THE state government has ended plans for a multi-million plan for a commercial development at Point Nepean National Park based around a luxury hotel and thermal springs. Although it may cost up to $1 million to break the 49-year lease signed off by the previous Liberal/National coalition six weeks before the November 2014 election, the government says its decision will prevent “inappropriate development” at the park. The focus on what to do with the park will now swing back to a master plan developed five years ago but dropped when Labor lost power. Ending the lease entered into with the…
Author: Keith Platt
AUTHOR and illustrator Michael Leeworthy wants to help people find work. He believes everyone has skills and with a bit of soul searching and encouragement can market their natural abilities. Hired “to motivate people” by agencies running Work for the Dole projects, Leeworthy says the experience has shown him that “everyone has skills and they need to sit down and make a list of what they area”. No stranger to trying to find work himself, Leeworthy describes himself as “a dropout at 16” but says he never collected unemployment benefits. He had a willingness to try his hand at any…
NO doubt it will go unremarked on by horses, but a new equestrian centre at Merricks has overcome all odds and won a major architecture award. The winner of Sir Osborn McCutcheon Award in the commercial section of this year’s Victorian Architecture Awards, the equestrian centre is both a training centre and stud. Extensive use of rammed earth and wood is a feature of the curved building designed by Melbourne architects Watson Architecture + Design and Seth Stein Architects, of London. The Australian Institute of Architects’ said “any tendency to complicate the program or the resultant built form has been…
THE word “restaurant” has disappeared from the website of a Red Hill business that may have breached Green Wedge planning regulations. Mornington Peninsula Shire officers last month recommended councillors seek an enforcement order from the Victorian Civil Administrative Tribunal (VCAT) against the Green Olive of Red Hill for not complying with its operating permit. Environment protection and community safety manager Claire Smith last week no complaints had been received about any other restaurants. The Green Olive is on a 10 hectare block and under the planning regulations no restaurant can operate on land under 40 hectares. In 2008 owners Sue…
HASTINGS MP Neale Burgess is predicting a dark future for Hastings because of the state government’s decision to increasingly use Western Port as a “bulk” port. The scaled-down Port of Hastings Development Authority has swung its focus from preparing for a container port to promoting its use for bulk products, such as LNG (liquefied natural gas), petroleum products and brown coal. Hastings is already used to import and export petroleum and gas products and Mr Burgess accuses the government of having “secret plans” that will lead to Western Port being “a toxic dumping ground”, damaging lifestyles and cutting property values.…
THE self-described “sustainable” Mornington Peninsula Shire has a neighbour that’s now officially known as the “sustainable city” – Frankston. While the peninsula gave itself the title of sustainable, Frankston has been named Sustainable City of the Year by Keep Australia Beautiful Victoria. Frankston earned its right to use sustainable through its 10-year plan to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and achieve carbon neutrality by 2025. Frankston has also pipped the peninsula on naming rights with the September 2014 opening of its $50 million Peninsula Aquatic Recreation Centre built close to the city’ central commercial area. The shire has dropped its plans…
MORNINGTON Peninsula Shire councillors will be asked if they want to continue legal action against an award-winning business that, although preparing and regularly serving food, claims it is not a restaurant. Green Olive of Red Hill in 2008 was given a permit for “primary produce sales” and “manufacturing sales” after presenting plans that showed a small sales counter and tasting area in an existing shed. Council officers say Green Olive now offers “a substantive menu of food and drink” prepared by two chefs in a commercial-sized kitchen served in an area equipped with 80 chairs. It also runs cooking classes,…
OPPONENTS to a container port at Hastings are being warned not to give up the fight just because the state government plans to lease the Port of Melbourne with guarantees of no competition for 50 years. The Preserve Western Port Action Group wants the government to “pursue sustainable developments that support the tourism and recreational boating industries” as an alternative to further industrialising Western Port. The group was Infrastructure Victoria to begin its assessment of whether Bay West in Port Phillip or Hastings is the best location for the state’s next container port. “Detailed submissions will be sought and the…
THE latest studies into rising sea levels show beaches and foreshores will be affected throughout Western Port, with the biggest loss of land to inundation occurring in the northern section of the bay. While beaches from Somers to Flinders with steeper foreshores will in large part retain their existing profiles, erosion is expected to increase as cliffs become more exposed to the sea. The studies also warn that underground water supplies will increasingly be salt affected. Land surrounding the bay’s tidal channels, such as those at Hastings and Merricks Creek, will also come under increasing pressure from rising levels in…
PENINSULA Home Hospice (PHH) has launched a $5m campaign to pay for its new Mornington headquarters. The building will provide the first permanent home for the 30-year-old organisation that supports people suffering from a terminal illness. The service offers free palliative care, counselling and therapies to patients and their families in the municipalities of Mornington Peninsula, Frankston and Kingston (south of Mordialloc Creek). Small charges may apply to care by the Royal District Nursing Service (RDNS) and the use of specialist equipment. Directors of PHH bought 327 Main St, Mornington, in April after research and “years of coping with leases…
