THE state convenor the Australian Greens Willisa Hogarth is standing for the seat Flinders in the 2 July federal election. Held by Liberal Greg Hunt since 2001, Hogarth nomination for Flinders follows that of Labor’s Carolyn Gleixner. Mr Hunt is the current environment minister and both the Labor and the Greens candidates have signalled they will be attacking what they see as the government’s failure in that policy area. “This is going to be a campaign where the Greens remind the Coalition that they can’t get away with leaving the environment out of the conversation.” Ms Hogarth said. Ms Hogarth…
Author: Keith Platt
DESPITE the best efforts of environmentalists and some government departments the survival of the southern brown bandicoot remains uncertain. With few viable colonies of the small marsupial remaining around Frankston and on the Mornington Peninsula its “endangered species” status was last week reaffirmed. Foxes, feral cats and land clearing are among the bandicoot’s biggest threats. Environment Minister Greg Hunt told a biodiversity forum organised by the Western Port Biosphere that he agreed with the southern brown bandicoot staying on the endangered list. His announcement on Friday 6 May came one day after 49 extra species of flora and fauna were…
WHILE experts are investigating ways to prevent sand being eroded from Portsea beach, members of Nepean Ratepayers Association say only two of six options will work. Association president Colin Watson says the Department of Environment, Land, Water & Planning is “fully aware of this position” but has been told by the Environment Minister Lisa Neville to have all options examined “in a robust manner before any final decisions are made”. The company hired to investigate ways of protecting the beach, Advisian of Worley Parsons, handed in a report in January on wave processes impacting on the front beach at Portsea.…
The crunch time is fast approaching for the future of the Otama submarine anchored off Crib Point with deteriorating moorings. Earlier this year the submarine’s owners – the Western Port Oberon Association – sent out an SOS saying $50,000 was needed to fix the mooring by this month, May. Association president Max Bryant said yesterday (Monday) that the alternative was to sell the submarine for scrap. The desperate efforts to find a solution to the mooring dilemma is the latest of many hurdles faced during the 14 years since the submarine arrived in Western Port. Saturday marked the 14th anniversary…
MORNINGTON Peninsula mayor Cr Graham Pittock abandoned a trade mission to China last month after it became too hard to arrange a visa. Cr Pittock said the shire “lost” $1500 on flight bookings in the exercise after he was invited to speak at an event being organised by the China-based Australian International Trade Association. “It [the trip] was cancelled because I became too busy,” Cr Pittock said. He said the eight to 10-day visit to China would have given the shire “experience of doing business with internationally”. Cr Pittock said he had been approached by the AITA and was now…
A KEEN surfer, Kent Stannard has a fascination with sharks. He never misses a news report on the latest shark attack and is always trying to discover the circumstances surrounding the incident. When a series of attacks near Ballina in northern NSW caused widespread concern last year he was on the spot. Stannard predicts a similar situation this year with one surfer at Newcastle already being badly mauled. Stannard is the head of Tag for Life, a non-for-profit organisation investigating shark behaviour, particularly that of great whites. Alongside Tag for Life is Whitetag, a clothing supply company that donates profits…
Mornington Peninsula Shire officers have been instructed to seek repayment of thousands of dollars alleged to have been overspent by Cr Antonella Celi. In an at times fiery debate, councillors last week agreed that Cr Celi should repay the money allocated to her under her entitlements for conferences and seminars. The motion to pursue Cr Celi for the money was carried on the casting vote of the mayor Cr Graham Pittock after councillors were deadlocked five-five. Cr Celi left the chamber during the debate and vote. Although the original motion put Cr Celi’s overspending at $12,520 the final wording called…
THE state government has signed a memorandum of understanding with Melbourne University to establish a marine research centre in part of the heritage listed former quarantine station despite a master plan for the future use of Point Nepean National Park not being due for release until later this year. The agreement means that the university will receive $2.1m over six years from the National Environmental Science Program towards establishing a National Centre for Coasts and Climate (NCCC). The university says it will provide a $3m “matching investment”. Vice-chancellor Professor Glyn Davis said the university was “happy to be moving forward…
WHILE officialdom tries to draw a line under the spread of graffiti, private enterprise has its own way of dealing with paint splattered walls. David and Anita Hilet of Hastings-based printing firm Galaxy Print & Design, decided to enlist the help of self-confessed (but now reformed) graffiti tagger Michael “Mikey” Newman, to do a bit of signwriting and art on the side of their Reid Pde factory. The large wall facing the Frankston-Stony Point railway line was an eye catching fixture, but for all the wrong reasons. Its duck egg blue colour had been irresistible to graffiti taggers wanting to…
MORNINGTON Peninsula Shire has dropped the municipal charge in favour of a waste service charge which it says will ensure a “fairer redistribution of the rate burden”. The mayor Cr Graham Pittock said the $193 a property waste charge would raise $19 million, an amount that “fully recovers the cost of collection and disposal of refuse”. The municipal charge for 2014/15 was $180. The proposed budget released for public comment last week includes raising an extra $5.269m from rates, for a total of $155.344m. The proposed general rate is .22670 cents in the dollar of a property’s capital improved value…
