NEWS DESK
Ageing now seen as a ‘positive’ event Stephen Taylor steve@mpnews.com.au MORNINGTON Peninsula Shire Council last week adopted a draft five-year positive ageing strategy while acknowledging the “growing body of evidence… [that] the social and economic contributions of the older population outweigh the cost of pensions and healthcare”. A report to the 11 August council meeting by officers Michelle Wright, Vicki Bishop and Tanya Gilbert, pointed out that age-friendly communities make “good sense economically and socially”. Their report said the draft strategy provided a “road map to strengthen the shire’s commitment to positive ageing”. The ageing strategy with the theme: “Our Wellbeing” and seeking “A healthy, happy, inclusive and active community” aims to make older people feel valued and supported through the implementation of programs and services helping them remain healthy, active and independent. The officers said the policy was committed to creating a community that enabled all residents to participate, belong and contribute. “An age-friendly community benefits all community members, not just older residents. Council is well placed to influence the domains that contribute to an age friendly community, enabling positive ageing for all.” The mayor Cr Sam Hearn said the shire in 2001 had been one of the first local governments to develop a strategy dedicated to supporting older residents. “This [latest] strategy builds on the work done over the past 19 years and benefits from input
and direction from the Peninsula Advisory Committee for Elders (PACE),” he said. About 500 residents contributed to the community consultation process and the shire received 31 public submissions during its exhibition period in June. Amendments were made to the original draft strategy to include the impact of COVID-19 on older people. The draft action plan prioritises areas that have been most affected by the pandemic, the officers said. It is also mindful of the budget implications of the pandemic and does not require finance beyond what is allocated in 2020/21 budget or available through government grants, they said, adding that key actions supporting the goals of the strategy complement existing plans and strategies, such as communication, transport, and housing. Shire CEO John Baker said the strategy was based on the World Health Organisation’s AgeFriendly Cities’ Framework, which highlights eight areas to creating an age-friendly community. They are transport, social participation, respect and social inclusion, housing, communication and information, community support and health services, civic participation and employment, and outdoor spaces and buildings. He said the shire’s strategy included a ninth domain: Quality of life, which identifies challenges, including obesity, dementia, climate change and – topically – our recovery from COVID-19. “The strategy will play a key role in … ensuring our community is one where older people can continue to thrive, contribute and be appreciated.”
CROWDS at this year’s Tyabb Air Show. Picture: Gary Sissons
Hearings could lead to airfield shut down PENINSULA Aero Club says the enforcement order being sought by Mornington Peninsula Shire, if granted, will “effectively” shut down the Tyabb airfield. A news release issued by PAC president Jack Vevers following last Friday’s “practice” VCAT hearing said the shire’s intent was to “strangle airport operations to the point where it will become unviable. This will cause many job losses and the demise of the emergency response facility”. “Of course, all of this is predicated on the shire’s assertion that PAC does not have permits to continue to conduct its operations at Tyabb Airport, as it has for several decades,” Mr Vevers said. “PAC has consistently maintained that it has all of the permits required.” He hoped the results of an earlier hearing into the so-called holy hour restriction on Sunday flying “will shed further light on the matters in dispute between PAC and the council”. PAC has requested orders from VCAT today to direct the shire to make all persons who might be affected by the making of the enforcement order
aware of these enforcement proceedings, to allow everyone with a stake in the airport an opportunity to make their views known to VCAT and oppose the making of the enforcement order,” Mr Vevers said. “As we have said all along, and despite the shire’s claim … of wanting the airport to 'thrive’, it is clear they are committed to limiting the airport’s operations to the point where closure is the only outcome. “PAC is bewildered that under the current COVID-19 environment, the shire continues to attack people’s jobs and is spending hundreds of thousands of ratepayers’ dollars in VCAT hearings on what we believe will only confirm what 50 plus years of previous tribunal and panel hearings have acknowledged and endorsed.” Mr Vevers said recognition in 1983 by a planning panel that the “Westernport Airfield” was “recognised and protected” by a special use zoning and “provides a general aviation facility on the Mornington Peninsula at no cost to the community” was “as accurate and relevant today as it was nearly 40 years ago”. Keith Platt
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Southern Peninsula News
26 August 2020