12 January 2016

Page 1

Western Port

Western Port

realestate 12 January 2016

Your guide to what’s on this weekend for peninsula families

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An independent voice for the community Your weekly community newspaper covering the entire Western Port region For all advertising and editorial, call 03

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Tuesday day 12 January 2016 201 16

5973 6424 or email: team@mpnews.com.au www.mpnews.com.au

Locked access delays airlift for seriously injured woman THE Baxter woman pinned against a wall by her car at the Grant Rd storage facility early last week was in “a stable condition” yesterday, Monday. The 59-year-old staff member was airlifted to The Alfred hospital with serious injuries after being stuck for five hours outside the Somerville business. Police and emergency services crews stabilised the woman on Monday 4 January before the car could be moved. The officers then had difficulty evacuating the woman to hospital as locked bollards blocked their way onto Fruitgrowers’ Reserve where the air ambulance was waiting. A Mornington Peninsula Shire officer arrived with the wrong key and the ambulance officers lifted the woman over the fence on a stretcher and walked to the chopper. “The shire has always worked closely with the emergency services to provide vehicle access to ambulance helicopter landing sites when requests have been made,” shire infrastructure maintenance manager Niall Mcdonagh said. “In this case we have not been made aware of any difficulties experienced by the ambulance service.” It is understood that Somerville CFA has not been given a key by the shire. Locked out: Paramedics were forced to carry an injured Baxter woman to a waiting air ambulance because no keys were available to open gates for them to drive a vehicle onto the Fruitgrowers’ Reserve, Somerville. Picture: Gary Sissons

People power sought to float museum Keith Platt keith@mpnews.com.au THE future of the estimated $25 million Victorian Maritime Centre at Hastings now rests on harnessing “people power”. A petition calling for government support and a public meeting planned for either February or March are both are seen as crucial to enlisting widespread

support from the community, particularly in its hometown of Hastings. However, the two vessels at the heart of the project – the 2030 tonne submarine Otama and former Port Phillip Sea Pilots ship Wyuna - languish at anchor, both unable to find a permanent berth. The Otama has been at Crib Point for 12 years and needs $50,000 spent on its moorings by May while the Wyuna is at Bell Bay, Tasmania, after Mel-

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bourne City Council said it was unable to provide a berth at Docklands. The Western Port Oberon Association which plans to use both vessels as the main drawcards and income generators of maritime centre is running low on funds after spending money in the erroneous belief that it would receive $1 million from the state government, no matter which party won the November 2015 election. The money

was promised by Liberal Hastings MP Neale Burgess but, unfortunately for the Otama association, his commitment was not part of the Labor Party platform. Mr Burgess was re-elected but his party was not. Federal MP for Flinders Greg Hunt remains a staunch supporter of the maritime centre and this year acknowledged the dedication of some of the association’s members by presenting

them with his own “Flinders Awards”. Meanwhile the association’s two vessels remain tied up by bureaucractic and financial problems. The Otama was in trouble from the start of its arrival in late April 2003 when the association’s plans to bring it ashore at Hastings were not supported by government departments which controlled the foreshore. Continued Page 10

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