ELECTIONS 2022
Labor’s $10m for sports promise
Green light for road works
THE Federal Labor Party has made an election promise to commit $10 million towards upgrading Emil Madsen Reserve in Mount Eliza. The reserve is the largest sports precinct in Mornington Peninsula Shire and services Mount Eliza and neighbouring areas. It is home to the Mount Eliza Junior Football Club, Mount Eliza Soccer Club, Mount Eliza Football Netball Club and Mount Eliza Cricket Club - some of the biggest sporting clubs in the region, Emil Madsen Reserve has almost 2000 people who use it on a regular basis. Shadow Infrastructure, Transport and Regional Development Minister Catherine King said the facilities were outdated and overdue for an update and did not properly cater to the emerging generation of girls and women wanting to play sport. Through the development of its master plan Mornington Peninsula Shire has recommended more than 40 separate but interconnected projects to increase participation and create a multifunctional and highquality sporting and recreation venue. Key projects include the construction of a new east pavilion, new west pavilion and an upgrade of the existing pavilion on oval 2. The masterplan also provides for the creation of a district level play space and skate park. Ms King says Labor is committed to partnering with the shire to deliver better facilities that meet the community needs. “Sport plays such an important role in our lives. This investment will mean more kids, more families, and importantly more girls and women can get involved in sport and involved with their local community,” she said. MP for Dunkley Peta Murphy said the project would benefit some of the largest sporting clubs in the region by creating a high quality and multifunctional centre. “Over the past few years we have seen major redevelopments of other reserves in our region, now it’s Mount Eliza’s turn,” she said.
THE state government has given the green light to the upgrade of the intersection of Forest Drive and Nepean Highway, Mount Martha three years after the federal government offered to pay for it. Flinders MP Greg Hunt said the federal government had committed more than $20 million to the intersection, with work now scheduled to start in 2023. The work will include traffic lights across Nepean Highway, a signalised pedestrian crossing, footpaths connecting the intersection’s bus stops and realignment of the driveway opposite Forest Drive. Mr Hunt said calls to Improve the intersection had been the subject of “countless community campaigns” since 2014, when VicRoads was petitioned to install a roundabout or traffic lights, following the death of a 91-year-old man injured in a crash. Mr Hunt said the cost of the upgrade had been met by the federal government’s urban congestion fund. On Friday, Mr Hunt said that he was pleased to see the state government getting on with the project but accused it of failing a commitment to start construction in 2021. The project can be reviewed at vicroads.vic.gov.au/planning-andprojects/melbourne-road-projects/ forest-drive-and-nepean-highwayintersection-upgrade
The political wedge Continued from Page 1 The news release from Mr Hunt’s office said classifying the peninsula as regional would “secure regional funding for regional problems”. However, the 2018 Liberal candidate for Nepean, Russell Joseph, said anyone wanting the peninsula to be classified regional “should be careful of what they wish for, and ensure the baby isn’t being thrown out with the bathwater”. “I have not heard from any regional area about a pot of gold being given to them from state or federal governments because they’re regional,” Mr Joseph, a director of the consultancy Strategic Policy Advice Victoria, said. He said funding opportunities for being classed as part of metropolitan Melbourne had “never been fully exploited”. “We have a second rate road network, education, public transport and power supplies, and being regional could cast that die for even longer. “All of this is missing the point, which is that the peninsula’s infrastructure is underdone and undercooked. “There’s no evidence that just changing from metro to regional will solve these problems.” Mr Russell said it was “hopeless to argue” for the peninsula to be regional because it endured the same lockdowns as Melbourne during the pandemic: “That is a health issue, not a planning issue.” He said the Committee for Mornington. Peninsula had commissioned a report which recommended regional status, but warned “people should remember, he who pays the piper picks the tune”. “This should be opened up for a broader debate,” he said. Mr Brayne said that some of the Liberal candidates had changed their “language” since he had “spoken out” about the need to retain the peninsula’s metropolitan status and its “sacred
THE “joint” Liberal MPs and candidates’ statement issued by the office of Flinders MP, Greg Hunt.
green wedge”. “The line they now use is, ‘We will make the Mornington Peninsula regional while maintaining green wedge protections’. This is sort of like saying, ‘We want to get rid of the monarchy while also we want to keep the Queen’. It does not work, long term, actively pursuing a regional status.” Mornington Liberal MP David Morris said planning schemes were easily amended. “It’s not complicated… To suggest it’s too complex, or that the green wedge will lose its protection, is just plain wrong.”
Health charity’s sudden closure THOUSANDS of Mornington Peninsula and Frankston members of the Peninsula Ostomy Association will be forced to seek ostomy services elsewhere, after the association’s shock temporary closure. The POA, which in 2019/20 had a turnover of $4 million and around 2000 members on its books, has closed its doors until further notice. The association is a non-government self-help organisation with a coordinator, assisted by voluntary helpers, some of whom have a stoma (surgical opening in the body), or are family or friends of ostomates. Earlier this year members received a letter notifying them of a special general meeting to pass a resolution to transfer assets - including a BMW and a Mornington storage shed - to a volunteer. Legal advice was sought, and the meeting was cancelled, and the assets were not transferred. The POA is a registered charity, governed by
the rules and regulations set out under the Associations Incorporations Reform Act It is believed the Ostomy Association of Melbourne has become involved and supported the transfer and running of the POA program. According to insiders, there is still a skeleton service provided as other issues are sorted out and it is believed the federal health department hopes the POA’s Allenby Street, Frankston premises can still be used in some capacity for health services in the community. Under the Act the POA must hold a ‘winding up’ general meeting. One member, who wanted to remain anonymous, said the closure of the POA was a “tragic loss of a 40-year, long-standing association and not-for-profit charity community organisation “ that provided support to more than 2000 ostomates in and on the peninsula and Frankston areas”.
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Mornington News
15 March 2022
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