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NEWS DESK
Concerns about bike path route
Prayer returns to council
Almighty God, we humbly seek Thy blessings upon this Council. Direct and prosper its deliberations to the advancement of Thy glory and true welfare of the people of the Mornington Peninsula Shire. Give us the strength and courage to make wise decisions with grace and dignity. Amen The prayer (with council’s capitals) as read out at the Tuesday 9 February meeting by Cr Debra Mar
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Continued from Page 1 “The feedback from the community spoke loud and clear they were not happy and taken by surprise with the removal of the reference to God from the prayer and their voices need to be heard in this debate,” Cr Celi said. “No one is forcing anyone to say the prayer, you can choose not to, but no councillor or lobby has a right to shut down and vilify our community for being Christian or of faith with their reverse discriminative narrative and faux definition of what they believe a secular society should look like.” Cr Fraser said that on the same night that councillors changed the prayer to a pledge they adopted a community engagement strategy that obliged them to “seek out and facilitate the participation of those potentially affected by or interested in a decision”. He said Ms Sapolu’s “hair
splitting advice – which an experienced lawyer will instantly recognise – was not conservative, was not sound, it was not good”. “A prayer by definition must refer to God. That is the ordinary natural meaning of the word,” Cr Fraser said. “This secular pledge is not a prayer and our rules have been amended without consulting with our community.” Ms Sapolu, head of governance, said the prayer was said before last week’s meeting because Cr Fraser had lodged a notice of motion to rescind Cr Marsh’s 8 December motion to reword the prayer. “The impact of a notice of motion to rescind is that no action can be taken to implement the resolution it seeks to rescind, until the notice of motion to rescind is decided by council. Accordingly, the former prayer was said at the meeting,” Ms Sapolu said.
ENVIRONMENTAL groups oppose plans for a shared bike path beside the Moorooduc-to-Mornington railway line. A joint letter with 11 signatories was sent to Mornington Peninsula Shire Council last month “expressing deep concerns about the environmental impact of the proposed shared bike path”. They say the path “hosts the best remnants of significant vegetation … which are now depleted and rare in Victoria, as well as individual species which are state and federally listed as threatened”. The shared bike and railway line trail is being promoted by Mornington Community Safelink Group and Mornington Railway Preservation Society. Safelink’s Graeme Rocke says it will connect the residential, shopping, sporting, schools and workplaces of Mornington, Mount Eliza and Mount Martha. (“Groups align for shared path” The News 27/7/20). Along the way the two groups are planning to complete one of the Peninsula Bay Trail’s missing links: the route from Moorooduc to Mornington. The letter writers against their plan included a detailed submission on the potentially-threatened plants. Their letter has been included as a submission in the process for identification of potential routes for the Moorooduc-toMornington section of the Bay Trail.
The council is reviewing all submissions. Groups who submitted suggestions and comments will be invited to discuss them and hear about the council’s plans and next steps. Stephen Taylor
Recovery help GRANTS to help businesses recover from the COVID-19 pandemic are available to eligible business associations, bushland and foreshore friends groups, land-care groups, not-for-profit organisations, community groups and creatives, including individuals and organisations or groups. The Mornington Peninsula Shire grants include quick response relief grants of $2000 which are available until funds run out. A business association COVID-19 Recovery Grant Program of $3000 opened last week runs until 5 March. Community Recovery Grants of $10,000 run until 26 February and Biolinks Support Grants of $10,000 opened this week and run until 5 March. Guidelines for each program with eligibility and assessment criteria are available at mornpen.vic.gov.au/grants For a list of more than 1250 grant and funding opportunities go to mornpen.vic.gov.au/fundingfinder
GALLERY TALK There is only two weeks left to see the 2020 National Works on Paper the exhibition must close on Sunday 21 February. With a long and rich history, NWOP features leading artists from across Australia working in the fields of drawing, printmaking, digital prints and paper sculpture. You are able to vote for your favourite work in the People’s Choice Award - the winning artist will receive $1000. On MPRG TV you can watch a conversation with six artists featured in the 2020 National Works on Paper from all around Australia - Kath Fries (NSW), Tamika Grant-Iramu (QLD), Winsome Jobling (NT), Annika Romeyn (ACT), Robert Ewing (WA) and Robert Fielding (SA). Our Young at Art program for preschoolers is now being run every Tuesday morning. With the guidance of an experienced early childhood educator, participants respond to works in the current exhibition with a different hands-on creative activity every week, using materials from the take-home art materials box supplied each session. In our online workshops for kids and adults, Nobenti Oho shows us how to
5 DEC 21 FEB
on exhibiti l Gallery Regiona insula ton Pen A Morning
NWOP supports and promotes contemporary Australian artists working on or with paper with up to $50,000 acquisitions and awards.
make a basket with recycled materials, using weaving, coiling and twining and artist-educator Jill Anderson is inspired by the dynamic and immediate way artist Locust Jones records aspects of his life and asks you to get creative expressing your own current experiences. Artists: Kim ANDERSON, Suzanne ARCHER, Lyn ASHBY, Peter ATKINS, Elizabeth BANFIELD, Hannah BEILHARZ, Chris BOND and Drew PETTIFER, Godwin BRADBEER, Kaye BROWN, Jane BURTON, Penelope CAIN, Marilou CHAGNAUD, Timothy COOK, Matt COYLE, Sam CRANSTOUN, Julia DAVIS and Lisa JONES, Stephen EASTAUGH, Naomi ELLER, Robert EWING, Robert FIELDING, Anna FINLAYSON, Belinda FOX, David FRAZER, Kath FRIES, Brian FUATA, Ash GARWOOD, Minna GILLIGAN, Shaun GLADWELL, Tamika GRANT-IRAMU, Katherine HATTAM, Judy HOLDING, Anna HOYLE, Clare HUMPHRIES, Winsome JOBLING, Deborah KELLY, Iluwanti KEN, Martin KING, Ilona KISS, Barbie KJAR, Jenna LEE, Dane LOVETT, Chips MACKINOLTY, Laith McGREGOR, Noel McKENNA, Roma McLAUGHLIN, Todd McMILLAN, Fiona McMONAGLE, Vera MÖLLER, Ray MONDE, Kent MORRIS, Tom O’HERN, Becc ORSZÁG, David PALLISER, Louise PARAMOR, Hubert PAREROULTJA, Riley PAYNE, Tom POLO, Patrick POUND, Linda PUNA, Cameron ROBBINS, Brian ROBINSON, Annika ROMEYN, Pip RYAN, Wendy SHARPE, Kylie STILLMAN, Jacqui STOCKDALE, Marina STROCCHI, Hiromi TANGO, Hossein VALAMANESH, Lisa WAUP, Rosie WEISS, Regina WILSON, Judith WRIGHT, Heidi YARDLEY
mprg.mornpen.vic.gov.au
KEY FUNDER
16 February 2021
MEDIA PARTNERS
We hope to see you at the Gallery soon! Danny Lacy Artistic Director Senior Curator
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You can still purchase one of our art boxes for $55 with all the materials you’ll need for one of our online workshops with master printmaker David Frazer, Wynne Prize winner Hubert Pareroultja or do a watercolour workshop with Rosie Weiss.
www.mprg.mornpen.vic.gov.au
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