Frankston Sexual Offences & Child Abuse Investigation Team detectives have arrested and charged a male in relation to four alleged separate sexual assault incidents, across the Mornington Peninsula, during January and February. The first incident occurred on The Boulevard in Somers on 22 January about 10.30am. The second incident occurred on Tasman Road in Somers on 31 January about 6.10pm. The third incident occurred on Peterson Street in Crib Point on 1 February about 5pm. The fourth incident occurred on Sandy Point Road in Balnarring on 13 February about 5pm. In each of the incidents it is alleged the male…
Browsing: Mornington Peninsula
A NEW method of assessing the need for making footpaths has seen a reshuffling of paths on Mornington Peninsula Shire’s priority list.The list of 118 footpaths also includes problems that may be faced in constructing each path, such as “constructability implications” and “biodiversity and/or cultural heritage impact”. Footpaths seen as potentially having these problems will require “more detailed investigation” as their construction may be more complicated or costly.Just three of the top 20 footpaths on the list are unaffected by these possible problems.Footpaths at the top of list are Nepean Highway and Boundary Road, Dromana, with Nepean Highway being subject…
CAMPAIGNERS calling for upgrades to Rosebud Hospital say the state government’s focus on redeveloping Frankston Hospital is short sighted. A rally planned for this Friday (15 March) will put pressure on the government to commit money to upgrading the hospital.Ongoing pressure on the government to repair and upgrade Rosebud Hospital will focus on the catch cry of Frankston Too Far Away to highlight the difficulties for southern peninsula patients to access hospital care. Spokesperson and long-time health worker Sue Gilbert said the nearest major hospital from Rosebud was more than one hour away.“We will not let the government hand ball…
MORNINGTON Peninsula beaches will be cleaned by hand instead of a mechanical rake for the next 12 months after July. The hand cleaning of peninsula beaches on Port Phillip will undergo a 12-month trial and cost about $733,000.Beaches will no longer have the groomed look created by a mechanical rake, but they will retain seaweed and other natural organisms that contribute to a healthy environment.Surveys have shown that mechanical cleaning, while being aesthetically pleasing, can leave behind broken bottles, shredded plastic and even hypodermic needles. The practice has also seen tonnes of seaweed taken to landfill instead of being left…
THE state’s planning tribunal has knocked back a proposal to build a house on green wedge land in Shoreham. The Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal set aside Mornington Peninsula Shire Council’s approval for the house on 4.323-hectares in Tucks Road and ruled that no permit is granted. The tribunal case relates to a planning permit notice originally issued in 2022 by the shire to use and develop the land at 340 Tucks Road for a house, remove native vegetation and associated works, including to an existing driveway at 336 Tucks Road. The matter was referred to the tribunal over questions…
THE Peninsula Community Legal Centre in Frankston says it will have to cut some of its free services if its government funding doesn’t increase. The PCLC offers free legal services and advice to people across many areas, including housing, family arrangements, employment, health, finances, and personal safety. PCLC CEO Jackie Galloway says that the centre is helping more people than ever in the midst of the cost of living crisis, and that increased funding is badly needed. “With so many struggling with the cost of living and housing crises, we are seeing an unprecedented number of people who are buckling…
MORNINGTON Peninsula Shire Council will investigate partnering with Frankston to help tackle homelessness on the peninsula, amid increasing concerns about its social impacts. At last Tuesday’s council meeting Cr Sarah Race said she knew of cases where children were attending schools on the while living in tents. “Schools are feeding these children, putting their arms around them and feeding them,” she said. Race said she was also aware of service widows being forced to live in cars, and cancers sufferers sleeping rough on the foreshore. She said “outcomes” were good in Frankston, which uses the “by-name list” model through its…