THE principal of Red Hill Consolidated School was confidant late last week that the school would reopen on time on Monday. In a letter to parents Leanne Marshall said the Department of Health and Human Services was still investigating an outbreak of gastroenteritis that affected more than 100 pupils and six staff and caused the school to close a day earlier for the holidays. “However, we want to reassure all members of the school community that we have followed closely the guidelines in regards to management and control of gastroenteritis outbreaks in children’s services, as supplied by [the] DHHS communicable…
PLANS have been unveiled to complete a major piece of the Martha Cove marina and residential jigsaw puzzle-like development at Safety Beach. Known as the Martha Cove Village Centre, the 6.4 hectare site includes a “marina hub” with a cafe and support facilities and services for the marina, one 1000 square metre shop, several small shops and a 200-seat restaurant. But by far the largest part of the site is devoted to housing: 215 apartments and 100 “townhomes”. A public space – Anchorage Park – is separated from the marina itself by a block of three-storey apartments and lies between…
MORNINGTON Peninsula Shire’s Red Hill ward may encompass more than half the municipality, if proposals put forward by the Victorian Electoral Commission are adopted. The VEC’s review of ward boundaries based on the number of voters, not size, is likely to mean that just one councillor will represent as much property as that of the other 10 councillors combined. Red Hill ward is currently represented by Cr Tim Wood, elected in a by-election in August 2014 following the resignation of Frank Martin. The VEC review of boundary changes – to ensure the number of voters represented by each councillor is…
PASSENGERS on the final ferry for the day on Tuesday were entertained by a pod of dolphins swimming alongside the vessel and leaping from its bow waves. Researchers believe the dolphins’ “bow riding” is a social activity often indulged in after a meal. “Without mind-reading a dolphin, it just looks likes good fun; the equivalent of a surfer catching the perfect wave,” Dolphin Research Institute research director Sue mason said. Coincidentally, Tuesday’s display was admired from the ferry’s aft deck by surfers Ted Bainbridge (founder Peninsula Surf), Laurie Thompson (founder Islantis Surfboards) and surfboard maker Mick Pierce returning from a…
ENGRAVER Perry Fletcher found his niche in the art world after completing a five-month tour of Vietnam during his two years as a national service conscript, or Nasho. Now living in Mt Martha, Fletcher says he was in need of rest and inspiration after those two years of army life and went to Europe. While touring the galleries and studying art he realised there was no shortage of good painters but saw few exhibited engravings “and none of any significant size”. Returning to Australia in 1970 he moved into a one-room flat in Hawthorn and bought five feet by two…
MORNINGTON Peninsula Shire is under pressure to set aside more leash-free areas before dogs are banned from beaches between Flinders and Point Nepean. The total ban on dogs on beaches within the Mornington Peninsula National Park comes into effect in November. As well as banning dogs, the measures to protect the endangered hooded plover may also include laying poison baits for foxes and trapping feral cats. Groups that effectively lobbied the state government for the dog ban are now campaigning for more leash-free areas close to the beaches. The seasoned hooded plover campaigners dispute assurances from Mornington Peninsula Shire that…
HARNESSING energy is the key to a successful day of surfing at Point Leo: people power and wave power. Saturday 5 March was overcast all morning; there was a small swell and southerly winds. Not the best forecast for good surf or a day on the beach. But from just after dawn cars and vans began arriving at Point Leo. Trestle tables were set up, barbecues fired up and tents erected. A small fleet of wheelchairs was lined up just outside the lifesaving clubhouse. The wheelchairs are the clue to the day’s event, a day of surfing for a group…
DEMAND for berths has been so great that organisers have arranged another cruise. There’s no captain’s table or, indeed, individual berths, let alone showers, bars and swimming pools. But at $10 a head last Tuesday’s (8 March) trip around Western Port organised by the Western Port Catchment Committee is obviously seen as a bargain. The committee is an affiliate of the Western Port Biosphere Foundation. The trip provides a chance for experts – professional and amateur – to share their thoughts and knowledge with other like-minded souls who are interested in the ecology of the bay. Even using the word…
IT’S been nearly a year since Richard John died. His death was no surprise to those close to him, his family and many friends. Having been diagnosed with a virulent form of brain cancer the previous year they had had time to adjust to what they were told was a fatal disease. “He said it was his fate and accepted it gracefully,” his wife Cath said last week. “He was open-minded and was interested in the analytical psychology of [Carl] Yung. He was a bit of a philosopher, curious about life and open to ideas.” Perhaps his attitude came about…
A COMMUNITY group has launched an ambitious plan to find out what residents and ratepayers want for the future of the Mornington Peninsula. The results of an online survey to be conducted by Peninsula Speaks will be managed by Market Metrics and analysed by the Strategy Planning group. The findings will be provided to all three levels of government in the hope that they will be taken into account when decisions and policies affecting the peninsula are made. Peninsula Speaks, which describes itself as “a community advocacy organisation concerned with the protection of the Mornington Peninsula’s environment and landscape values”,…
