With Keith Platt UPKEEP and management of the Mornington Peninsula’s public boat ramps is still a grey area – despite it being six months since the state government announced that it was taking over the role. The first the shire knew of it came in a surprise pre-election announcement by Premier Daniel Andrews on Channel 31’s Talking Fishing in November. Since then, the shire has “continued to do the right thing” by checking and maintaining boat ramps to make sure they are safe for the public, the mayor Cr David Gill said. However, no provision had been made for boat…
Author: Stephen Taylor
JUST days out from Saturday’s election, mayors from municipalities throughout Australia have demanded that the next federal government takes swift action to tackle climate change. The 15 mayors – including Mornington Peninsula Shire’s Cr David Gill – are from the Cities Power Partnership, the country’s largest local government climate alliance. Cr Gill said local governments around Australia and the world have “been leading on climate action for decades” but their efforts were increasingly being stifled by the “shocking inaction” of state and federal governments. “This election, the conversation we should be having is about the devastating costs of not taking…
A BAXTER farmer says he could “double [our] workforce to 50 and triple or quadruple production” if his property had access to a reliable supply of recycled water. Wayne Shields and partner Tash, from Peninsula Fresh Organics, grow 50 varieties of organic vegetables, such as heirloom carrots, beetroot and radish on their 16-hectare farm. The couple also have 40 hectares at Barham on the Murray River, bought in 2013 to extend their growing season and their range. The couple’s plight echoes that of Moorooduc orchardists Mark and Jacki Paganoni who are also suffering as the big dry continues. Their Atlanta…
WOMEN have found their calling at the Australian Volunteer Coast Guard’s Western Port Flotilla, based in Hastings, which has a higher percentage of females than most. Of the 48 members, 29 per cent are female – said to be almost 10 per cent higher than the state average. Members come from diverse backgrounds, lifestyles and ages to assist at the flotilla which responds to maritime emergencies 24 hours a day all year. The area they cover is one of the largest in Victoria: 680 square kilometres which extends out into Bass Strait and takes in 263 kilometres of coastline, including…
AFTER accepting what it terms a “peer review” a national retailers’ organisation has slammed the proposed Kaufland bid for Mornington as “confirming the worst fears of local small and family businesses” in Mornington Peninsula Shire. Employer industry association MGA Independent Retailers, representing grocery, liquor and hardware retailers, says a recent economic impact assessment had found that Kaufland’s potential effect on “local businesses will be permanent and ongoing”. The giant German-owned retailer is eyeing six sites in Victoria – including a 4000-metre site in Mornington near the corner of Nepean Highway and Oakbank Road. State planning minister Richard Wynne has overridden…
WORK has stopped on the controversial $80 million redevelopment of the Continental Hotel at Sorrento while the developers chase finance. Joint-venture partner Julian Gerner said last week a “gap between funding arrangements” had forced the shutdown at the historic watering hole before Easter. He said the amount being sought was around $40 million. Mr Gerner said he was being “fiscally responsible” in waiting until the money had been secured before continuing work, but gave reassurances that “all is going well”. He and property group Steller are redeveloping the 1875 four-storey limestone building into bar, function, fine dining and residential areas…
THE plight of a homeless woman living alone in a Mornington Peninsula foreshore toilet block has evoked sympathy from nearby residents as well as a little hostility. The middle-aged woman, of Asian appearance, has been at the block since Christmas after moving from the Rye foreshore. (The News is not disclosing the site to help ensure the woman’s safety). The woman has gathered possessions, including a sleeping bag, case and umbrella, and told a source her phone had been stolen. She reportedly becomes abusive if toilet users look at her or query her presence. Mornington Peninsula Shire Council’s family services…