‘Ecological disaster’ unless cats are controlled The suburbs of Melbourne that have none of the many species of birds once common in Blairgowrie have arrived on the Mornington Peninsula. Where have they gone? Killed by cats (Dumping a problem for cats and wildlife, The News 6/2/24). There is a golf course estate in a neighbouring municipality where cats are banned. It has become a haven for many species of birds, and it is not unusual to see bandicoots and other animals in broad daylight. Cats hunt day and night and kill for food or to satisfy an instinct. The peninsula…
LACHLAN Vize, of McCrae, is making waves in windsurfing and wing foiling, having recently returned from the Windsurfer World Titles held in Perth, where he won the male youth title and came fourth out of a fleet of 250 boards in the slalom. He competed against local and international sailors in the light weight division slalom event and a marathon. His placing in the youth division means he also won a scholarship to help pay his way to the next windsurfer world titles. Vize also represented Australia late last year at the Pacific Games where he won silver and bronze…
THREE probationary drivers had their vehicles impounded and were fined after being filmed by a drone hoon driving in Mornington on Wednesday 21 February. The trio, a 20-year-old male and a 19-year-old male from Frankston, and a 20-year-old male from Langwarrin, were arrested when Somerville Highway Patrol responded to complaints of hoon driving in Milgate Drive, Mornington. With the assistance of the police drone operated by Mornington police, the three were caught on camera performing burnouts. All vehicles were impounded on the spot for 30 days, with two of the vehicles issued defect notices. The men will be charged on…
THE challenge was to play golf with closed eyes and using just one club held in the left hand for a right-handed person or the other way around for a left-hander. A partner or caddie would stand you close to the ball and describe the required putt or drive. The experienced golfers taking part in the game at Mount Martha Golf Course probably set their own personal bests for the most shots ever, both on the green and on the fairway. The idea of the golf session was to train golfers to help with an all abilities program being run…
LAST week’s dry, hot weather sparked a number of grass fires across the Mornington Peninsula and kept fire brigades on alert. A grass fire in Duells Road, Rosebud, on Wednesday (21 February) saw emergency crews from Fire Rescue Victoria join CFA brigades from Boneo and Rosebud to bring it under control. There were also scrub fires on the Mornington Peninsula Freeway between Lonsdale Street and McCulloch Street, Rosebud, with other fires along the freeway rumoured to have been caused by sparks from a vehicle. Others, including one near Devilbend Reserve at Teurong, were caused by dry grass igniting in the…
ONE of Australia’s favourite sporting heroes, John Bertrand AO, who skippered Australia II to victory in the 1983 America’s Cup, will be guest speaker at the Mornington Yacht Club’s foundation business lunch on Friday 5 April. The win etched Bertrand’s name into sporting history, ending 132 years of American supremacy in the prestigious sailing race, and giving Australia its only win in the event’s history. The now 77-year-old went on to represent Australia in five America’s Cups, 1970, 1974, 1980, 1983 and 1995, and two Olympic Games, Munich 1972 and Montreal 1976, winning bronze in Montreal in the Finn class.…
CR SUSAN Bissinger has been suspended from Mornington Peninsula Shire Council for 31 days after a state government-appointed arbiter found she had “engaged in misconduct”. Bissinger was told of the arbiter’s findings and her suspension 12 hours before it came into effect at midnight last Friday (23 February). However, she remains steadfast in claiming that she did nothing wrong and refuses to apologise, which was a direction made by the arbiter, Joel A Silver. “The apology requirements … make it impossible. I cannot apologise for things I didn’t do, and I find it offensive that I have been asked to…
GRADE 5 students at Moorooduc Primary School are getting the opportunity to write, illustrate and publish their own book with the help of a published author. The students’ brief is to create and publish a children’s story that inspires others to make the world a better place. Mornington-based writer Jane Ting, author of the Zac’s Happy Planet children’s picture books, will help guide students through the creative writing process. “I want to give students an insight into the whole publishing process, so they have a real insight into children’s picture book publishing,” she said. “Their goal is to create a…