CONTRACTORS are about to be appointed to investigate restoring Portsea’s famed front beach to its former, sand-filled glory. Following years of arguing over the causes of the sand loss, the Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning in February called for quotes on the methods and cost of replacing sand and preventing its future erosion. Background notes provided by the department acknowledge swell waves from Bass Strait as causing Portsea’s sand loss, but does not mention channel deepening in 2008-09, the biggest and most recent change to the Port Phillip seabed. The Port of Melbourne Corporation denied its two-year $720…
Up to 20 pupils and 25 teachers at Mornington Park Primary School will soon be sitting alongside each other in class being taught the same course. The school is the only primary in Victoria chosen for the Power of Two mentoring program that principal Beverly Dadds says is all about “connecting and building relationships; it’s not just academic skills, this is not tutoring”. Ms Dadds said two children would be chosen for the mentoring program from each of the school’s 10 classes. These children and teachers would then each be able to mentor other pupils, making the Power of Two…
IT seems a long way from Red Hill to Hollywood; even further when it comes to having a water bottle handed out to Tinseltown’s A-listers by a couple of men who gained inspiration from plastic polluting Mornington Peninsula beaches. But next week that unlikely scenario gets played out at the glittering Oscars awards when a flat, re-useable water bottle designed and produced by Jesse Leeworthy and Jonathan Byrt is included in the gift bag handed out to each nominee at the 28 February ceremony. “Getting the memobottle in the hands of actors like Matt Damon and Leonardo DiCaprio is exciting…
IT would be a rare day when George Paterson could walk along the streets of Rye or pull up at the back beach for a surf check without being recognised. A long time businessman in Frankston and on the Mornington Peninsula Patterson is an easy to talk to type who always has an adventure on the go or an anecdote to tell. But lately he’s discovered a way to become almost invisible. The secret is one he shares with others who wear tight fitting, colourful outdoor clothing – in short, they’re cyclists. Paterson has had so many near misses with…
MORNINGTON Peninsula Shire has adopted a five-year plan to become “carbon neutral”. Adoption of the plan last week follows the decision to close the Rye tip by the middle of next year. Waste will be exported from the municipality, effectively reducing the shire’s greenhouse gases and making it easier to gain carbon neutrality accreditation through the federal government-administered National Carbon Offset Standard. Councillors opposed to closing the tip say ratepayers will pay up to $60 a year extra for waste to be taken off the peninsula; those in favour put the figure at closer to $30. Emphasis on the shire’s…
THE flight of a small bird on a quiet southern Mornington Peninsula surf beach saw people jumping for joy. A young hooded plover that stretched its wings before gaining altitude from Fowlers beach is the first recorded successful take-off by a fledged hooded plover chick this season. However, a note of caution underlies the applause and relief experienced by the small band of people dedicated to the hooded plover’s survival on the peninsula. If the small birds are to remain in viable numbers, that chick needs to be joined in the air by at least another nine before the breeding…
FLINDERS MP Greg Hunt last Friday defended the federal government’s policy of returning 267 asylum seekers, including 39 children and 33 babies, to the Nauru detention centre after they have received medical treatment in Australia. He explained the government’s asylum seeker policies to 21 members of Amnesty International’s Mornington Peninsula branch gathered outside his Hastings office. Amnesty member Murray Anderson said the group was unable to get assurances from Mr Hunt that children would not be detained or sent back to Nauru. Amnesty has stepped up its campaign against offshore detention centres following a High Court decision which said the…
TO some, boxing may seem a strange road to travel in search of peace. But that is exactly the destination where the lessons in life handed out by boxing trainer Ron Smith can lead. The Mt Eliza-based former professional boxer admits to making mistakes while growing up, but says he learned from those to be a better man. Now 71, Smith is an advocate for peace, harmony and self-respect; attributes he passes on to people of all ages attending the Mt Eliza Boxing Centre he runs with his wife Sharyn. The philosophies espoused by Smith resonated so much with Jack…
ALTHOUGH there is no chance of offering travellers a cathedral at the end of their journey, Michael Leeworthy believes a walking track on the Mornington Peninsula could gain some international popularity along the lines of the celebrated Camino de Santiago, which runs from France to Spain. Also known as the Way of St James, the Camino has four pilgrimage routes to the shrine of the apostle St James the Great in the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela in Galicia, north western Spain. Thousands of tourists follow the Camino de Santiago each year – or sections of it – either to…
MORNINGTON’S Mikaela Lawrence has her sights set on joining the top ranks of race-winning jockeys. Already working for Mornington-based trainer Sam Pritchard-Gordon (P-G Racing), Lawrence has now joined Racing Victoria’s apprentice jockey training program. “Mikaela, 21, is the oldest of four students selected for the program’s first year class, and has fought hard to earn her position in the high performance program, having not come from a horsey background,” Racing Victoria’s media and communications officer Daniel Miles said. In announcing Lawrence’s induction into the elite jockey training program, the P-G Racing website described the 49 kilogram apprentice as “a great…