NEWS DESK
‘Parking’ fine highlights need to fix boat ramp fees ‘debacle’ Stephen Taylor steve@mpnews.com.au CONFUSION remains over parking and launching fees at boat ramps on the Mornington Peninsula. A boat owner was fined $81 last week for supposedly not paying a launching fee at Rye, prompting the Futurefish Foundation to label the Mornington Peninsula Shire’s management of its boat ramps a “debacle”. The Premier Daniel Andrews announced on Channel 31’s “Talking Fishing” show last November that, if re-elected, the state government would run boat ramps on the peninsula, abolish fees, and establish a Better Boating Fund for boat ramp upgrades. Six months later the shire is still waiting to have its role clarified. “The [state government] said they were going to take over [the] boat ramps and we want them to get on with it,” the mayor Cr David Gill said (“No one at helm to control boat ramp” The News 15/5/19). Cr Gill said the shire was “doing the right thing” by checking on and maintaining boat ramps to make sure they are safe for the public. The shire’s director place Niall McDonagh said: “Yes, the shire has stopped processing boat ramp fees, and we await confirmation from the state government before we decommission the paid parking systems.” Futurefish Foundation director David Kramer last week said he had “never read so much nonsense in my life” and criticised the shire for fining the boatie “even when he had a launching ticket”.
Mr Kramer has provided The News a copy of the boatie’s launch fee receipt for $14.50 issued by the Parkmobile app as proof of payment and a copy of the $81 fine issued by a local laws officer later that day. He said while there was no physical ticket, the “parking officer should have access to the parking system to check registration plates and identify if a fee has been paid”. “The shire continues to give recreational fishers good reason why they are incompetent at managing boat ramps and why the Victorian Minister for Boating needs to abolish boat ramp fees as soon as possible and take control of boat ramps,” he said. “The left hand doesn’t know what the right hand is doing when it comes to the shire charging boat ramp fees. “[It] is just unacceptable in this day and age of technology for shire officers [to be] handing out fines. “It is very clear to me that the mayor is at the helm charging fees and fining people incorrectly: he is steering this ship with his eyes closed.” Mr Kramer said he was “seeking an urgent meeting with the new CEO of Better Boating Victoria to ask when boat ramp fees will be scrapped as he expected fees to be scrapped by 1 July this year”. “The sooner this mess is cleaned up the better,” he said. The shire’s ramps include Schnapper Point, Fishermans Beach, Safety Beach, Rye, Sorrento and Hastings. Two sand ramps at Mt Martha and Flinders can be used by tractors and four-wheeldrives only. Other ramps include Tootgarook (managed by the Capel Sound foreshore committee) and Flinders (run by Parks Victoria).
Chorale performs MORNINGTON Peninsula Chorale will perform at the Peninsula Community Theatre, 91 Wilson Road, Mornington, 7.30pm, Saturday 25 May, and 2.30pm, Sunday 2 June. The chorale recently sang at Carnegie Hall, New York, and from there travelled to perform at Wellington, New Zealand. Last year they performed The Armed Man in Berlin with the UNESCO World Orchestra for Peace, along with choirs from 27 countries. Book through trybooking.com/ book/event?eid=487484&
Toilet input
MORNINGTON Peninsula Shire mayor Cr David Gill said the parking fine, left, would be rescinded if it was issued to a vehicle parked within the boat ramp’s car and trailer parking parking area.
MEMBERS of the community are being invited to provide feedback on plans to replace the old public toilet block at Buckley’s Rest, Safety Beach. The mayor Cr David Gill said the block had “reached the end of its useful life and will be upgraded to provide an improved, modern design to service our community for many years to come”. Plans are available to view and provide feedback online until Friday 31 May at mornpen.vic.gov.au/ haveyoursay Forms will be available in hard copy at the shire’s offices at Rosebud, Mornington, Hastings and Somerville. Email submissions to: haveyoursay@mornpen.vic.gov.au with the subject line Safety Beach Public Amenity or post to: Attention: Michael Scully, Infrastructure Planner – Facilities, Safety Beach Public Amenity Have Your Say Mornington Peninsula Shire, Private Bag 1000.
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22 May 2019
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