NEWS DESK
Supporting environment to the end
Bans eased and bay and greens the great attraction Continued from Page 1 Social welfare groups such as Alcoholics Anonymous were also allowed meetings of up to 10 people. On Sunday, the Premier Daniel Andrews announced that as from 1 June cafes, restaurants and pubs will be able to open their doors to serve meals to up to 20 patrons at a time. The limit may be increased to 50 by 22 June and 100 in the second half of July. Venues must allow four square metres for each customer and tables must be 1.5 metres apart.
The timetable set out by Mr Andrews is dependent on tests continuing to show “low numbers” of COVID-19 cases around the state. “We need to be really clear though: this is not a done deal. These deadlines will depend on how we’re tracking.” However, other types of businesses will remain shut, with Mr Andrews saying, “we can’t have millions of people moving across our state – particularly around the Melbourne CBD - touching elevator buttons or opening front doors”. Keith Platt
Pandemic blow to budget Continued from Page 1 “Other measures include saving $1.4 million by not filling vacant staff positions and saving $1.7 million by reducing materials and services expenditure.” He said the council was also continuing to lobby state and federal departments for financial support and relief. Financial modelling and “scenario analysis” for the 2020-21 budget forecasting the potential $6-$12 million loss is being undertaken while the draft budget is on public exhibition. Cr Hearn said the exhibition period had been extended to Thursday 21 May to “give the community more time to review and provide comment, and to give council officers more time to
assess the economic impacts we are seeing from COVID-19”. He said the next financial year would be “very challenging”. “We as a council have a united resolve to navigate our way through these difficult circumstances for the whole community,” he said. “I believe we can facilitate a united effort engaging all sectors and people, peninsula-wide, to achieve our economic and social recovery and ensure no one gets left behind. “I’m proud of the way we have stuck together and looked after each other through the pandemic. We need to commit to doing the same as we rebuild and restart after it.” The proposed budget can be seen at mornpen. vic.gov.au Hard copies can be mailed on request.
LONG time environmental campaigner Chris Chandler died of cancer on 30 April. Articulate and well-researched, Mr Chandler, who lived on French Island, was especially concerned with the loss of habitat and need to preserve the biodiversity and sensitive environment of Western Port. In February 2019, after joining more than 90 other fee paying passengers for a twilight cruise celebrating World Wetlands Day on Western Port, Mr Chandler told The News that the bay’s wetlands “easily fit” the criteria required for them to be protected under the international Ramsar agreement. Always ready with statistics and a formidable knowledge of natural history, Mr Chandler listed some of the 10,000 migratory birds that for part of the year call Western Port home (including 30 species of waders which breed in Siberia), and said the mudflats were also occupied on a regular basis by black swans, ducks, herons and ibis. Mr Chandler’s father Alan (known as “Koala Dundee”) ran guided tours of French Island, Island, regaling visitors with tales about the island’s history and its wildlife. It was through his father’s work with scientists involved in the Shapiro Study in the 1970s that a young Chris became acutely aware of the fragility of the environment. A senior member of the secretive Bible sect, Friends of Workers, or the Two by Two, Chris Chandler was jailed for one year with a minimum three months in 2014, for indecent assaults on three girls. Mr Chandler later told this reporter that he attributed his crimes, in part, to being brought up as part of a small population on an isolated island. Mr Chandler was a valued member of Save Westernport, the community group fighting power company AGL’s proposal to import liquified natural gas (LNP) to a floating terminal at Crib Point. Save Westernport’s secretary Julia Stockigt said Mr Chandler had worked “tirelessly for
CHRIS Chandler improvements in conservation and resource management”. “He had a great ability to share his knowledge with clear explanations to both people in local Landcare and catchment groups and others, including bureaucrats,” Ms Stockigt said. “From the local area to the outback, Chris’ profound knowledge about Australia’s history of European settlement included an insight into the traditional practices of its original owners, and extended to ecology, botany, and current politics,” Ms Stockigt said. A keen writer and ready volunteer for local publications and community magazines, Chris Chandler “generously shared his incredible fountain of detailed knowledge about the local environment and the importance of caring for Western Port and the non-built world”. Ms Stockigt said his knowledge of the natural environment was unsurpassed and retold a story that as a child he showed field students how to find freshwater soaks in dry seasons by following the tracks of black swans along rivulets. “The day before he died, he gave instructions for monitoring the critically endangered fairy terns on French Island.” A tree planting ceremony and memorial will be held for Chris Chandler when COVID-19 social distancing requirements are lifted. Keith Platt
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Southern Peninsula News 20 May 2020
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