs, cycling, bush walking, enjoying parks and gardening”. “Snakes are more common in areas around the urban fringe or in rural areas, but they do turn…
FOOTPATHS, foreshores … and frogs. There is seemingly no end – and some cases no relation – to the variety of issues and concerns listed by the 50 candidates for the 11 seats on Mornington Peninsula Shire Council. Easily added to the three mentioned above are “over development”, waste disposal, planning for coastal “villages” and, certainly an elephant in the room, how much councillors should be allowed to spend above their $29,000 a year stipend ($92,000 for the mayor). The candidates’ buzz word for this election is community. Although not a definable issue, community will be a frequent persuader used…
WHILE speaking with portrait artists Fiona Bilbrough and Vicki Sullivan it becomes clear that their subjects are much more than mere objects to be represented as one-dimensional art. Sullivan likes to have lunch with her subjects and have at least two sittings in her Rye studio. The lunch provides a relaxed way “to study the structure of the head, skin tones and the character in the hands”. Bilbrough, who is exhibiting her works alongside Sullivan’s in a Portraits exhibition at Mornington Peninsula Regional Gallery, spends “many hours conjuring up a concept that will hopefully look appealing to me enough to…
STATUTORY proceedings are now being used to resolve Mornington Peninsula Shire’s embarrassing position of wanting to build an $800,000 skatepark on land it has leased to Mt Martha Tennis Club. The tennis club has refused to relinquish the land, so the shire is now taking steps to force changes to the lease which does not expire until December 2023. A report to Monday night’s meeting recommended council begin the legal proceedings to require the club to give up its hold on the land. The eventual building of a skatepark on what used to be a parade ground near Mt Martha…
TWENTY-two candidates had signed up by close of business on Friday to contest next month’s election for the 11 seats on Mornington Peninsula Shire Council. The shire has six wards, with three councillors each in Briars and Seawinds wards, two in Nepean and one each in Cerberus, Red Hill and Watson. By Friday, just two of the shire’s 10 councillors – Hugh Fraser (Nepean) and Bev Colomb (Briars) – were listed as candidates by the VEC. However, Cr Antonella Celi (Seawinds) emailed The News to say she would be a contender; Cr David Garnock (Cerberus) has previously said he would…
NOMINATIONS for the 11 seats on Mornington Peninsula Shire Council open on Thursday and close midday next Tuesday (20 September). A list of candidates in ballot paper order will be available on the Victorian Electoral Commission website late Tuesday afternoon. The Saturday 22 October election will be conducted by post with candidate statements and photographs published online from Monday 26 September. The close of nominations signals the shire going into “caretaker mode” – a 32-day period which bans the current council making “inappropriate decisions” or “those that would affect voting at an election or decisions that may unreasonably bind…
PHOTOGRAPHER Daryl Gordon has an image for the future. Actually, he has many images for the future. Fascinated by the photography since he was eight, the Balnarring father of three regards all of his shots as historical records. “It’s really difficult to put a finger on why [I was attracted to photography]. I guess I love the power that a single image can carry and the archival nature of photography,” Gordon says. Although the images he shoots as a commercial photographer may or may not be seen by the client as having any historical value, there is no doubt that…
AN alcohol ban being brought in to control “inappropriate behaviours” at the Pillars cliff swimming area at Mt Martha will extend several blocks inland, effectively making it illegal for anyone to have a drink outside of their own property. The ban is the first major move to ease problems at The Pillars since last summer police and Mornington Peninsula Shire rangers booked hundreds of vehicles illegally parked along the Esplanade. Mornington MP David Morris says the state government has “failed to capitalise” on “a temporary reprieve” over winter to come up with a solution. While admitting that he does not…
AFTER three meetings and sometimes bitter debate, Mornington Peninsula Shire councillors have finally adopted a new expenses policy. Basically, the policy gives councillors the right to spend up to $30,000 each over four years on such things as conferences and seminars ($16,000), education and training ($10,000) and entertainment ($4000). The aggregate is $14,000 a councillor more than the previously accepted, and disputed, amounts. The policy also introduced a ban on alcohol being supplied “before, during or after council meetings or briefings on council premises”. The shire’s communications and media manager Mark Kestigian said on Friday that about $27,000 had been…
THERE will be at least four new faces on the 11-seat Mornington Peninsula Shire Council after next month’s municipal election. Three councillors have now stated that they will not seek re-election and the fourth seat up for grabs has been vacant since the May resignation of Watson ward’s Lynne Bowden, who was first elected in 2008. Councillors who have come out in public to say they are not standing are Anne Shaw and Andrew Dixon of Briars ward and David Gibb (Seawinds). Cr Bowden’s resignation was too close to the 22 October poll to require a by-election so her seat…
