AN economic analysis of data from the 2021 census highlights the stark socio-economic differences between towns across the Mornington Peninsula. The socio-economic rankings from one – most disadvantaged – to 10 – most advantaged – are based on income, occupation, employment status and education. Australian Bureau of Statistics rankings based on the latest Socio-Economic Indexes for Areas (SEIFA) released last week show towns across the peninsula vary from being most advantaged to most disadvantaged. Towns categorised as being most disadvantaged, or those having the lowest scores, are Hastings (1) and Capel Sound (1). Towns with a score of two, the…
Author: Keith Platt
AFTER more than 20 years of delay the Mount Martha community playground also known as the Mount Martha Eco Park in Glenisla Drive will be extended and refurbished. The playground was built at the instigation of local residents who stopped South East Water subdividing the land for 64 housing lots. “The outcome of the drawn out fight with authorities and Mornington Peninsula Shire was a much smaller subdivision and the land donated to the shire for a community playground,” said former shire president and state MP, Judith Couacaud Graley, a member of the group behind the creation of the park.…
ARTWORKS displayed in the foyer of Mornington Library this month depict the “wild wonders” growing in the Mornington-Moorooduc railway reserve. While travellers on the train run along the heritage line by Mornington Railway Preservation Society admire the passing landscape, environment groups say the nature that is so appealing to artists is threatened by plans to run the Bay Trail through the reserve. “The exhibition grew out of a desire to raise public awareness of, and connectivity to, the beauty, value and fragility of this very special local gem,” Jeanette Miller, who coordinated the exhibition with Mornington Peninsula Shire’s community arts…
MORNINGTON Peninsula Shire mayor Cr Steve Holland says it is “unnecessary and without basis” for the state government to investigate the shire’s performance. “Based on recent benchmarking, [the shire] remains one of the most efficient councils in Victoria, compared to similar councils,” Holland said. “The shire continues to deliver a balanced budget every year and has the eighth lowest rates out of 79 councils in Victoria. This is the place to be.” Holland’s comments follow calls by two ratepayer groups for an inquiry. “Our request that the appointment of a Commission of Inquiry is simply an investigation, not an indication…
A “DESIGN” is underway to rebuild the deteriorating Fishermans Jetty at Mornington, according to Parks Victoria. The jetty was closed for safety reasons in June 2022 when Parks said planning for the future of Mornington harbour was “anticipated” to start late-2022. “We have engaged a project manager and will be seeking specialist advice on heritage values and other matters,” acting regional director southern and maritime region Graeme Davis said last week (“Jetty’s future tied to $6.7m harbour plan” The News 18/4/23). “We will be consulting with the community later in 2023 as the [harbour] plan is developed.” In June last…
ABOUT 20 artists and potters from Frankston and the Mornington Peninsula will be opening their studios to the public the Peninsula Studio Trail weekend, 29 to 30 April. The artists promote their work collectively and believe opening their studio doors makes it more accessible to the public. “The open studio weekends are a wonderful opportunity to meet talented local artists and visit their private working studios,” member artist Diane Williamson said. “Our diverse and gifted artists specialise in ceramics, painting (oils, watercolour and acrylic), textiles, printmaking, photography, sculpture. Some run classes or workshops and promote their work through exhibitions.” Williamson…
PROPERTY owners in Mornington Peninsula’s rural areas may find themselves in a quandary when it comes to their autumn burn-offs. The Country Fire Authority says it, “partner” agencies and property owners will be making the most of the cooler weather “to conduct fuel reduction burns to lower bushfire risk”. Although fire restrictions on the peninsula were lifted this week (Monday 24 April) but the Victorian Farmers Federation’s peninsula branch has asked farmers to delay burn-offs because the smoke could taint unpicked grapes. “The vine fruit will be impacted by any smoke taint during this critical period, immediately prior to harvest…
