A GIFT from an anonymous donor to Ambulance Victoria has seen an extra 20 automated external defibrillators installed across the Mornington Peninsula over the past two years. The AEDs are located at sporting clubs, community group venues and individual properties. Ambulance Victoria acting area manager Metro 10, Jo Wilton, said the donation was a significant health boost for the peninsula. “Every day, around 20 Victorians suffer a cardiac arrest and only one in 10 survive,” she said. “Minutes matter in cardiac arrests and when a patient receives CPR and a shock from an AED before paramedics arrive, the person’s chance…
Browsing: Mornington Peninsula
RED Hill South and Sorrento have won silver and gold medals in their respective categories at this year’s Victorian Top Tourism Town Awards. The Victoria Tourism Industry Council awards highlight tourism businesses and the value they bring to their towns and communities in regional destinations across Victoria. Thursday (27 July) night’s wins confirms that Sorrento and Red Hill are popular for such things as their natural beauty, dining and accommodation, outdoor activities and art. Sorrento will now represent Victoria in the Top Small Tourism Town category at the national awards. Red Hill South’s entry in the Top Tiny Tourism Town…
COMMUNITY decarbonisation organisation Repower Mornington Peninsula held a lunch on Sunday 23 July to celebrate its achievements over the past couple of years. Members of the core committee and the postcode-based satellite groups from across the peninsula met to share their plans and activities and communication strategies for spreading the word on how to reduce emissions and transition to a more energy efficient future. Attendees included representatives from Flinders, Mount Martha, Red Hill, Main Ridge, Balnarring, Rosebud, Rye, Mount Eliza, Shoreham, Sorrento, and Mornington. Repower committee member Belinda Rodman said that shortly after the meeting Repower was notified that the…
NEW data from the Peninsula Community Legal Centre indicates that 42 per cent of renters seeking assistance from the organisation had received a notice to vacate their homes from their landlord, representing a six per cent increase in the last six months. This increase occurred against a backdrop of a national rental crisis fuelled by record-low vacancies, a critical lack of affordable and social housing, and a cost of living crisis. As well as Frankston and the Mornington Peninsula, the legal service covers residents in Melbourne’s south eastern suburbs. CEO Jackie Galloway said the situation for renters was worse now…
COUNCILLORS have warned that the planning powers of all Victorian municipalities are threatened following the release of a report by the Independent Broad-based Anti-corruption Commission (IBAC) and the influence of former Mornington businessman John Woodman on several planning decisions by Casey Council. Mornington Peninsula mayor Cr Steve Holland says the state government will use IBAC’s Sandon report to “further centralise power. The worst possible response”. The Premier Daniel Andrews said he would follow the IBAC report’s recommendation of setting up an inter-departmental taskforce to coordinate the implementation of 34 “recommendations to promote transparency in planning decisions; enhance donation and lobbying…
VOLUNTEERS have had their work cut out for them this winter, with strong winds and rough seas washing up thousands of pieces of plastic and other rubbish into Mornington Peninsula beaches. Beach patrols and other volunteer-based groups around the peninsula have been trying to keep the foreshore areas litter free. This month’s clean-ups saw dozens of volunteers brave the cold, wet conditions to clean up the remnants of recent storms, pulling out hundreds of items from bottles to fishing line. Much of the plastics and waste washed discovered on the peninsula’s beaches gets trapped in seaweed after washing in from…
NEW gaming legislation is expected to have a significant impact on the Mornington Peninsula, where around $68 million is lost at pokies venues every year. The statistics highlight the continuing cost of gambling addiction in the shire, where 820 machines operate in 17 venues, the second highest number of pokies outlets of any Victorian municipality after Geelong. The state government’s reforms are aimed at making the state’s gambling harm protections the strongest in Australia. Gaming and Liquor Regulation Minister Melissa Horne announced the changes last week to reduce gambling harm at venues with electronic gaming machines across the state. At…