MORNINGTON Peninsula Shire has run into the equivalent of a brick wall in its efforts to improve bus services on the peninsula. Despite seven months of lobbying the state government and working closely with bus company Venturer, there have been no improvements. “Our advocacy efforts and those of the community have not resulted in any significant upgrades to bus services on the peninsula,” the mayor Cr David Gill said. He said 82 per cent of the peninsula had no public transport. “For $20 million a year we could fix the bus services on the peninsula. It’s a public service that’s…
A RED Hill restaurateur is reconciled to spending as much as $200,000 fighting a Mornington Peninsula Shire Council knock-back of an application for a permit to alter a septic tank system. Red Gum BBQ proprietor Melissa Goffin calls the shire “short-sighted” and “infuriating” for refusing her permission to dispose of what the shire estimates will be more than 5000 litres of wastewater a day from the Arthurs Seat Road venue after patronage is increased to 140 seats. Ms Goffin said the greywater would be suitable for a neighbouring orchard, on Nash’s Lane, which she said was in desperate need of…
ROSEBUD resident Dirk Jansen is organising events to highlight the plight of koalas on the Mornington Peninsula, including a koala day next month. “Many people are surprised to find out there are still koalas living on the peninsula,” he said. “There is something special about observing wild koalas in their natural habitat and residents and visitors are always delighted when a koala visits their backyard or is spotted on one of the many bush walks.” Mr Jansen said the peninsula’s small population of koalas has been declining rapidly. “Like everywhere else on the east coast of Australia, koalas face many…
A MOOROODUC family business has been given access to vital water supplies to tide it over until the drought breaks. The Stumpy Gully Road apple orchard run by the Paganoni family since the 1960s, was on the verge of going under when its irrigation-fed dam dried up and recycled water proved uneconomic to buy (“Shire calls for drought aid” The News 18/3/19). The plight of Atlanta Fruit Sales prompted Mornington Peninsula Shire Council to call on state water minister Lisa Neville to declare the region “drought affected” in a strategic move aimed at giving hard-hit farms, businesses and recreational and…
A “TSUNAMI” of unfulfilled needs is about to swamp the Mornington Peninsula unless governments immediately act to provide more and better care for the disabled “children” of aged parents. That’s the warning from long-time GP Graham Cato who daily sees the heartbreak imposed on loving – but now-elderly – parents forced to house and provide for their disabled children all their lives but who now are becoming physically and emotionally beyond it. Dr Cato said cynical governments had not bothered providing viable alternative accommodation because these loving and compliant parents were providing it “for free” to support their offspring. The…
A MT ELIZA couple who celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary last week have strong links to one of the world’s most important medical achievements. Estelle Gold – who with husband Neil enjoyed their “golden” night at Mornington Golf Club on Friday 12 April – was nurse-in-charge of the transplant unit where famed South African cardiac surgeon Dr Christiaan Barnard performed the first heart transplant in 1967. Ms Gold, then in her 20s, vividly remembers the remarkable day at Groote Schuur Hospital, Cape Town, when Dr Barnard performed the “highly political” transplant, the first one in which the patient regained consciousness.…
EASTER trading hours at a Balnarring Chinese restaurant were thrown into disarray last week when an elderly man hit his car’s accelerator instead of the brake and rammed through the front window. The man, from the Hastings area, was not injured in the incident in which his Toyota sedan ploughed into Hoolies Inn at Balnarring Shopping Centre, 10.30am, Thursday 18 April. The restaurant, established for 28 years, was not open at the time. Owner Shirley Li said the area around the front door was hit hardest. “We hope we will be able to open Saturday evening,” she said. “This is…
CHARACTERISTIC resourcefulness has helped environmental campaigner Josie Jones clean up a mess alongside a Rye charity bin. The bin, pictured, was full to overflowing with clothes scattered all around it. But, after doing some research and making a few calls, Ms Jones got some action. “Often, as a community member, things are not always as they seem and helping out is often the best way forward,” she said. “I managed to find the guy in charge of these bins and learned a few things along the journey.” Ms Jones was told that management changes and an audit meant the bin’s…