THE Hastings area has been earmarked as the hub of major projects resulting from the so-called transition to clean energy. Work is about to start on a $330 million battery energy storage system (BESS) at Tyabb. The Port of Hastings has been named as “the most suitable port” to support construction of offshore wind generators. The port is also part of a controversial plan to ship liquified hydrogen made from brown coal to Japan. GRM Energy says its Tyabb battery will “help fast track the country’s clean energy transition”. It has an agreement with Ausnet to build the transmission infrastructure…
PENINSULA Aero Club has failed in a bid to force Mornington Peninsula Shire Council and several Tyabb residents to pay nearly $124,000 in legal costs. The Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal last month ruled that PAC and Westernport Airfield Pty Ltd could not claim costs as they were not “substantially successful” in their dispute with council over: the description of the use of the land as an ‘airfield’ or ‘airport’; the use of the east-west runway; the total number of take-offs and landings of aircraft with an all-up weight of between 4,500 and 12,500 pounds; and the prohibition on night…
JUST under one year ago Parks Victoria said Mornington Harbour would undergo a major safety revamp. More than $6.7 million had been allocated from the 2022-23 state budget to plan the harbour’s future and rebuild Fishermans Jetty opposite Mornington Yacht Club. When contacted by The News last Thursday (13 April) Parks Victoria said it would be unable to answer questions about the jetty until later this week. Meanwhile, as the night-time picture by Gary Sissons shows, the jetty appears to be in a precarious situation, its decking sagging towards the water supported by rotting wooden pylons. The jetty was closed…
THE waves at Bells Beach can be challenging enough, but when word spread of a “big poo” being spotted at the nearby town of Torquay an even sharper focus was kept on the ocean over Easter. However, the Big Poo was more of a mobile landmark than a threat to surfers competing in the annual Rip Curl Pro surfing contest. Men’s winner Ethan Ewing and women’s champion Tyler Wright were in no danger as they rode the Bells waves to victory as the Big Poo had been safely secured on a trailer towed by Clean Ocean Foundation’s Tom Duell. As…
TWO ratepayer groups have repeated their call for a state government inquiry “into the performance of the Mornington Peninsula Shire”. It is the third time the groups have sought government action and comes eight months after the Local Government Minister Melissa Horne rejected their first request. The groups have now told the Premier Daniel Andrews that a public satisfaction survey rating the shire at an “all time low” gives the government “a very commendable and indisputable reason for undertaking an independent review”. “The appointment of a Commission of Inquiry is simply an investigation, not an indication of guilt and offers…
LIBERAL MP for Flinders Zoe McKenzie has accused the Prime Minister Anthony Albanese of engaging in wedge politics rather than ensuring “an enduring win for our Indigenous Australians” over the wording of the Voice to Parliament. “Despite … inviting all Australians to walk together to a better future, he has, without broader public debate or transparency, put forward a fundamental change to the Australian Constitution [to the Australian parliament] that, today, has the highest representation of Indigenous Australians ever on record, much to our collective pride and gratitude to the voters who have elected them,” McKenzie told parliament on 27…
MORNINGTON Peninsula Shire councillors have rejected a suggestion that ratepayers’ money be used to provide police with CCTV cameras to catch hoon drivers. Cr David Gill estimated it would cost $10,000 to $15,000 to provide police with a trailer fitted with cameras that could be placed in areas where hoon drivers were known to gather. The mayor, Cr Steve Holland, who used his casting vote to defeat Gill’s suggestion of considering adding the cost of cameras for the police to the budget, he was concerned by “cost shifting”, from the state government to council. “We have CCTV cameras to protect…
BUSINESS lobby group Committee for Mornington Peninsula is making good its aim of identifying and contacting decision-makers to help achieve its “long-term outcomes” and “strategic objectives”. Members of the committee’s executive in recent weeks have met with the Labor MP for Hastings, Paul Mercurio and the Labor MP for Dunkley, Peta Murphy. The committee wasted no time in issuing a news release congratulating Kate Roper on winning the byelection for the Watson Ward seat on Mornington Peninsula Shire Council left vacant by Mercurio’s November election to state government. Roper, who represented Cerberus Ward from 2016 to 2020, was sworn in…