SAUSAGE sizzles and a “community walk” are planned to raise money and highlight the plight of an estimated 1000 people on the Mornington Peninsula who each night struggle to find somewhere to sleep. Mornington Peninsula Shire mayor Cr Steve Holland said there had been no response to pleas for more state government help from the council and the municipality’s three community support centres. Nothing has changed since outlining the problem to the Premier Daniel Andrews last October, but the shire will continue its lobbying for more government help as part of this year’s Homelessness Week (7-13 August). “The continued lack…
ONE of Victoria’s top police officers says the Mornington Peninsula is a “safe place” to live despite media reports. Mornington Peninsula Local Area Commander, Inspector Terry Rowlands gave this assurance last week (13 July) after the release of community sentiment survey results which recorded community perceptions about crime and safety. Victorians had been asked since 31 March to report their community safety concerns, engagement preferences and experiences of local police. The inspector said that media speculation on reporting of serious and violent criminal offending, “and more specifically the ‘sneak in’ type of home invasions”, could heighten fear in the community. …
THE first of the four surveys to gauge public satisfaction with the performance of Mornington Peninsula Shire Council starts this week and will be completed by the end of the month. The mayor Cr Steve Holland said quarterly surveys would provide the shire with “more timely feedback”. Results of the four surveys commissioned by the shire will form the basis for the annual review of municipalities made on behalf of the Department of Jobs, Precincts and Regions. A “review of methodologies” has seen the shire hire Metropolis Research to conduct the four “community satisfaction surveys”. The decision by shire directors…
MORNINGTON Peninsula Shire has hired a Melbourne based social research company to conduct a “satisfaction survey” of residents. The shire says 400 interviews will be conducted with a “representative sample of residents”. The survey has been designed to assess the shire’s performance and identify services that need improving. The shire’s decision to commission the survey follows two consecutive years of poor results from community satisfaction surveys of municipalities made on behalf of the Department of Jobs, Precincts and Regions (“Shire again misses survey satisfaction” The News 21/6/23). Results from the 2022 survey saw the shire rated at an “all-time low” followed…
THE results are in for one of the largest reviews of heritage places in the Western Port and the hinterland region in nearly 25 years, with comment open until 28 July. Mornington Peninsula Shire Council recently commissioned a heritage review of Watson, Cerberus and Red Hill wards to identify places of heritage significance that should be protected under the heritage overlay of the peninsula’s planning scheme. The overlay is designed to ensure heritage places are conserved and enhanced and that new development does not adversely impact their significance. The review was undertaken by experts and identifies places recommended for heritage…
THE state government’s plan to continue its Kangaroo “harvesting” program and potentially increase the cull rate on the Mornington Peninsula has angered wildlife advocates who say the peninsula’s native marsupials should be protected. Victorian harvesting quotas are based around population figures of seven zones, with controversial aerial surveys last year estimating that kangaroo numbers in the Gippsland zone, which includes the peninsula, Wellington Shire and South Gippsland, had increased since 2018 to 17700, and across Victoria to 2,418,000. The Department of Environment, Energy and Climate Change recently announced the culling program – which put the kill quota of eastern grey…
INCREASING numbers of pet owners on the Mornington Peninsula are giving up their animals because they can no longer afford to look after them. Pet rescue groups say they are overflowing with unwanted and surrendered animals, while social support groups report that they are getting many requests for help to feed pets. Rising household costs and power bills mean there is nothing left in many family budgets to feed animals. The last straw is when animals need veterinary care, or owners have to pay expensive release fees if their pet ends up in the shire’s animal pound. Western Port Community…
PET owners are being warned to be vigilant when walking their dogs and to keep them on leads, after several incidents involving animals being poisoned on the Mornington Peninsula. Mornington Peninsula Shire Council is investigating but unable to give further details of the poisoning of a dog in Tootgarook. It is not the first-time pets have been targeted, with a number of dogs poisoned in recent years in Mount Martha and Mornington after eating animal remains believed to be baited with rat poison. Mornington Peninsula Dog Rescue group is warning of a spike in dog baiting. The group is aware…
