NEWS DESK
Council revises press relations Neil Walker neil@baysidenews.com.au
The long walk: John Billing and Craig Thomson are ready to step out on The Great Mornington Peninsula Bush Walk and Habitat Corridor walk. Picture: Yanni
Walking on side of the wild A WEEK-LONG walk starting on World Environment Day (Monday 5 June) is promoting the retention of wildlife habitats in Frankston and across the Mornington Peninsula. The Great Mornington Peninsula Bush Walk and Habitat Corridor, hosted by the Australian Wildlife Protection Council, began at the Pines Flora and Fauna Reserve, Frankston and will continue to Mornington Peninsula National Park at Gunnamatta on Saturday 9 June. Tuesday’s walk is from Baxter Park, Frankston-Flinders Rd, to Mt Martha. On Wednesday, walkers start at The Briars, Mt Martha, and continue on to Dromana.
On Thursday they will start from Hillview community reserve, Boundary Rd, Dromana and continue on to Rosebud. There is no walk on the Friday, but on Saturday walkers will start at the Henry Wilson Rd wetlands, Rosebud, and continue to Gunnamatta. Protection council president Craig Thomson said that in 2010, when the Peninsula Link Freeway was started, many bushland reserves were bisected and habitat corridors lost. He said Melbourne Water’s proposed rezoning of the Herman St reserve, Rosebud, presented the group with an opportunity to reinstate part of the lost wildlife corridor.
AN amended communications policy that encourages council staff “to create, and maintain, positive working relationships with local media outlets” has been backed by a majority of councillors. The policy, proposed by Cr Kris Bolam, was approved by a 5-3 vote of councillors at council’s 23 May public meeting despite opposition from some councillors and mayor Cr Brian Cunial. Cr Cunial was adamant during the debate about improving relations with the media that he will choose who he speaks to despite being an official spokesperson for council as mayor. “I won’t sit down with Neil Walker, definitely,” Cr Cunial said. The mayor has asked for questions from The Times to be put in writing during his latest mayoral term and refers queries to the council’s media and communications department to respond. Previous mayors have talked to The Times when called with questions. Cr Cunial said he may meet with a Leader journalist when questioned by Cr Bolam about his dealings with local media outlets as mayor. Cr Glenn Aitken said during debate about the amended media policy that he believes an aggressive approach to the press is counter-productive. “I think if council even subliminally wants to have an adversarial position to
the press or a fearful position towards the press or a suspicious position towards the press, that augurs not well for any local council,” Cr Glenn Aitken said. “I believe that ... an honest, open and frank discussion with the press serves a good purpose for everybody instead of ducking and weaving. “That [ducking questions] certainly does any council at any time a great deal of harm.” Cr Cunial and council CEO Dennis Hovenden insisted council’s media policy “works extremely well” and “is not broken”. Crs Aitken, Bolam, Quinn McCormack, Lilian O’Connor and Steve Toms voted for the push to improve relations with the local media. Crs Cunial, Colin Hampton and Sandra Mayer voted against the move. “The press are not infallible,” Cr Hampton said. “No matter what you can say or do, they will write it the way they want to write it. They will cut the stories the way they want to cut them.” Council officers can only speak to the media with the permission of the CEO. Councillors, as elected representatives, are able to talk to journalists but “any statements must not bring council or the organisation into disrepute” according to the councillors’ code of conduct. The CEO is council’s spokesperson for operational aspects of council.
Reserve volunteers thanked by council Neil Walker neil@baysidenews.com.au FEARS over flora and fauna not being looked after at the Frankston Nature Conservation Reserve were aired at a Frankston Council public meeting on 22 May. Councillors, apart from Cr Steve Toms and the absent on leave Cr Michael O’Reilly, voted to show support and appreciation for a community committee of management and “about 300” volunteers who have spent time on the upkeep of the 98-hectare reserve. The state government decided not to renew the committee’s oversight of the reserve, effectively disbanding
the group of volunteers. The committee of management is headed by Frankston councillor Quinn McCormack. Parks Victoria will take over management of the former Melbourne Water site that was closed to the public from the 1920s up until early last year (“Reserve returns to Parks”, The Times 15/5/17). Cr Kris Bolam at the 22 May meeting said: “I think the way that group has been treated by the state government ... has been most disappointing. “It is a very hardworking group of people. We’re talking about scientists, people from academia, volunteers, park rangers – people with knowhow.” He said Parks Victoria has “a pretty
bad record, in my opinion, of managing parks.” The government decision came amid angst between neighbours and volunteer committee members about access to the reserve from neighbouring properties. Councillors resolved to write to Frankston Labor MP Paul Edbrooke and Victorian Environment Minister Lily D’Ambrosio to ask if the nature reserve will remain open to the public after Parks Victoria takes back management of the land. Cr Toms, a Labor Party member, voted against the notice of motion and said he believed the state government had consulted with the committee before it was given notice Parks Victoria would take control of the
nature reserve. “It is really sad that the knowledge and professionalism appears to be abandoned,” Cr Glenn Aitken said. Councillors decided to let the state government know it would be preferable if volunteers were involved in some way when Parks Victoria manages the reserve. Letters of appreciation to volunteers will be handed out by council at the Mayor’s Picnic event in September. “The community will have improved access to the reserve under the management of Parks Victoria,” spokesman David McNamara, on behalf of the Environment Minister, said in a statement last month. No official handover date has been
agreed between the community committee of management and Parks Victoria despite the committee’s management agreement ending in March. Cr Bolam said his notice of motion to thank the volunteers was not “about politics” and he said he would have suggested that council officially thank the volunteers who looked after the reserve no matter which political party was in government at a state level. n An article “Reserve returns to Parks” published on 15 May in The Times mentioned Facebook comments in relation to feuding between reserve neighbours and committee members. Committee members did not respond on Facebook.
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Frankston Times
5 June 2017
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