POLICE have all but confirmed there will be no public service counter at the soon-to-be-opened Somerville police station. Acting chief commissioner Tim Cartwright says he does not think the demand will justify taking police away from neighbouring police stations. “My judgement is that I would prefer to have those members available for patrols to Somerville and surrounding areas rather than take them from the neighbouring stations to provide a counter service which I do not think justifies the commitment,” Mr Cartwright told the public accounts and estimates committee on 12 May, adding that a final decision had yet to be…
THE Opposition is accusing the state government of lying over its claim to be searching for the best site for Victoria’s second container port. The Labor government has all but backed away from choosing Western Port and is overseeing the slow demise of the Port of Hastings Development Authority (PoHDA). And now, with its intention of leasing the Port of Melbourne for 50 years with a guarantee of compensation if there is competition from another major port, the government appears to have abandoned its plan for another container port. The greatly diminished PoHDA says it is investigating investment opportunities for…
STAFF numbers have been cut to 14 at the Port of Hastings Development Authority. The latest cuts are in line with the Labor government’s aim of hearing from Infrastructure Victoria before deciding on a site for the state’s second container port. While falling short of formally abandoning Hastings, this latest move is likely to leave a significant vacuum in the forward planning policies of the Mornington Peninsula and Frankston. The Port of Hastings Development Authority has all but been left out of the latest state budget and must rely on ever decreasing revenues from port operator, Patricks Stevedores. In the…
THE making of six wooden paipos, or wooden Hawaiian bodyboards, is a centrepiece of a project that is sees generations swapping skills. In return for being shown how to handle timber working tools by members of Mornington Men’s Shed students from Mt Eliza Secondary College are giving lessons on handling such digital touch screen devices as smart phones and hand held computers. But the outcomes for both old and young go much deeper than the creation of a surfboard or ability to operate a smart phone or computer. A surprising connection between the generations comes in the form of statistics:…
A NEW land, a new language and no friends or job. It is a situation that is hard to imagine and even harder to experience. However, that was the predicament confronting Luz Restrepo when she arrived in Australia five years ago after fleeing her native Colombia. “I was a political asylum seeker with no contacts, very little English language and no employment,” Ms Restrepo said last week. “I had left my successful communications business to protect my family under threat.” It was a fear that she was unable to shake. “When I arrived in Australia I was full of fear,…
THE future of the Port of Hastings Development Authority is in doubt following the failure of the state government to refinance its operations in last week’s budget. Hastings MP Neale Burgess has accused the government of “siphoning off” $80 million that should have gone to the authority’s operations. He said the “disturbing and cynical move” was a “further betrayal” from the Labor government which had provided no new funding for the area. “Just five months ago the Port of Hastings was building a real future for our community, already providing more than 100 jobs and preparing to provide thousands more…
NEW restrictions have been imposed on the fishing industry following the deaths of eight dolphins and four fur seals during two offshore trips by the factory trawler, Geelong Star. The Australian Fisheries Management Authority (AFMA) says trawlers in the small pelagic fishery must now only fish during daylight while the Geelong Star has to prove if has taken “all reasonable steps … to minimise further marine mammal mortalities”. Boats operating within a defined management zone would face a six-month ban on fishing if a dolphin died as a result of their operations. The tightening of fishing rules is seen as…
WHEN a small flock of grey plovers takes off from Flinders next year little would the birds know that their progress is being monitored 24 hours a day. The movements of each of up to five birds carrying a transmitter will be tracked for two years, probably over a distance of 48,000 kilometres. Each year, after spending summer in Australia, the plovers take flight for their breeding grounds in Siberia and Alaska. This pattern of following the sun is not unusual, but little is known about the grey plovers’ journey and the Australasian Wader Studies Group (AWSG) has launched a…
IT may have started as a pure flight of fancy, and has developed into one of the most successful marketing and branding exercises the world has known, but there seems no end to epic that is Star Wars. The movies have been shown (repeatedly), merchandise made, costumes worn, snatches of dialogue endlessly swapped and still the lure of time and travel seems infinite. Like space, the story of the Star Wars phenomena seems to have no outer limits. Next week’s May the Fourth Be With You Day is being as eagerly anticipated around the globe as the staged releases of…
THOUSANDS of people commemorated Anzac Day, attending dawn services and marches across the Mornington Peninsula. The threat of rain did not appear to impact on the numbers gathering to mark the centenary of the ill-fated landings of Australian and New Zealand troops on the beaches at Gallipoli, in Turkey. In direct contrast to the suffering of the troops, Saturday’s crowds parked their cars and walked to the various ceremonies free of any impending danger. Children proudly wore the medals of relatives as they approached memorials, letting everybody know the soldiers’ deeds would not be forgotten. Ironically, while the various speakers…