ELECTRONIC permits issued during a nine-month paid parking trial will be linked to individual licence plates to prevent them being shared. The plan to charge visitors to the Mornington Peninsula for parking in foreshore areas has sparked a hostile reaction from many residents, despite other Port Phillip bayside councils already having paid parking in place. While the trial will begin in summer and run for at least six months, the shire says it will use feedback and results to decide whether to make it permanent. The shire has allocated $1.16 million over two budgets to pay for the paid parking…
A DELAY in starting a coastal strategy for the Mornington Peninsula led to Mornington Peninsula Shire Council receiving $200,000 from the state government. Despite the amount being less than half the $500,000 being sought, the shire hired consultants in January to “develop” the strategy under a two-year contract. Details of the delay and appointment of Alluvium Consulting were outlined in a report to council on 30 May. The report by water and coasts team leader Laura Crilly was made in response to a call by Cr Anthony Marsh for details of how $175,000 in the shire’s 2021/22 budget and $50,000…
THE machine used to remove “waste” from Mornington Peninsula beaches may itself become a rare sight near the foreshores. Although not specifically mentioned in a motion adopted unanimously last month by Mornington Peninsula Shire councillors, Cr David Gill says he wants to end to the use of “the mechanical beach raking machine”. Gill says his motion printed on the 30 May agenda did not mention using the machine because “that would not be allowed on operational grounds” overseen by shire CEO John Baker. Gill’s reasons for wanting to stop the use of mechanical beach cleaning machines were also left off…
A SIX-month paid parking trial will be extended across all Mornington Peninsula foreshore areas if it is considered “successful”. Mornington Peninsula Shire Council has allocated more than $1 million over two annual budgets for the trial to be run in three popular tourist spots. Despite paid parking being the norm across all other bayside councils, Mornington Peninsula Shire Council is being criticised over its plans to charge $6.20 an hour for timed parking at three locations next summer. The plan has been slammed by people who live, work and holiday in the shire, with claims it will cripple businesses and…
Yes to Voice will not make parliament unworkable As a voter in the electorate of Flinders I was saddened and very disappointed by [Flinders MP] Zoe McKenzie’s article and her address to the Parliament in support of the No vote, although not surprised (“A risk to executive government” The News 30/5/23). Both the High Court Judge Kenneth Haynes and Professor Anne Twomey have refuted the claim that giving our First Nations people access to executive government will make our parliament unworkable. The Voice is only advisory. The power to make laws and policies lies with the government and parliament. We…
MORNINGTON Peninsula Council is considering a paid parking trial along some of its busiest foreshore areas. The move at this week’s public meeting (Tuesday) is believed to have been instigated because of parking congestion over summer, and the increasing costs involved in providing tourism-related infrastructure. Ratepayers now pay $8 million a year for the maintenance of foreshore-related council infrastructure, such as car parks, public toilets and access paths. Last summer brought the issue of lack of parking to a head, with council flooded with complaints that residents were effectively blocked from parking at shopping centres, in residential streets and near…
By Peter Aldenhoven, CEO Willum Warrain Gathering Place THE 1967 referendum produced the highest ever Yes vote in support of including Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples on the census for the first time. Up until then, the Australian government had a clearer idea of how many sheep were in the country than Aboriginal people. It was a heady achievement. Australian people voted to right a great wrong; they voted for fairness and justice for First Australians. The best version of ourselves as a nation rose to the fore. Together, we can do this again in 2023. We can make…