BALNARRING Beach came to a standstill last Tuesday (28 March) when police held up traffic for Mornington Peninsula Shire Council workers to cut down a tree. The shire said the 70 to 100-year-old manna gum was leaning over Balnarring Beach Road and was a traffic hazard. Residents who have been fighting to save the tree showed their anger at its axing by gathering alongside the remnants of its trunk and hanging signs condemning its loss. “We leave far more dangerous large pine trees reaching their lifespan on 80 to 100 kilometre an hour roadside that often fall across roads risking…
FLINDERS MP Zoe McKenzie is one of seven Coalition MPs to apologise for attempting to exit parliament after the Speaker had ordered the doors closed before a vote. The Speaker, Milton Dick said a rush for the door on Wednesday 28 March by the MPs was “a very serious and grave incident” that saw an attendant injured while attempting to close the door. “As all members are aware … after the Speaker orders the doors to be locked no member may enter or leave the chamber until after the division,” Dick said. “It does not matter whether the doors have…
PUBLIC suggestions are being sought for the future use of Police Point Park, at Portsea. Sandwiched between the last residential street (Cove Lane) in Portsea and the Point Nepean National Park, the 17 hectare Police Point is owned and managed by Mornington Peninsula Shire Council. The shire described it as “a beautiful heritage property that it now wants to identify “opportunities to expand the experiences the community could enjoy”. In a news release, the shire asks if the public wants “more social and activity spaces”; improvements to existing infrastructure or facilities; or signs about First Nations history. Suggestions can be…
KATE Roper is set to make a triumphant return to Mornington Peninsula Shire Council after winning this month’s Watson Ward byelection. Roper won the seat against five other candidates with 50.72 per cent of the vote after the distribution of preferences. Stefan Borzecki received 23.15 per cent of first preference votes to Roper’s 21.48 per cent. Roper was elected to represent Cerberus Ward in 2016 but lost to Lisa Dixon at the 2020 elections after a count of second preferences despite having more first preference votes. The byelection this month was held to fill the vacancy created on the 11-member…
THE state government’s apparent willingness to increase the use and size of the Port of Hastings has put it on a collision course with environment and community groups and Mornington Peninsula Shire Council. The main points of contention at the moment are the government’s approval of Esso using methane gas powered generators at Long Island Point, Japan’s intention to spend $2.35 billion exporting liquified hydrogen gas from Hastings and a terminal being built to assemble and ship wind generators to Bass Strait. The recent big budget proposals for the port follow years of relative peace on the docks with the…
THE Disabled Surfers Association Mornington Peninsula branch’s surfing event at Point Leo on Saturday 4 March saw plenty of smiles in the water and the opening of changing rooms for people with high support needs. The “changing places” building includes a toilet, shower, tracking hoist system and a change table with space either side for support staff and families. The facility was opened by Environment Minister Ingrid Stitt who said it would make “this wonderful destination more accessible for everyone to enjoy”. Shelley Hansom-Brown, whose daughter Kiah takes the opportunity to join other surfers at DSAMP events, said there had…
THE changing direction for future energy needs has revived plans to expand and develop the Port of Hastings. In Japan last week, state Trade Minister Tim Pallas said the Latrobe Valley-based brown coal to hydrogen project had the potential to create thousands of jobs in Victoria and “play a critical role” in reducing global emissions. The hydrogen is to be shipped to Kobe, Japan, from the Port of Hastings. Pallas’s comments followed an announcement that Japan will spend $2.35 billion on the brown coal project, much of it earmarked for export requirements at Hastings. Just days later it was announced…
