PAGE 4 - “THE STAR”, Tuesday, May 14, 2013
Brothers in arms: Simon and Terry Peavey are the proud new owners of the Fish Creek Hotel.
Budget blues By Jane Ross and Matt Dunn SOUTH Gippsland has missed out on any significant State Government spending for 201314.
Fresh faces for Fishy pub THE Fish Creek pub has been sold and was taken over recently, by brothers Terry and Simon Peavey.
The pub, listed and sold through CRE Brokers is one of several South Gippsland pubs that hit the real estate market recently. Simon Peavey said it is an exciting project for them. “You won’t find anyone who is more enthusiastic or passionate about this project,” he said. “We are very much a Gippsland family. We were looking to purchase a business and we decided Gippsland was the place we wanted to be. It is an organic fit for us and our families. “We just love the place.” Simon and Terry have allowed themselves a two year refurbishment period. “We want to create an experience for people where they walk away and say ‘wow, I wasn’t expecting that’,” Simon said.
“We also see the hotel as being a very valuable employment point. It is not uncommon for hotels like ours to have around 20 staff.” The new owners also plan on redeveloping the accommodation in the upstairs rooms of the hotel. “There will be eight rooms for guests to use, including a very large guest lounge. Plus there is the nine room motel at the back,” Simon said. “There is the possibility of 16 rooms for accommodation in total, which makes it perfect for large groups who want to have a holiday together.” The Great Southern Rail Trail is something many people are still to discover and is what Simon described as a great opportunity. “We are hoping, given our location to the rail trail, visitors will come and stay with us and enjoy a beautiful meal and a drink while on their journey,” he said.
“We will be extending the facilities at the hotel to allow for people with bicycles. “There is no other way to describe it; it will be a great Victorian weekender.” Simon said they intend to source much of the produce required for the restaurant at the hotel from local suppliers. “Product sourcing starts at a regional level, then grows outwards. People don’t go to regional places in Victoria to try something that comes from New South Wales,” he said. “There will be a certain amount of supplies that we will find easily and some we will have to look for.” Locals may be concerned now the pub has been sold, the fish occupying the roof of the pub may disappear, but fear not. “The fish is a part of the community and will most definitely be staying,” Simon said. The hotel is open for business and serving meals while undergoing extensive renovations.
Mental health on the way WONTHAGGI will be the next Gippsland town to receive support from mental health organisation Barrier Breakers. They are a volunteer run organisation based in Traralgon who also have a chapter in Sale who strive to bring supportive accommodation for those suffering a mental illness. Derek Amos, the charity organisation’s chief executive officer, told The Star that a chapter is set to start in Wonthaggi. “What we will do this
year is concentrate on establishing a chapter of the organisation there and getting some on ground survey work undertaken,” he said. “We’ve got the base studies done so we are ready to put it into effect but we need some bums on seats. “We are looking for a committee like we have in Sale.” Mr Amos said after a recent visit to South Gippsland it’s just a matter of getting a person to act as a coordinator for the chapter.
“As it turns out down there in the Wonthaggi and Leongatha region you have a huge shortage of supportive accommodation for people suffering with a mental illness,” he said. “For a start this chapter will give us a presence directly in that area so it will help us know what the needs are in respect to the allocations of resources. “This will also provide a direct link to advocacy for government funding for the area.” There will be no office for Barrier Breakers
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but the chapter will provide people in that area more direct involvement in that region from the organisation. “This will give us the ability to put a more definite figure on the actual shortage of accommodation for people with a mental illness in that region,” Mr Amos said. Supportive accommodation is set to start construction in Traralgon soon, which people in the Bass Coast and South Gippsland area could access.
“We are constructing six units in Traralgon which will start in September as a pilot program,” Amos said. “After that on our priority list is Wonthaggi, Sale and East Gippsland. “With a presence all over Gippsland we can accurately determine where that next project needs to be.” If you would like to be involved with the Barrier Breakers committee in Wonthaggi call Derek Amos on 0428 397 706.