By Zoe McKenzie, MP for Flinders THERE are times when something very special happens in the Australian Parliament, when a debate makes us look carefully and critically at ourselves and the society in which we live. This parliamentary sitting fortnight’s focus on the Indigenous Voice to Parliament has been one of those moments. I have seen parliamentarians of all backgrounds bring their best selves, their love of our country, their sense of responsibility and their reflection of their communities, to the debate – for all to hear and see. If you have time, read Hansard. You will not be disappointed…
THERE may not be a lot of cost-of-living relief in the state budget for Mornington Peninsula residents but depending on which side of the political spectrum you’re on it’s not all bad news. Hastings Labor MP Paul Mercurio was busy last week making announcements about infrastructure and service improvements, particularly for boating and transport. Apart from Wednesday’s promise of a cross-peninsula bus service, the budget provided $271,000 to replace the northern pontoon at Hastings boat ramp, $100,000 for Community House Network Southern Region, $1 million each for Somers and Somerville primary schools for basketball court covers, $900,000 to upgrade the…
Clearing not the solution to fire protection I was surprised to read that 28 residents have called for Mornington Peninsula Shire Council to potentially clear “high-value remnant vegetation” because they are concerned about fire risk (“Balancing fire risk and vegetation” The News 23/5/23). Living in rural Victoria for 30 years and fighting the Ash Wednesday fire it became obvious that no amount of clearing or burning has any effect on the advancement of fire when the wind is strong, the vegetation dry and the temperature hot. A related finding from the Bushfire Royal Commission after the 2019-20 fires was that…
SOCCER THE friendship between Aaran Currie and Liam Baxter played a major part in reuniting their striking partnership last week. It led Currie to drop from State 2 to State 4 level quitting Frankston Pines and heading to Baxter Park. Currie, whose CV includes spells at Langwarrin, St Albans Saints, Peninsula Strikers and Casey Comets joined Pines last year and along with teammate Baxter formed part of a formidable strike force that helped win promotion from State 3. Baxter was Pines’ leading scorer but left at the end of the season. Currie’s decision to leave Monterey Reserve last week caught…
A MOUNT Eliza homeowner who found out she was not covered for theft by cleaners is urging people to check their policies before letting workers into the home. The woman – who did not want to be named – recently discovered jewellery worth about $50,000 was missing from her house and, after checking security footage, was shocked to see that two agency cleaners working together were responsible. But when the woman tried to make a claim through her insurer, she discovered a clause that invalidates claims if the theft is perpetrated by a person “invited into the home”. After alerting…
THE Chatty Cafe movement is gaining momentum on the Mornington Peninsula, helping people connect with others over a cuppa and combatting the “loneliness epidemic”. Under the umbrella of the Chatty Cafe Scheme Australia, the charity encourages hospitality venues across the peninsula, such as cafes, restaurants, clubs, pubs, community centres, libraries, churches, schools, aged-care residences, retirement villages, neighbourhood houses, pubs, hotels, clubs, wine bars and art galleries to provide a shared Chatty table where people can sit if they are happy to talk to other customers. Peninsula coordinator Jacky Howgate said May was a good time to warm up over a…
AREAS of the Mornington Peninsula have been described as suffering from “third world neglect” because of their lack of reticulated sewerage. Polluted runoff from the peninsula’s 22,000 unsewered properties poses a public health risk as well as polluting drains, creeks and groundwater. As well as lobbying the state government and government agencies to set a timeline to fix the problem, Mornington Peninsula Shire will draw up a new wastewater management plan under the “guidance” of the Environment Protection Authority. Towns and areas which are not sewered include Rosebud, Red Hill, Main Ridge, Arthurs Seat, Baxter, Merricks and Crib Point. Cr…
MPNFL DIVISION ONE REIGNING premiers Frankston YCW have returned to the winner’s circle with a hard-fought victory over Red Hill. The Stonecats were looking to bounce back after a surprising defeat the week prior. Red Hill looked their equal though, and at half time the Hillmen were ahead. Frankston YCW established control in the third term, and took a seven point lead into the last quarter. The Stonecats wrapped up the win with a four goals to two last quarter. The final score read Frankston YCW 12.13 (85) to Red Hill 9.8 (62). Luke Paynter and Luca Goonan were excellent…