A FORMER soldier who is devoted to promoting world peace says our real enemies are not guns or wars – but the physical and emotional harm we do to others simply because we have not been taught to eradicate it from our nature in childhood. Ninety-three-year-old Baxter man James Hearn says the research he conducted for his book World Peace identified the “harmful side of human nature” as mankind’s “one and only foe”. “I believe getting rid of the harm we do to others is our only solution to world peace,” he said. “It is the only enemy which mankind…
EPA investigations into the source of fuel spills at Dromana are “ongoing” with booms remaining in place to prevent diesel reaching the sea. The issue flared when a Safety Beach resident complained of diesel fumes after bathing opposite Marine Drive, Dromana (“Diesel fumes taint sand, water”, The News 17/4/2019). Rob Debernardi said the drain – opposite a long-established BP service station – was flowing strongly after heavy rain. “I scooped up a handful of wet sand and smelled it and there was no mistaking [the diesel smell],” he said. “I could also see the sheen [of diesel] floating on the…
HIGHWAY patrol police are pleading for greater awareness on the roads this Easter and Anzac Day holiday time following three deaths on Frankston and Mornington Peninsula roads. The deaths of an 86-year-old woman hit by a car while walking across Nepean Highway, Frankston; a McCrae youth, 17, who was a passenger in a speeding car which hit a tree in Field Street, Tootgarook; and a 38-year-old man whose car ran off the road into a tree on Browns Road, Rye, has police reeling and families in mourning. Circumstances surrounding each of these fatalities are still being investigated. Up until…
THE new owners of the former Mt Eliza hospital site in Jacksons Road last week described it as a “blank canvas offering unique opportunities”. Melbourne-based property developer Hengyi Pacific bought the 3.4 hectare site for just over $17 million earlier this year and is “currently working closely with Mornington Peninsula Shire Council to determine the … best use for the site that respects the surrounding street character”. General Manager Simon Manley said he was “very excited with our latest acquisition and are looking forward to transforming the unused parcel into something special”. The developer is “working with council to determine…
A PUBLIC meeting in Mornington late last month to discuss the “tightening of controls to better protect Melbourne’s green wedges against overdevelopment” may have had more sinister overtones, according to a Mornington Peninsula Shire councillor. The meeting, held at Currawong Community Hall, Currawong Street, on 28 March, and attended by 66 people, was promoted by Planning Minister Richard Wynne and Agriculture Minister Jaclyn Symes as being part of strategic review of future land use. Those invited to attend were residents, councillors, farmers and representatives of agricultural industries. The context of the meeting – one of five held in regional areas…
A PERSISTENT fuel leak from a drain is discolouring sand and polluting the water at Dromana. The smell is so powerful that towels used to dry bathers stink for days and oil-slicked water sticks to hands and bodies long after they leave the beach. Safety Beach resident Rob Debernardi became aware of the leak while bathing opposite the junction of Marine Drive and Pt Nepean Road, about 20 metres from the nearest bathing box. “I was swimming two weeks ago and the drain was flowing strongly after a downpour of rain and I smelled diesel fumes,” he said. “I scooped…
JET-ski zones are likely to be in place on several Mornington Beaches next summer. The zones will confine jet skis to strict speed limits within a narrow corridor until they are 500 metres offshore. This tougher line on the noisy water craft follows discussions between Mornington Peninsula Shire, Maritime Safety Victoria, Water Police and the Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning. Shire local laws officers are being trained to enforce the tougher approach for the coming summer season after the inappropriate use of jet skis inflamed tensions at Safety Beach and especially Rye over summer. The mayor Cr David…
Members of the Mornington Peninsula Group of the Country Women’s Association of Victoria compete in the 48th Creative Arts Exhibition this weekend with their scones, their knitting and their ongoing push for social change. Mornington Peninsula Group President, Marnie Turner, said it was always exciting to see the 10 local branches go head-to-head in what’s always a tight competition. “The last weekend in April will see our Mornington Peninsula ladies come together for our annual Creative Arts Exhibition,” Ms Turner said. “The ladies get quite competitive, but what’s even more exciting is our young members learning new skills and being supported…