BENCHMARKS are being set to monitor the number and variety of animals living in Western Port’s seagrass beds. Known as the bay’s marine nurseries, a series of night trawls of the seagrass beds in January captured 14,073 animals from five species. The most common animals were crustacea – which includes crabs, lobsters, crayfish, shrimp, krill, woodlice and barnacles – and fish. A team of researchers from the Western Port Seagrass Partnership will repeat the trawl to compare animal numbers and varieties in summer and spring. Marine ecologist Dr Hugh Kirkman said January’s trawl for juvenile fish and macroinvertebrates was the…
THE first report by Infrastructure Victoria into the best site for Victoria’s second container port is scheduled to go to the state government in May 2017. The two options being investigated are Hastings in Western Port and Bay West in Port Phillip, but Infrastructure Victoria has cautioned that “evidence we gather may not be conclusive enough to identify a preferred location”. “We won’t reduce government’s strategic flexibility by making a premature recommendation now, particularly because it would be based on evidence that is likely to change. “The final decision to invest in a second container port is still likely to…
PAUL Lucas has done a bit of yachting, but travelling thousands of kilometres down the Murray River was never on his radar. But for 89 days from 1 March that’s exactly what he did. Steering a tinny powered by a small outboard Mr Lucas was trailing behind a kayak being paddled by Dave Jacka. Onshore, the pair were in turn being shadowed by friends following the winding course of the Murray as best they could by road. What sounds like a reasonable and enjoyable enterprise for a bunch of friends had one major difference: Dave Jacka is a quadriplegic with…
THE Mornington Peninsula branch of the Greens says it will be fielding five candidates in the October Mornington Peninsula Shire elections. Political parties usually run shy of endorsing specific candidates but the Greens last week issued a news release announcing a “team … [that] understand the priorities of their diverse wards, and are committed to genuinely listening to and delivering for their communities”. The outspokenness of the Greens comes a week after seven of the shire’s 10 remaining councillors told The News they were yet to decide on whether to seek re-election. Only Crs Hugh Fraser (Nepean ward), Antonella Celi…
THE state government appears to be getting ready to take over the day-to-day running of the Port of Hastings. The 20-year contract with port manager Patrick Ports Hastings ends next June and the government is awaiting a report on management options from the Port of Hastings Development Authority. The authority now has a staff of eight, far fewer than the 61 – including 31 contractors – it employed just two years ago when the previous Liberal National coalition government was proceeding with plans for a container terminal at Hastings. Those plans ended abruptly with the election of the Daniel Andrews-led…
THE Rye tip will continue to operate until new technologies are adopted to cope with waste on the Mornington Peninsula. Mornington Peninsula Shire last week agreed to extend the life of the tip beyond 2018 and join other municipalities in finding a site and method to dispose of their waste. Cr David Gibb said it would be cheaper to use Rye rather than trucking the peninsula’s waste elsewhere. The shire’s plan could also see land in McKirdys Rd, Tyabb, used as a waste reduction and disposal site by several municipalities. The plan revolves around the use of alternative waste technology…
MOST Mornington Peninsula Shire councillors are keeping quiet about whether they will seek re-election in October. Three of the 10 councillors, Hugh Fraser (Nepean ward), Antonella Celi (Seawinds) and David Garnock (Cerberus) say they will stand while two others, Bev Colomb (Briars) and her ward colleague Anne Shaw are saying they have not made up their minds. Another two councillors, David Gibb (Seawinds) and Andrew Dixon (Briars) are reported to have told public meetings they will be standing but have not confirmed this with The News. “I don’t have a comment,” Cr Gibb said on Friday after being asked to…
MORNINGTON Peninsula Shire councillors were on Monday poised to give themselves the right to spend an extra $14,000 over their four-year terms, bringing the total to $30,000. The success of the latest bid to define their entitlements could depend on one councillor agreeing to being paid travelling expenses of 76 cents a kilometre. A move to set new four-year spending limits – $16,000 for conferences and seminars; $10,000 education and training; and $1000 a year entertainment – missed out on being adopted on Monday 22 August by one vote. If voting patterns stayed the same on Monday this week, Cr…
SECRECY and factions are being raised as major issues in the October Mornington Peninsula Shire Council elections. Although nominations do not close until midday Tuesday 20 September, “Melbourne Cup fields” are being predicted in at least the Watson and Red Hill wards and at least half a dozen candidates each in Seawinds and Briars. Meanwhile, a Facebook page and an email account have been opened specifically to receive tips about the council, especially anything about “infringements to our rights to freedom of information”. David Gill, a Balnarring resident and former councillor and shire president with the Shire of Mornington, sees…
