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Tuesday 20 June 2017
5973 6424 or email: team@mpnews.com.au www.mpnews.com.au
Market call for auction man
Picture: Yanni
AUCTIONEER Andy Reid will be wielding his hammer and hoping his voice will draw a crowd of football fans when he steps up at Mornington’s Wednesday market on 28 June. For 20 minutes from midday Mr Reid, of freelance auctioneers SoldBy Auctions will be calling for bids for framed packs of action cards featuring Richmond’s Dustin Martin, Geelong’s Patrick Dangerfield and former Collingwood champion Dane Swan. Money raised from the sale will go to Clean as Casper mobile showers, a charity which provides a mobile shower service for homeless people. Clean as Casper was started in 2015 by Steve and Adele Winterton after Steve had been a volunteer with Orange Sky Laundry, a mobile laundry for the homeless. “Most people have the luxury of starting their day with a nice warm shower, and in the evening, after a long hard day, we again have the opportunity to have a warm relaxing shower and wash our day away,” Mr Winterton says. “This ritual can make us feel better immediately, and helps improve our frame of mind.” He says there are more than 2500 homeless people in and around Melbourne, including 600 in Frankston. “After a rough night’s sleep in the cold, the rain, the heat and humidity, they start their day exactly where they left off the night before and do not get to finish it by washing away their day.” Mr Reid his charity auction “concept” was aimed at helping charities “raise some money without having to put huge amounts of effort in”. “I’m so proud to be able to use my skills as a professional auctioneer to bring a shopping centre to a standstill for charity- not only for the funds raised but also the increased awareness towards great causes,” he said. “For me, this is a quick and easy way to help them to reach their goals. “I’ll be excited to see the reaction of the crowd. We’ll be live-streaming the auction too, so the event will be seen around the world.” Keith Platt
Revolt over shire ‘muzzle’ bid Keith Platt keith@mpnews.com.au MORNINGTON Peninsula Shire councillors have rejected a proposed media policy that limited their ability to make public statements and have “off the record” conversations with journalists. The draft stated that information about the shire could only be released to the media by the mayor Cr Bev Colomb, CEO Carl Cowie, and commu-
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nications, media and events manager Mark Kestigian. The policy was drawn up by Mr Kestigian who withdrew it from the Tuesday 13 June council meeting agenda after a majority of councillors expressed concern that it restricted their roles as elected representatives of the public. Cr Colomb told The News that the draft media policy was “a very early mock-up and [councillors] decided they wanted to create a media and communications policy from the
ground up”. The deputy mayor Bryan Payne said the proposed media policy “treated councillors as employees” and failed to give them the “respect” deserved by elected representatives. When outlining the need for rewriting the media policy, Mr Kestigian said “media scrutiny and engagement present risks to the shire’s reputation and community confidence in the council and shire operations”. He said the policy was designed to “help manage constructive working re-
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lationships” with the media and “present a consistent and positive image of shire activities and services”. Once adopted, the policy would ensure communications with the media were “strategically managed with only authorised representatives communicating with media outlets”. The policy also acknowledges that “media have a vital role in holding [the shire] to account on behalf of the community”. It warns against whistleblowing saying that there were “procedures” avail-
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able to report “improper conduct or detrimental action and protect people who make these reports”. The draft policy states that Cr Colomb, Mr Cowie and Mr Kestigian “are authorised to speak to the media on matters of [shire] policy and operations”. The draft includes the statement that “media inquiries are welcomed and will be responded to promptly”. Mr Kestigian “declined to comment” three days after being emailed questions from The News about his “draft” media policy. Continued Page 9
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