THE final winding up of the financial affairs of the organisation behind the Shiva School of Meditation and Yoga, Mt Eliza, could depend on “litigation flowing” from allegations against its former spiritual leader, Russell Kruckman, also known as Swami Shankarananda and Swamiji. Paul Burness and Con Kokkinos of Worrells Solvency & Forensic Accountants were last week appointed voluntary liquidators of the troubled Shiva Yoga Inc. Mr Burness on Saturday said the timing of the winding up of the organisation would be determined by the “litigation flowing” and contingent liabilities. Once finalised, the liquidation will see the end of an organisation…
The Frankston Visitor Information Centre has again taken out top honours at the QANTAS Australian Tourism Awards held 2015. Frankston Visitor Information Centre is the first one of its kind to be inducted into the national tourism hall of fame. The visitor centre based near Frankston pier has won the Australian Tourism Awards gold award for visitor information and services for the third year in a row. The induction in Adelaide on Friday 10 April followed the Frankston centre entering the Victorian hall of fame after three consecutive wins in the state awards. The wins mean that the centre can no longer…
LIBERAL MPs have been accused of wrongly blaming the state government for not giving public access to the soon-to-be-opened Somerville police station. Police Minister Wade Noonan last week said Hastings MP Neale Burgess and Opposition police spokesman Edward O’Donohue are “conveniently misleading the community on this issue “. Mr Noonan decisions about police numbers and public access were made by the Chief Commissioner, not the government. “Under the Napthine government, changes were made that enshrined in law the independence of the Chief Commissioner to make determinations over the deployment of police to specific locations,” Mr Noon said. “This includes determining…
RUMOURS of the imminent closure or liquidation of the Shiva School of Meditation and Yoga heightened last week in the face of an ongoing police investigation, threat of a class action and suspension of its accredited yoga teacher training course. Signs have been removed from the school’s ashram in Tower Rd, Mt Eliza, and former residents have reportedly been told they have until Tuesday to remove any belongings. Police from the Seaford-based SOCIT (Sexual Offences and Child Abuse Investigation Teams) on Thursday confirmed they are investigating allegations of sexual assault. St Kilda lawyer Angela Sdrinis is launching a class action…
HUNDREDS of names have been added to an online petition calling for the head of a Mt Eliza ashram to step down while police investigate allegations of sexual abuse. “Signatures” have come from around the world, including Sweden, Switzerland, Germany, Serbia, Kazakhstan, South Africa, the United Kingdom and the Unites States. Messages left on the petition call for the managers of the tax exempt Shiva School of Meditation and Yoga to appoint a new leader to replace Russell Kruckman, also known as Swami Shankarananda and Swamiji. One message suggests selling the ashram in Tower Rd and distributing the proceeds to…
TALES of personal grief, heartbreak and broken relationships continue to emerge in the aftermath of admissions of secret sexual relations between the spiritual leader and some of his female devotees at the Shiva School of Meditation and Yoga, Mt Eliza. In the past week several new accounts of relationship breakdowns attributed to the actions of the school’s founder Swami Shankarananda have been described on a website established by his former followers. The owners of the leavingshivayoga website have told The News that they have been advised publishing personal testimonies “does not interfere with the ongoing work by the Victorian police…
FRENCH Islanders have again been left stranded by the ferry. Engine problems put both the main ferry, George Bass, and its back-up, Schouten Passage, out of action. It is understood the Department of Transport issued a stop notice on the George Bass on Friday 27 February. The ferry is reported to have been running on one motor and was docking on the outside of the Stony Point jetty because restricted maneuverability prevented it from using its normal landing inside of the jetty. Without the regular ferry service schoolchildren were being brought from the island in small private boats. Over the…
FEW people get to live on a small island close to a major city. Even fewer can claim they are the island’s sole inhabitant. Anne Tillig has been in that enviable situation since 1996 after buying Elizabeth Island with her late husband, Ivan Vit. The 26 hectare island is close to the south east corner of French Island and an eight kilometre boat trip from Corinella and just over twice that distance from Stony Point. Isolated it might be, but Elizabeth Island has all mod cons, including mobile phone and internet access, there are adequate water tanks, bottled gas and…
THE sound of screeching seagulls is nothing new over the shops at Mt Martha. The birds are masters of the air and making the trip across the road from beach to scavenging on the footpath is just a wingbeat away. But on a Sunday afternoon in early January a glance upwards would have shown shoppers that the screeching of the gulls had nothing to do with squabbles over food. Not too far above the shops glided a wedge-tailed eagle, its characteristic silhouette raising alarm among the birds underneath. Sightings of Australia’s largest bird of prey are becoming more common on…
LIKE ripples from a pebble tossed into a still pond, revelations of sexual impropriety at the Mt Eliza-based Shiva School of Meditation and Yoga have been echoing around the world. The ripples have left a string of fractured and broken friendships and relationships in their wake. Announced first to “members” of the school and ashram and then published in The News, the revelations that the school’s founder Swami Shankarananda had admitted to having secret sexual relations with women devotees was soon picked up by national news organisations. Inevitably, it has also become a source of comment on social media, mostly…