More than two years after a couple were assaulted in their Mornington home detectives are making a renewed appeal for information as they reignite the investigation. Mornington Peninsula Crime Investigation Unit detectives have today released computer generated images of two men in the hope it will assist the investigation, following the aggravated burglary at a Grange Road home on Thursday 16 September 2021. Detectives have been told an offender forced his way into the home, armed with a firearm, and threatened the two residents sometime between 4-5am. A physical altercation ensured before the offender stole a mobile phone and fled…
By Josh Sinclair* AS many of us enjoyed our summer holiday, a small parcel of reclaimed land inside Western Port made national headlines. Situated between a major steel manufacturer and the Long Island Point gas plant is the reclaimed land foreshadowed by the state government as the home to the Victorian Renewable Energy Terminal. The federal government’s recent intervention to halt the project has created uncertainty for the region and the offshore wind industry. However, given the sensitive environmental and biodiversity concerns of a Ramsar listed wetlands, it’s important these matters are handled delicately and with great care for our…
OBITUARY Carl Robert Bryant 22 September 1928 – 13 November 2023 Carl Bryant was born in Hastings and was a descendant of three pioneering Western Port families: the Bryants, the Barclays and the Graydens. He passed away on 13 November 2023 in The Bays, Hastings where he had been a resident for several months. He was 95. In accordance with Carl’s wishes, no funeral service was held but he was interred in the Tyabb cemetery, Hastings, on 21 November. This tribute is based on information provided by his daughter, Jenny. *** Carl Robert Bryant was born at the family home…
THE Mornington Community Safelink Group is calling on Dunkley by-election candidates to commit to financing a safe connection between Frankston and Mornington. Convenor Graeme Rocke said that with more people walking and riding, the “critical missing link” of the Peninsula Trail which fell partly in the Dunkley electorate, would provide a connection to the peninsula for all residents of Dunkley and Melbourne’s southeast. Eight candidates are the contesting the Saturday 2 March by-election being held to fill the vacancy created by the death last December of Labor’s Peta Murphy (Eight line up for Dunkley, The News 13/2/24). Mornington Peninsula Shire…
IT appears to be business as usual for the teams behind the Harry Potter: A Forbidden Forest Experience event in April, with organisers pivoting quickly to focus on the new site at The Briars community forest dog park. Signs on the gate block people from using the dog park so that infrastructure upgrades and decorative installations can be completed by the event’s start on 6 April. The advertising spin of the event remains unchanged, tempting audiences with the line that it will be a “nighttime woodland trail experience filled with magical creatures and wizarding wonders from the Harry Potter and…
Trust: easily lost, hard to regain The relocation of the Harry Potter Experience to a less sensitive location at The Briars will come as a great relief to those who pressured Mornington Peninsula Shire Council to reconsider its decision. A new ecological report for this community forest (dog walking park) will be published on the shire website soon. This new location is 500 metres from the nearest point of the wildlife sanctuary and, we are told, will have minimal effect on the fauna and flora. CEO John Baker acknowledged that the community backlash definitely influenced this decision to change the…
SORRENTO SES unit was dealt a blow last week when thieves stole the unit’s ATV and trailer from its locked compound early Monday 12 February. The ATV’s registration number is 1LT1RD and the trailer’s is Y3119. Unit spokesperson Max Daw said they had CCTV footage and were disappointed that someone would target a volunteer organisation. “I was gutted, I came in and knew something was wrong, something had happened,” he said. “It took about two years to build and get this finished.” First published in the Southern Peninsula News – 20 February 2024
MORNINGTON Peninsula Shire Council is offering a prize for residents’ “ideas and aspirations” for its next budget. The inducement follows the unprecedented backlash the shire faced over its secret decision to allow the wildlife sanctuary at The Briars, Mount Martha, to be used for the sound and light show, Harry Potter: a Forbidden Forest Experience. Despite weeks of saying it was not possible, the shire last week moved the show out of the sanctuary and into the community forest, dog leash-free area (Sanctuary may be forbidden for Harry, The News 13/2/24). Suggestions for items to be included in the 2024-25…
