NEWS DESK Centrelink’s system Safety a focus ‘needs to be junked’ for schoolies
Solar system: Solar panels atop the Frankston Library. Picture: Supplied
Support for climate emergency unanimous Continued from Page 1 All present councillors (Crs Glenn Aitken, Kris Bolam, Brian Cunial, Quinn McCormack, Lillian O’Connor, Sandra Mayer, and Colin Hampton) supported the move. Cr McCormack said “it’s not up to other countries to act, it’s up to everybody to act.” “We have 511 animal species threatened with extinction, and changes to biodiversity have also caused bush fires in Queensland and New South Wales,” she said. “This is global and everyone needs to do their bit. (...) We’ve
seen so much empty rhetoric from the state and federal governments on this.” Cr Aitken said “were sea level rises to come to pass in our area, there would be widespread and devastating flooding.” “Many homes here are built on concrete slabs, and they will be inundated,” he said. Cr Brian Cunial said “councils across Australia should do anything they can to look at options like solar panels.” The motion read that “Frankston Council acknowledges that cur-
rent levels of global warming and future warming already committed constitute nothing less than a climate emergency for most life on this planet, requiring an emergency response by all levels of government, including local government”. Council will also “call upon the Australian state and federal governments to declare a climate emergency, and back this up with legislated programs to drive emergency action to reduce greenhouse gases and meet the lower target of the Paris Agreement to keep global warming below 1.5 degrees.”
THE case of a single mother who had nearly $40,000 withdrawn from her account by Centrelink has prompted Dunkley MP Peta Murphy to support scrapping the robodebt system. Ms Murphy said that “since I’ve been the member for Dunkley, members of my community have contacted my office, often in desperation and always in frustration, seeking help to resolve debt notices or procedural unfairness in their dealings with Centrelink.” “A single mother of four struggling to make ends meet with the settlement from the breakdown of her marriage, her only financial security, woke on a Thursday to find that she only had $28 in her bank account to get through the weekend. Overnight, Centrelink had withdrawn $39,000 for a debt that they say she owed from 2015. Apparently they didn’t have the capacity to find the address that she’d moved to following the breakdown of her marriage, but they did have the capacity to find her bank account, which used her new address, and withdraw all the money she had. Where’s the procedural fairness in that?” Ms Murphy said. Government Services Minister Stuart Robert last week announced that the federal government would make changes to the debt recovery system. “If the system is dodgy enough that it needs to be junked, then what happens to all those people who have already been victims of robodebt? What happens to the money obtained improperly by the Commonwealth?” Ms Murphy said.
MORNINGTON Peninsula Shire Council, Red Frogs Youth Support Program and police are planning to ramp up their services during Schoolies Week, 23-30 November. This includes setting aside a section of the Rye foreshore for school leavers during the notorious party week. The aim is to give shire officers and police a greater oversight of schoolies’ activities, particularly at night. Cr David Gill said the increase in services was needed to address the influx of visitors and heightened community concerns caused by last year’s episodes of anti-social behaviour. “While the shire is not promoting the Mornington Peninsula as a Schoolies destination, we know that school leavers will visit and, therefore, we have a duty of care to those young people while they are here,” Cr Gill said. “Based on feedback from our community, this year the shire has increased our services in partnership with local police and Red Frogs to help keep everyone safe on the peninsula.” The shire’s Short Stay Rental Local Law is in force and holiday-home owners are advised to be aware of their responsibilities and to think about who they are renting their homes to, Cr Gill said. Under the law, homeowners are responsible for inappropriate behaviour by their tenants and could be fined up to $2000 per offence for any breach of the Local Law or Code of Conduct. Inappropriate behaviour can be reported to the shire at any time of the day or night on 1300 850 600 Stephen Taylor
Frankston Times
26 November 2019
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