NEWS DESK
Building fire risk ‘update’ by August Keith Platt keith@mpnews.com.au THE number of remaining buildings on the Mornington Peninsula clad with combustible aluminium should be public knowledge in August. Mornington Peninsula Shire in May directed its officers to “update our community on the situation regarding combustible cladding of buildings”. Officers said they could provide councillors with “a brief update” by 19 July. Concerns worldwide about combustible aluminium being used in multi-storey buildings were raised in June 2017 when 72 people died when London’s 20-storey Grenfell Tower caught fire. In March 2019, a cigarette was blamed for a blaze in Melbourne’s Neo200 building that that jumped five storeys. However, in January 2021 the shire was continuing its long held policy of not identifying aluminium-clad buildings on the peninsula uncovered in a state-wide audit by the Victorian Building Authority (“Fire risks clad in secrecy” The News 1/2/21. At that time, instead of calling on its own staff to report on the pro-
gress of making the buildings safe, councillors agreed to then mayor Cr Despi O’Connor telling the state government that its building surveyour, not the shire’s, should be responsible for ordering buildings to be repaired or even evacuated. Wary of the legal implications since 2019, the shire made few statements regarding combustible cladding. At that time Cr David Gill said he “just wanted to know if buildings identified with aluminium cladding on the peninsula have been fixed”. At the 13 May public meeting Cr Gill succeeded in getting unanimous support from his colleagues in calling for “a report to council by August 2022 to update our community on the situation regarding combustible cladding of buildings” on the peninsula. In January 2021, Cr Gill said combustible cladding was “very controversial” on the peninsula but “our community has been kept ignorant about the facts”. “The state government has stopped open discussion about government locations and even some important non-government buildings. There has been an intent to prevent public awareness by using building regulations to make disclosure illegal.”
Group works on show A GROUP of 12 Mornington Peninsula artists called Studio 12 are exhibiting their works at the Mount Eliza shopping centre until 1 July. The works include oils, pastels, acrylics, watercolours, pen and wash and mixed media. Amanda Steadman, left, is pictured with one of her paintings.
Keeping watch on councillor costs MORNINGTON Peninsula residents are being asked for their opinion on councillors being reimbursed for outof-pocket expenses. The draft policy on councillor expenses, reimbursement, resources and facilities outlines procedures for thew shire picking up the bill for expenses incurred by councillors and members of delegated committees while on council business. The document does not cover councillor allowances, which can be up to $32,000 and more than $100,000 for a mayor. Expenses covered in the draft policy can be incurred for council and com-
mittee meetings, formal briefing sessions and civic or ceremonial functions convened by the council, the mayor or the chief executive officer. Reimbursement can also cover the cost of attending meetings or workshops, functions, site inspections, conferences and training and seminars related to council business. Under the state government municipal guidelines councillors are entitled to be reimbursed for any necessary outof-pocket expenses they incur while performing their duties as a councillor. The draft expenses document also provides guidance on entitlements, provision of resources, facilities and
support process for reimbursement, reporting, monitoring, evaluation and review requirements. To have a say in the draft councillor expenses, reimbursements, resources and facilities policy provide feedback before 5pm Monday 4 July 2022 at mornpen.vic.gov.au/expensespolicy. The mayor Cr Anthony Marsh said the draft policy ensured accountability and transparency. “It also seeks to align the payment of councillor expenses with community expectations,” he said. “We encourage the community to have their say before the consultation period closes.”
Esso’s plan to use excess ethane to generate electricity Continued from Page 1 Gill said Kawasaki’s plan - backed by $50 million each from the state and federal governments - “leaves the coal behind, for us to have to deal with”. He said it was “interesting” that the shire’s “team” did not see any objection to increasing the peninsula’s annual greenhouse emissions by six per cent. The proposal also required the “almost one hectare of [native] vegetation removal for, of all things, defendable space”. “Some people might not be defended if this goes wrong,” Gill said. “Gas is not the future.” Esso’s decision to generate electricity follows a drop in demand for ethane by Altona-based plastic manufacturer, Qenos. Three 14.7 metre high turbine generators - with a 15m high vent stack - are planned to generate up to 40 megawatts, although this would fluctuate along with the ongoing demand for ethane.
