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Wednesday 3 June 2020
5974 9000 or email: team@mpnews.com.au www.mpnews.com.au DANCING schools say authorities determining rules for their reopening on Monday 22 June are out of step with the industry. More than 170 dance schools are lobbying the Premier Daniel Andrews to let them save a say in regulations being drafted by the Department of Health and Human Services which they say is based on recommendations from the Australian Institute of Sport. Australian Academy of Dance director Mike Harrison-Lamond said dance studio owners said the AIS was “not our governing body, nor do they have an understanding of our industry”. He said requiring four square metres a person, 20 people in each enclosed space and no more than 10 people for each activity “is causing mass confusion throughout the industry”. Mr Harrison-Lamond said dance schools wanted to remove the 10-person restriction and limit numbers to 20 with the four square metres a person rule. He said it would be uneconomic to limit dance to schools to 10 people “regardless of how big a space is”.
Dance teachers want to lead in their next step
PENINSULA School of Dance Director Melanie Gard, left, has joined dance studios across Victoria in calling for a say in regulations governing their reopening later this month. Picture: Yanni “Restrictions eased but caution required” Page 6
Shire’s ‘ugly’ Sorry Day decision Keith Platt keith@mpnews.com.au ON National Sorry Day, Mornington Peninsula Shire councillors rejected adopting an Aboriginal name for the $50 million aquatic centre being built at Rosebud. Another public consultation process “targeted” at peninsula residents will now be undertaken with five suggested names, including three Aboriginal words. However, the final decision will be made by councillors with the delay costing ratepayers an estimated $200,000.
The names on the list are: Gunawarra Aquatic Centre; Rosebud Aquatic Centre; Barbawar Aquatic Centre; Yawa Aquatic Centre; and Tides Aquatic Centre. Gunawarra means black swan, barbawar stingray and yawa to swim. Cr David Gill said council’s reluctance to vote at its Tuesday 26 May meeting “came about because some councillors seemed to believe that they would not get the name they wanted”. Not taking the opportunity to endorse an Aboriginal name “has brought an element into council that I never thought would happen”, he said. He saw the decision to not vote on
a name as being especially shameful for the council because it came on National Sorry Day on the eve of National Reconciliation Week. Cr Gill said some shire officers who had contacted him “had wanted to quit … they were enraged and disgusted, absolutely disgusted”. “I felt like I didn’t want to be there; I felt like quitting,” Cr Gill said. “[Councillors] don’t always agree, and we don’t always get it right. All councils have the good, the bad, and the ugly. This was the ugly. With council elections due later this year, Cr Gill sees “the push” for an anglicised name “having more to do with a local Rosebud lobby group than
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any principles involved in the naming process”. “There is an overwhelming abundance of English place names [on the peninsula]. This was an opportunity to line up our often-stated acknowledgment and the paying of respect to our first people’s culture with action as outlined in council’s recently adopted Reconciliation Action Plan.” Cr Gill said that in the lead-up to last week’s meeting “several councillors began an email blitz advocating for the aquatic centre to be named Rosebud, where it is located”. He said there had previously been general agreement that the aquatic centre was for the entire peninsula “and that an iconic stand-alone name
was preferable to a localised commonly used name”. Cr Hugh Fraser, who seconded the motion by Cr Antonella Celi to again undertake public consultation and not adopt the shire officer’s recommendation to name the aquatic centre Gunawarra, said there was no legal obstacle “to deny our community or this council the right to consider the name Rosebud Aquatic Centre as one of a number of possible names”. Cr Fraser said the name Gunawarra was “arrived at through an internal process which relied on incorrect verbal advice from an unnamed public servant. Management filtered out all references to Rosebud and Peninsula”.
Rosebud Superclinic Welcome Dr Liying (Ying) Chen Dr Chen has special interests in aged care and mental health. She speaks Mandarin and looks forward to providing care to her new patients. Opening hours:
Weekdays 8am - 8pm Saturday 8am - 2pm 03 5982 0588
New patients welcome Telehealth available rosebud.ipn.com.au
12-16 Boneo Road, Rosebud VIC 3939