ART imitating life or art imitating art? Michael Leeworthy manages to mix ‘n’ mangle the time worn adage in his latest publication “So you want to be an artist? You had better read this first ”. It was Oscar Wilde who famously made the seemingly innocuous statement that “Life imitates art far more than art imitates life” in his 1889 essay The Decay of Lying. Decades later the truth of his position remains a debating point. Leeworthy, a Red Hill-based artist and gallery owner has gone a step further by publishing a small book of cartoons depicting himself and those…
MORNINGTON Peninsula Shire has agreed to change land use definitions, increase building heights and the number of dwellings at the Martha Cove residential and marina development at Safety Beach. Amendments to the planning permit approved by the shire last month give the green light for buildings apartments and shops in the area designated Martha Cove Village Centre. The number of dwellings allowed at Martha Cove is now 1167, an increase of 114. The original Martha Cove permit was issued in 1999 and in 2002 City Pacific estimated the project at $650 million, including 900 residences. The latest successful application to…
MUNICIPAL officers have been accused of blunders and mistakes that have seen councillors across the state fail to fulfil a state government directive to adopt a new code of conduct. The government last week was forced to take urgent legislative action to avoid sacking 13 councils and standing down nine individual councillors after a report from the Local Governance Investigations and Compliance Inspectorate. The report listed Frankston as one of the councils that failed to meet the signing deadline and Mornington Peninsula Shire councillor Hugh Fraser faced being stood down for adding “signed under protest” to his signature. “I signed…
MORNINGTON Peninsula Shire’s footpath construction scheme is in disarray, with 13 projects being deferred and two others awaiting appeals. An emphatic rejection of the shire’s footpath construction plans by ratepayers has led to money being reallocated to fix footpaths at Hastings, Somerville and Bittern. The highest support recorded in a survey of property owners due to be billed for part of nine footpath schemes was just 28 per cent. In one case, the shire’s plan to build a footpath was rejected by 100 per cent of property owners. The rejection of the nine schemes has seen the team behind the…
IT is not hard to find a connection to surfing on the Mornington Peninsula with Australian surfing great Bernard “Midget” Farrelly, who died on Sunday 7 August after several years of battling cancer. At 71, Farrelly’s death came as a shock to the surfing community, both here and overseas. Many of the peninsula’s younger surfers would not know that they most likely owe Farrelly a debt of gratitude. His fame came on the cusp of major changes in surfing: the advent of the shorter board and professional surfers. As Australia’s first official world champion – won at Manly 17 May…
THERE is no lack of interest in filling the vacancy in Liberal ranks following the announcement that Martin Dixon will not be running for the state seat of Nepean he has occupied since 1996. Russell Joseph, Mr Dixon’s electorate office manager for the past four years, has already signaled that he will seek to take over his boss’s job. “I would like to lead from the front,” Mr Joseph told The News the day following Mr Dixon’s announcement. “There’s a lot of potential for things to still be done and I’d like to see them continuing along.” Mr Joseph has…
THE future planning of town and villages in the Western Port area will be a significant issue in deciding councillors for the Red Hill, Watson and Cerberus wards at the October municipal elections. One major point of contention will be the time being taken by Mornington Peninsula Shire in drawing up a strategy for coastal towns, which has been flagged in successive budgets for the past 11 years. Critics claim small towns are seeing developments more suited to the peninsula’s major centres, such as Somerville, Hastings, Mornington, Dromana, Rosebud and Sorrento. They argue that the same criteria should not be…
SAND trucked at great expense to Mt Martha Beach North has again “disappeared” after a series of storms. The sand loss has exposed the seeming flimsy supports on which many of the beach’s 90 bathing boxes sit. Some of the supports have been wedged with recently cut squares of timber while others teeter precariously on concrete pads. Many of the spindly frames have been pushed back towards the cliff by either wind or waves or, probably, both. Bolts are bent and timbers cracked. One bathing box leans backwards while another, set on a level earthen bank, is being undermined and…
THE federal election may be over, but the activist group GetUp! is still pursuing one of its regular targets, Flinders MP Greg Hunt. Mr Hunt lost some of his winning margin from the previous poll but retained his seat with a margin that would be the envy of most other politicians. GetUp!, which describes itself as “an independent movement to build a progressive Australia and bring participation back into our democracy” is running a survey to find out “your vision for Australia, for Flinders, for your neighbourhood and street?”. GetUp! claims to have had “a huge impact on the election…
TWENTY nine dogs have been seized from a property owner at Blind Bight for contravening a local law that limits the number of animals allowed to be kept without a permit. Troy Scoble was found guilty at the Dandenong Magistrates Court in late June 2016, of keeping too many animals on his property and failing to meet basic registration requirements. “Council is in regular contact with the owner of the dogs, who are being vet-checked and will be cared for until a decision on their future is made,” Casey mayor Cr Sam Aziz said. “Council acted as swiftly as it…