Western Port
Weste rn Port
realestate 18 October 2016
Room to move > Page 3
YOUR GUIDE TO WHAT’S ON THIS WEEKEND FOR PENINSULA FAMILIES FACEBOOK:
peninsulakids.com.au mornpenkids
An independent voice for the community
INSTRGRAM:
Your weekly community newspaper covering the entire Western Port region For all advertising and editorial, call 03
Baywest Real Estate (VIC) Pty. Ltd. 1/109 High Street Hastings, VIC 3915 Ph: 03 5979 4412 Fax: es@baywestrea 03 5979 3097 lestate Web: www.ba ywestrealestat .com.au e.com.au
Email: enquiri
FREE
Tuesday ay 18 October 2016 16
5973 6424 or email: team@mpnews.com.au www.mpnews.com.au
Cooking up a storm now part of the curriculum SOMERVILLE Primary School mum Leah Sherrin entered a competition to win the school a fully equipped mobile teaching kitchen valued at $25,000 – and she won. The national competition prize, donated by Nestle as part of its Healthy Active Kids program, was presented last week. The kitchen has a commercial convection oven for fast baking and cooking and an induction stove-top. It has a kitchen sink, clean and grey water tanks, lockable cupboards and drawers, child safe kitchen tools and utensils, and sturdy, lockable castor wheels. It allows cooking classes to be held anywhere in the school. Principal Sue Goodall praised Mrs Sherrin for giving the school a “huge opportunity”. “It’s a brilliant facility,” she said. “Now we are able to integrate health and wellbeing into the school curriculum. “We have a vegetable garden and this adds to the pupils’ learning about science, literacy and numeracy, and healthy lifestyles. “They are more likely to eat healthy food if they have helped grow it.” Produce from the vegetable garden and prepared in the kitchen will be consumed at the school’s Breakfast Club on Mondays and Toast and Talk on Wednesdays. Fast cooking times on the induction cook-top fit in nicely with class durations. And school leaders are now putting on cooking demonstrations to show staff how to use it. Picture: Yanni
Taste treats: School leader Emily Bellchambers with Leah Sherrin and son Eli. Picture: Gary Sissons
Councillor expenses unknown Neil Walker neil@mpnews.com.au VOTERS will not know how much Mornington Peninsula Shire councillors spent on expenses during the full current four-year council term before this weekend’s council elections. The shire’s 11 councillors collectively spent $135,357 — about $100,000 more of ratepayers’ money on expenses compared to neighbouring Frankston and
Kingston councils — over a 12-month period in the 2015-16 financial year. The 11 shire councillors also spent about $150,000 more than 18 Frankston and Kingston councillors combined in 2014-15. The shire previously pledged to publicly release all councillors’ expenses for the first two financial years of this four-year council term but has subsequently reneged on the promise to be transparent about expenses, supposedly budgeted at $16,000 per four-year term
for each councillor. In July and August, the shire said all councillor expenses would be included in the latest council annual report released last week. The expenses for 2012-13 and 2013-14, never previously released, were not included in the report. “Council will release figures relating to council expenditure on training and conferences over the current term later this month,” shire chief financial officer Matt Green said in August.
When asked last week for councillor expenses figures, shire media communications manager Mark Kestigian said council governance manager Joe Spiteri decided the expenses figures could not be provided since caretaker provisions are in place before council elections. Caretaker provisions – in force from 20 September until 22 October – mean councils must not make major policy decisions just before elections or produce material that could influence election outcomes.
The state government advised The News that providing councillor expenses information does not breach the Local Government Act but individual councils can decide how to deal with caretaker provisions. Neighbouring Frankston Council and Kingston councils have published details of all councillor expenses for each year of this four-year council term in their annual reports. Continued Page 13
Turn to Page 3 for
Jewellers
Celebrating OVER 30 YEARS in jewellery manufacture
We know your area.
Jewellery for all occasions
Specials on Husqvarna Ride-ons
WE WILL BEAT ANY PRICE
Real Estate
5970 7333
Drive through to Craft village Trading hours: Thursday to Sunday 10am-5pm
Hastings 4/82 High Street 5979 8833 obrienrealestate.com.au/hastings
TYABB CRAFT VILLAGE 14 Mornington-Tyabb Road, Tyabb Phone 5977 3711
*SELLING *BUYING *RENTING
OPEN hasmow.com.au 7 DAYS!
Harcourts Hastings Shop 10, 14 High Street Hastings
www.hastings.harcourts.com.au