Loose load blocks highway ONE lane of the Strzelecki Highway was blocked on Wednesday after four bales of hay came loose from a truck’s load. The large round bales came to rest on the narrow bridge over Coalition Creek just out of Leongatha. Senior Constable Don Haw of the Leongatha Police was called to the incident at around 1.40pm and the truck driver had left the scene. It is speculated that the driver didn’t realise that they had lost some of their load. South Gippsland Shire Council crews quickly cleared the mess and the highway was opened to two lanes again. Police are urging people to secure their loads following another incident on the Strzelecki Highway earlier on Wednesday where a truck lost some sand just south of Mirboo North. The penalty for having an insecure load can range from $211 for a minor breach through to $560 for a substantial risk breach. S/C Haw is calling for witnesses who could describe the truck to contact Leongatha Police on 5662 2285.
There was nothing for the badly needed Wonthaggi Education Precinct nor the Wonthaggi Hospital revamp. The only big ticket items in the electorate of Deputy Premier Peter Ryan were in Sale and the Macalister Irrigation District. “It’s disappointing,” Bass Coast Shire Council CEO Allan Bawden said. “I’ve read through the budget papers – there are no big capital works type projects. “It’s disappointing there’s no announcement about the secondary college or Wonthaggi Hospital.” But Bass Coast Regional Health CEO Lea Pope said she hadn’t been expecting more money for the hospital rebuild given work on the new dental clinic and community rehabilitation centre is about to start. Completion is scheduled for the first half of next year. Money hadn’t been sought for a badly-needed $20 million pipe to supplement Korumburra’s meagre water supply from the ample Lance Creek in Wonthaggi. But South Gippsland Water (SGW) managing director Philippe du Plessis said a submission would be lodged for next year’s State Budget. The senior campus of Wonthaggi Secondary College includes buildings dating to the 1950s and there is little outdoor space. Building a new senior campus on land in McKenzie Street is the first stage of the education precinct. And the shire has its eye on the McBride Avenue site for a cultural hub. School principal Garry Dennis said he wasn’t surprised there was no funding this year, but remains hopeful. “We’ll continue to work with council and TAFE.” Mr Bawden is concerned about the budget’s $110m for the Port of Hastings development. He said the port had the potential to adversely impact on Bass Coast’s tourism industry and environment. “More shipping in Western Port increases the chance of oil spills and when ships are at anchor their engines vibrate and are noisy at night. That’s a risk to tourism. “Councils around Westernport are pushing for the government to put in decent road and rail infrastructure because the focus of the port will be on containers.” Mr Bawden is pleased the budget commits to its country roads and bridges program. “It provides $1m for each council and has been a great help.” Mr Ryan commended a number of budget initiatives including $61m for upgrades and replacements of rural fire stations, $16m to support native vegetation and threatened species, $91m extra to improve the lives of vulnerable children in out-of-home care, $2.3m for rural financial counselling services, $8m to drive regional tourism, $2m to control wild dogs and $5m for electronic learning centres. The latter has been announced previously and it is unclear how much of it will be available in South Gippsland where GippsTAFE’s Leongatha Campus and Wonthaggi’s Chisholm Campus have been designated “technology enabled learning centres”. Ms Pope said hospitals won’t receive their individual budgets for some weeks and because visiting surgeons manage their own waiting lists, Wonthaggi Hospital doesn’t keep waiting list data. So there is no way of gauging any impact from budget funding to reduce the size of waiting lists. But South Gippsland Shire Council CEO Tim Tamlin had a more positive attitude to the budget. “The budget has shown great promise in a number of areas. Local councils across the state will receive almost $200 million more in government grants in 2013-14 in contrast to the last state budget in 2010-11,” he said. “Council is also set to receive up to $1 million for the next four years as part of the Country Roads and Bridges Program. I think SGSC is likely to get that full amount. “There’s also money allocated for childcare and I think Korumburra’s Integrated Children’s Services Hub could really benefit there. There’s little things in the budget that have opened up doors for us to grab opportunities for South Gippsland.”
Tip of the iceberg
Continued from page 1. “People on ice stay up for three, four, five days and there is an argument as to whether people become violent on ice or whether people who take it already have an underlying anger issue. But, by the same token, there have been a lot of people who use ice who don’t get angry.” The drug and alcohol worker said treatment was available for those who needed it, including programs through Gippsland Southern Health Service. Leongatha Salvation Army Captain Martyn Scrimshaw said he too had noted a rise in drug-affected clients, and that he was “always concerned about the health and wellbeing of people” with substance abuse problems. *Official police figures show there were 108 drug offences in Bass Coast PSA in 2011. That number rose to 182 in 2012. The jump in the offences represented a 68.5 per cent increase. Statistics for 2013 will not be released until 2014.