The power station would include a switch yard, transformer system, offices and parking for up to 80 vehicles. A 45m long five m high “acoustic noise wall” would be built on the site’s southern boundary. Cr Susan Bissinger said the state government was “very anti-gas” which the federal government was “pro-gas”. “I’m not advocating for gas in any way, just reading what I see, and what I see is parties that are warring with each other, and you wonder who’s going to win out of it,” she said. Using ethane to generate electricity was the “lesser of two evils”. “We either flare-off the ethane, let it go up into the atmosphere and get nothing out of it, or we process it into electricity,” Bissinger said. “No one’s offering to use the ethane to make other things. I’d rather have 35,000 houses given electricity every year through this process than have nothing, and just watch the flare go off all the time.”
LETTERS
Letters - 300 words maximum and including full name, address and contact number - can be sent to The News, PO Box 588, Hastings 3915 or emailed to: team@mpnews.com.au
Offsets ‘conscience soothing, paper shuffling exercise’ I write to respond to what I regard as condescending, unsubstantiated drivel penned by Janet Street (“Leadership lacking for ‘neutral’ policy” The News 21/6/22). Playing the man and not the ball is not at all persuasive. If someone disagrees with Janet, which I imagine they quite often do, they are not uneducated, misinformed acting in self-interest or serving some other master. They just see carbon offset credits for what they are — a paper shuffling exercise invented by ticket-clipping middle men to sooth their polluting consciences. Furthermore, expenditure on international carbon offset credits has no place within the budget of the Mornington Peninsula Shire and I was pleased that my motion to delete the line item was successful,
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Southern Peninsula News
THE Esso fractionisation plant at Hastings. Picture: Yanni
29 June 2022
saving ratepayers $200,000. Steve Holland, Briars Ward councillor
Life and death Our leaders said, “we will live with COVID”. Oops, did they mean die with COVID? See figures for May and June. Geoffrey Lane, Mornington
Go figure Mornington Peninsula Shire’s rates income is up $6.4m, $10m less employee costs, roads budget decreased by $16m, capital works down by $50m, and other essential services budget items down. So just what is going on? Defies logic.
Could almost think they are trying to get the ratepayers squealing like pigs so that the can apply for higher rate from Essential Services Commission “if they can demonstrate community support and a critical need for spending on services or projects that requires a rate rise above the capped amount”. We need to be really careful here, as there is lots of smoke and mirrors associated with this. Yet the council continues to ignore an easy, cost effective, low cost, $25m income increase by taxing the tourrorists for the costs we ratepayers support. Not taxing the tourrorists is all well and good for commercial interests at the expense of ratepayers. We need a clean sweep of the councilors who refuse to hold officers and CEO to account at the next council election. Joe Lenzo, Safety Beach
Pay back council I would prefer that if Despi O’Connor wants to reject her pay [received] while running for Flinders [in last month’s federal election], then
just leave it in the Mornington Peninsula Shire Council coffers (“O’Connor to donate council election pay” The News 21/6/22). Giving it to charity gives her a tax deduction and the council supports many charities anyway. John king, McCrae
Ports not bays Thank you for your correct use of the names of the two beautiful bays that surround us (“Fluke encounters make perfect match” The News 21/6/22). The well-known nautical explorers George Bass and Mathew Flinders found and investigated two large expanses of water on “Australia’s’’ (another subject ) southeast coast and named them Port Phillip and Western Port. The first , after Governor Arthur Phillip and the second, Western Port, because they thought they had gone as far west in “Bass Strait” as they could. The word bay was not attached by them to the names, but, through common use, has become normal today. Thank you for keeping us in line with history. Edmund Burke, Mornington