NEWS DESK
Picnickers with a political message helping to buy the weekly food, housing and healthcare needs of a person seeking asylum; $470 help with six months of medicine and medication; and $1000 going towards supplying a family with food and grocery for year through the ASRC’s foodbank. Following the picnic, the Southern Peninsula Grandmothers for Refugees issued a statement saying its members want the federal government to “take responsibility to provide appropriate support to the many people who come to Australia legitimately”. “Policies causing family separations should end and refugee children and their families should be held in detention no longer that 72 hours - as in other countries.”
A PICNIC organised last month by Southern Peninsula Grandmothers for Refugees raised nearly $9000 for the Footscray based Asylum Seekers Resource Centre. Picnic boxes filled with finger food based on a Middle Eastern menu with recipes suggested by the refugees were available at St John’s Church Hall, Flinders, on 18 April. The picnic was part of the ASRC’s annual fundraising Feast for Freedom with money raised being spent helping refugees and asylum seekers. The ASRC’s Iain Murray told the Flinders picnickers about the medical and dental, legal, and social help provided to refugees. Some examples included $282
Eyesore now nature’s haven SOUTHERN peninsula resident Rhonda Day spoke about the campaign to save the Rye reserve known as Moonah Warrain at a meeting at the Sorrento Community Centre, Wednesday 28 April. Her presentation included showing some of the trees, shrubs and flowers, including orchids, which she says make the area significant. The work of a new friends’ group was discussed, as were plans for community engagement and education aims for the reserve. In her talk Ms Day explained how the “abandoned eyesore” site in Flin-
ders Street had become a cherished bushland reserve. She said for many years it had been avoided as derelict, full of rubbish, weeds, snakes, and a fire hazard. It was unnamed and unknown, its native vegetation enjoyed by only a few. Previously owned by the Education Department, the reserve was acquired by Mornington Peninsula Shire Council in 2019 after a 2012 environmental report identified it as having high conservation significance. The campaign to save it involved a 3000-signature petition, letterboxing, lobbying of MPs and councillors.
Cheers and fears over threats to green wedge SATURDAY 1 May was a day of celebration for those opposed to the now-withdrawn plan by power company AGL to import liquified natural gas through a terminal at Crib Point. However, the more than 400 people gathered at Balnarring common to revel in their shared victory were also warned to be wary of governments and vested interests eyeing parts of the Mornington Peninsula’s green wedge for development. “Governments cannot be trusted to protect Western Port and the peninsula’s green wedge,” Cr David Gill said. He listed “concerning issues still being pushed by the state and federal governments” as including Kawasaki’s hydrogen gas from brown coal export trial at Hastings; proposed rezoning of bayside land in Hastings to unknown port related uses; the gas
pipeline still proposed through Hastings; state government discussions to reduce the green wedge around towns; and the federal government’s proposal for a “huge train station at Baxter that will eliminate the green wedge between Baxter and Somerville”. Cr Gill said Langwarrin was the “logical” terminus for the electric train line from Frankston “before extending it into Hastings”. “Vested interests and developers have the ear of governments because they continue to allow donations to political parties. Lobbyists and big money should not override community interests,” he said. “If they want to keep the community onside then [they should] keep us informed and be transparent about what is really going on.” However, it there were no shortages
of congratulations and smiles among the crowd on common over the defeat of AGL’s gas import terminal project. State Planning Minister Richard Wynne refused the permit on environmental grounds and last week AGL withdrew its request for a gas import licence from the federal government for the Crib Point site. Cr Gill praised the work of the groups and “the whole community in fighting for the environment and winning against the huge gas industry”. Special mentions were made of the Save Western Port Group, Environment Victoria, Western Port and Peninsula Protection Council and Mornington Peninsula Shire Council, which spent $300,000 on advocacy and giving expert evidence at the environmental effects hearings. Keith Platt
Have your say:
Pets on the Peninsula We recognise the value of pet ownership, its overall benefit for our wellbeing, the importance of pet welfare and the protection of the community and the local environment from nuisance dogs and cats. We’re developing a new Domestic Animal Management Plan to help balance pet owners’ needs with the needs of the rest of our community. The Plan outlines the Shire’s approach to the delivery of animal management services, programs and strategies across the Peninsula over the next four years. However, before we put together the draft Plan, we want to hear from you.
Community consultation is open until Sunday 23 May 2021.
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Southern Peninsula News
5 May 2021
Whether you own a pet or not, we encourage you to provide your thoughts to help us understand what’s important to you in this space, so we can reflect this is the draft Plan. A draft Domestic Animal Management Plan will then be developed and is expected to be presented to the community in August 2021 for input.
How to provide your feedback Online
mornpen.vic.gov.au/DAMP
Hard copy forms available at Customer Service Centres. Email
DAMP@mornpen.vic.gov.au
Write to us Domestic Animal Management Plan Mornington Peninsula Shire, Private Bag 1000, Rosebud, Victoria, 3939