The timber stairway at Moorooduc Quarry has had a new-age facelift. Mornington Peninsula Shire Council last year upgraded the stairs refurbishment project to include the landing of the stair to long-lasting fibre-reinforced polymer (FRP). The fire access to the quarry was also repaired and the two timber foot bridges at the top of the reserve were upgraded with FRP material, including new handrails. The cost, including the fire access track, stairs, and bridges, was $90,000. The mayor Cr Simon Brooks said the project involved labour-intensive work due to accessing the site, transporting materials and removing waste. He said the stairs…
A MORE than 20-year drought has broken for the Rosebud Sea Scouts. Bruce Male was presented with his Queen’s Scout award on Saturday 10 February, the first received by a member of the group since 1999. The presentation made by DRRH Venturer unit leader Sam Blair was the first at the group since 1999. Fewer than five per cent of Venturer scouts aged 15-18 earn the award which involves achieving milestones, completing an adventurous journey, providing community service and leading others to achieve. Male’s achievements included such challenges as a seven-day 100-kilometre mountain hike, leading the only Victorian patrol to…
EARLY voting has begun in the Dunkley by-election. Polling day for the by-election is on 2 March with eight candidates on the ballot – in ballot order they are Nathan Conroy (Liberal), Bronwyn Currie (Animal Justice), Chrysten Abraham (Libertarian), Reem Yunis (Victorian Socialists), Darren Bergwerf (Independent), Alex Breskin (Greens), Heath McKenzie (Australian Democrats), and Jodie Belyea (Labor). Early voting centres have been set up at Lyrebird Community Centre in Carrum Downs, Functions by the Bay in Frankston, and 1st Ranelagh Scout Group in Mount Eliza. They are open from 8.30am to 5.30pm on weekdays (6pm on 1 March), and from…
A SPATE of break-ins around a Mount Martha “hot spot” has residents calling for more intensive policing. In recent weeks the number of houses around the Hearn Road area that have been targeted has put home owners on alert. Mount Martha resident Sonia said residents were sick of the crime and the inability to stop the offenders, who had been caught on CCTV and appeared to be teenagers or young men. “In December, January and this month there have been a lot of properties affected. I know of people in Capri Drive, Shearwater Drive, The Point, Churchill, Stanley, Ponyara Road…
DREAMWEAVERS, a series of short documentary films about three Mornington Peninsula-based women who have suffered adversity and inspire others, will be screened as part of the Flinders Fringe Festival on Sunday (25 February). The series was made by award winning film makers Heather Forbes-McKeon and photographer for The News, Yanni Dellaportas. Gidja Walker, an ecologist and ethnobotanist who has worked for years protecting Earthscapes, overcame discrimination in a male dominated profession. Walker mentors young women entering the world of nature-based learning and an advocate for traditional owner custodianship. Jacquie Beddows suffered a stroke and aneurysm in 2011, aged 50. While…
THE release of the mainly Aboriginal names for Mornington Peninsula Shire’s 11 wards coincides with public approval being sought to name the “brand new Southern Peninsula Youth Hub in Rosebud”, Tounnin Wominjeka. The shire says it decided to use “traditional owner language” for the name after feedback from young people interacting with its youth services department and consulting with the Bunurong Land Council Aboriginal Corporation (Aboriginal names for $13m youth hub, The News 13/1/24). The land council had suggested three suitable names and the shire had since “engaged” with more than 360 young people, with most voting for Tounnin Wominjeka.…
NEW boundaries and nine new names have been announced for 11 single-councillor wards on the Mornington Peninsula. The changes will be used in the October council elections and replace the existing six wards, three of which have more than one councillor. The names of the shire’s 11 wards are Beek Beek, Benbenjie, Briars, Brokil, Coolart, Kackeraboite, Moorooduc, Nepean, Tanti, Tootgarook and Warringine. Briars and Nepean are the only existing wards to retain their names, although each will be reduced in size and represented by one councillor. Briars ward currently has three councillors and Nepean two. The panel rejected changing Briars…