ALTHOUGH described by Mornington Peninsula Shire officers as being unsightly and a target for vandals, shipping containers are seen by councillors as part of the answer to the “housing crisis”. The enthusiasm by councillors to allow shipping containers to be used for housing may be extended to continue using them for changing rooms at sports ovals. Councillors have agreed to a “round-table workshop … to explore all possible pathways and consequences to activate, including but not limited to small secondary dwellings, dependent person units, tiny houses and moveable dwellings within the Mornington Peninsula in response to our growing housing crisis”.…
MUSIC and art combine to help Brodie Alserda cope with her daily mental and physical issues stemming from her chromosome deletion disorder and living on the autism spectrum. An exhibition in the foyer of Mornington Library covers part of her output from 2021 to this year and illustrates her interest in marine life. The one picture that does not reflect on the watery world is of an iguana. Now 29, Alserda’s chromosome deletion disorder was not diagnosed until she was 19, although she has been an artist since she was young. The screening, maintained in a global database, showed no…
THE Mornington Peninsula may have 373 kilometres of unmade roads, but not everyone shares the shire’s ambition of wanting them all sealed. Nine property owners in Ailsa Street, Mount Martha have signed a petition against a concrete drive being made across a nature strip, as it affects the streets “consistency of appearance”. The short street running between Bay and Watson Roads has a category B designation under the shire’s unmade roads list, which means it has a “moderate priority for construction”. Category A roads will be “considered for construction with the next five to 10 years”. Asset protection team leader…
A CONCERT on Hastings foreshore by US band Smashing Pumpkins has been cancelled because insurers class the site as “an unacceptable risk”. A former landfill site, the foreshore can become “environmentally unstable in extreme weather” and Mornington Peninsula Shire requires users to “complete a hazard and risk register”, the mayor Cr Steve Holland said. Concert promoters One World Entertainment said it cancelled the Smashing Pumpkins’ The World is a Vampire tour concert on Saturday 22 April because the council’s regulations had made it uninsurable. “Any wet weather can lead to an event being shut down at the council’s discretion, this…
HOUSING, financial insecurity, death of a friend, illness of a family member and domestic violence led to Kerri McCafferty’s seemingly sudden resignation from Mornington Peninsula Shire Council. McCafferty publicly explained the reasons behind her resignation last December at council’s Tuesday 21 February meeting. After congratulating Cr Simon Brooks on being her Seawinds Ward replacement, McCafferty said: “A little more on my resignation. It’s probably time I started to talk about it. Elected to council in October 2020, McCafferty was part of a new look council, with eight of its 11 members being first time councillors. However, ratepayer representation by councillors…
MEMBERS of parliament were at Devilbend Reservoir for this year’s first input of fish stock with the release of catchable size brown trout. Outdoor Recreation Minister Sonya Kilkenny and MP for Eastern Victoria Tom McIntosh watched the release of 500-gram trout which, unless caught, could weigh one kilogram or more within a year. The reservoir near Moorooduc had been stocked with nearly 250,000 brown and rainbow trout since 2010, some of which now weigh two kilograms or more. The MPs said stocking Devilbend with fish was “another tourism drawcard” on the Mornington Peninsula. Devilbend is also one of the few…
A SEAL at Stony Point treated interested onlookers to an insight into its approach to preparing and eating a meal. Bashing the raw material – in this case the carcass of a tuna – seemed to be the main approach. There was no delicate, quiet appreciation of what was on offer. A lot of splashing and throwing the food around appeared to make it both more tender and easier to break up. Photographer Gary Sissons thought the remains of the tuna had probably been thrown into the water after being caught, brought ashore and filleted. Although the seal appeared to…
MONEY and roads are seen as key issues by candidates in the byelection to represent Watson Ward on Mornington Peninsula Shire. The ward has been without a councillor since last year when then councillor Paul Mercurio announced he was standing as Labor’s candidate for the seat of Hastings in the November state election. Mercurio won the seat held for the previous 16 years by Liberal Neale Burgess and resigned from council in December. Six candidates, including two former councillors and two previous unsuccessful candidates, are seeking to replace Mercurio on the council. The byelection is being conducted by post, with…