A DECISION by Mornington Peninsula Shire Council to insist on entries from Balnarring Road and not Brooksby Square has given fresh hopes to opponents of a planned aged care home in Balnarring. Members of the group – who spoke out against the Arcare proposal at the shire’s planning services committee meeting on 1 April – do not want traffic and parking problems clogging their quiet court. They presented a 259-signature petition to the council claiming the 75-bed residential aged care centre would be detrimental to their semi-rural street by creating extra traffic flows, random parking and exacerbating safety issues, especially…
SCHOOLBOY Sam Walsh lives and breathes baseball to such a degree that his dream of playing the game professionally in the US when he “grows up” could well be achieved. The talented batter and catcher, who plays for the Mornington Pirates but has also played with the Bonbeach and Cheltenham baseball clubs, is already a veteran campaigner despite being only 11 years old. In his first love of baseball, Sam was named most valuable player at a state-wide competition held at Mildura and was judged the fourth best player in the state. As a batter he has averaged more than…
CHARGES against a Parkdale man have been upgraded to culpable driving after a cyclist was knocked down in an alleged hit-and-run at Chelsea, Thursday 28 March. Chelsea triathlete Michelle Ruitenbeek, 50, was riding her bike along the Nepean Highway at 5.40am when she was allegedly struck by a utility driven by the man, 28, who allegedly fled the scene. She was taken to hospital but died two days later. The man was arrested in Broadmeadows hours later while his car was found at Seaford about 8am. He was charged with dangerous driving causing serious injury and failing to render assistance…
A MOTHER and daughter’s dream is about to be realised after ongoing federal government finance was approved for a mental health centre on Pt Nepean Road, Rosebud. Sarah Darling and her daughter Missy are the driving force behind Jimmy’s which will help disadvantaged young people seeking help with their mental health. It will offer drop-in services, youth and teen mental health courses, wellbeing workshops, and coaching, mentoring and support in personal situations requiring strong intervention or prevention from its purpose-built site at 827 Pt Nepean Road. The YMCA’s Southern Peninsula Youth Services will manage and deliver the services from the…
AGEING parents worn down by years of caring for their intellectually disabled adult children living at home are calling on both sides of government to provide them with independent housing that is permanent, safe and secure. This was highlighted at a meeting of Community Lifestyle Accommodation (CLA) members and Mornington Peninsula parents and carers at Mornington Community Information and Support Centre late last month. Experts from Mornington’s Hill Legal discussed what parents and carers needed to know about options to pay accommodation fees, dealing with financial and medical issues, understanding tenancy and residential agreements, and options available if a family…
ELDERLY customers of the Commonwealth Bank’s Dromana branch will be disadvantaged with its closure on Friday 3 May. Disappointed manager Jeff Cornish, who has been at the Pt Nepean Road branch for 13 years and who lives at Dromana, confirmed the shock news last week. He said staff heard about the closure two weeks ago and it was hoped most would be redeployed to the Rosebud branch. “I’m hopeful everyone will be found a place somewhere,” he said, although, after 38 years with the bank, he admits he is unsure of his own future. The branch’s customers were told…
PROMISES to redevelop the Mornington Peninsula’s busiest and most dangerous intersection have come on the eve of a federal election. The Mornington Peninsula Freeway and Jetty Road intersection – described as the peninsula’s busiest and highest-risk – attracted a staged visit by Roads Minister Jaala Pulford, Nepean Labor MP Chris Brayne and Mornington Peninsula Shire councillors early last month. Then, last week, Flinders Liberal MP Greg Hunt rode in with a budget commitment to spend $70 million on safety, noise reduction and an overpass at the intersection which carries more than 40,000 vehicles a day. The mayor Cr David Gill…