Women on patrol for safe Valentine’s Day AN all-female patrol on Valentine’s Day, Sunday 14 February will – for the first time – protect swimmers at Gunnamatta surf beach. The “Pink Patrol” – part of the celebrations for the lifesaving club’s 50th year – recognises women and their contribution to lifesaving. Patrol captain Jill Douglas will lead the team on the day. She’s proud to be part of a “first” in the club’s history. “I’m really looking forward to Valentine’s Day,” the chief instructor said. “We have some very experienced and dedicated girls who can’t wait to team up and show a bit of ‘girl power’. “It is a day of love and we are all out here
doing what we love: the beach, the surf and keeping them safe. “Gunn [Gunnamatta] has a proud history in surf lifesaving: our club has won the state patrol efficiency award more than any other club, and we perform about a third of Victoria’s rescues each year. “All beaches and waterways have their dangers. Gunn has its own but we make sure we set patrols up in the safest possible area and we monitor it carefully. “It’s an honour to lead this patrol in our 50th birthday year.” Gunnamatta SLSC Club captain Patrick Murphy said the capability of the Pink Patrol were impressive. “Collectively its members hold all of SLSA’s awards and
qualifications as well as being powerful surf swimmers and rescue board paddlers,” he said. Women and girls were permitted to join Surf Life Saving Australia as active members in 1980. Gunnamatta had two female lifesavers from the very first days and this quickly grew over the following summers. Now, 40 of Gunnamatta's 100 active members are female, ranging in age from 13 to over 50. They hold positions such as chief instructor, patrol captain and rescue boat drivers – some of the most senior roles in the club. Mr Murphy said the female patrol’s message was: “If we can see you, we can save you.” Steve Taylor
Council backflip over tip future David Harrison david@mpnews.com.au A COUNCIL decision to retain Rye tip has been overturned after a searching and sometimes spiteful debate at the year’s first public meeting of Mornington Peninsula councillors. At the height of the disturbance shire governance manager Joe Spiteri advised councillors they should stop their unruly behaviour and return to order – the first such intervention by a governance officer veteran council attendees could recall. The power struggle over shire waste was sparked last September when councillors voted to close the tip and move shire household waste off the
peninsula. Then in December they reversed that vote, with opponents of the original decision having the numbers to do so due to a councillor’s illness. Cr Hugh Fraser’s moved to rescind this decision at the 27 January meeting was passed on mayor Graham Pittock’s casting vote after a long and acrimonious debate about the cost versus benefit of the Rye closure. Shire officers including chief executive officer Carl Cowie were questioned closely and at length about their role in the Rye tip deliberations. Councillors opposed to closing the tip argued that each household would have to pay an additional $50-60 a year to move waste off the shire and would simply be transferring the shire’s greenhouse gas problem to another
council district. Proponents of the closure said the cost to each household would be somewhere closer to $30 and that the environmental and commercial benefits would far outweigh this. The tip is close to the Tootgarook wetlands and houses. Rubbish blows out of it into the wetlands and on to the nearby properties. Odour from methane, a greenhouse gas, is also a continuing problem. One major result of the vote reversal is that the shire’s policy of carbon neutrality, established in late 2014, is now back on track. Rye tip emits nearly half of the shire’s carbon gases. Its retention would have severely crippled chances of achieving the neutrality goal. Cr Fraser told the chamber that a
shire advertisement seeking interest from companies to remove shire waste was worded in such a way that it misled the market. This had, he said, resulted in uninformed industry responses. He also revealed correspondence to him from Cr David Gibb – who has long argued that shire waste should be kept in the shire – that the motion to retain the Rye tip “was drafted by council officers” and “supported by all officers … as the most appropriate option”. These officers included Mr Cowie and the shire chief operating officer, Alison Leighton. Both acknowledged at the meeting this correctly stated their stance. Cr Fraser said he had since been told that officers drafted the recommenda-
tion at Cr Gibb’s request and Cr Gibb had been told it was “not an officer recommendation”, he said. This is significant in light of the wording of the advertisement, which stated simply that the shire was “strongly considering” closure. The clear councillor decision was to close Rye tip in mid-2017, leading to Cr Fraser’s charge that the wording of the advertisement did not have “authority from council” – that is, it was at variance with the decision councillors had made. Shire officers, led by the CEO, are required under the Local Government Act to ensure that the decisions of councillors “are implemented without undue delay”.
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Southern Peninsula News 2 February 2016
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