NEWS DESK Science at Coolart
Ship ahoy: BlueScope last week exported 10,000 tonnes of steel to the United States from the Port of Hastings. Picture: Ebony Elise
CURIOUS children, nature-loving adults and adventurous families are invited to visit the Coolart Wetlands soon as part of National Science Week. There they can take part in free and fun nature-based activities as part of the third annual Science in the Park: Wildlife Counts event, 10am-4pm, Sunday 12 August, at the Coolart Wetlands and Homestead in Somers. The activities start with a Welcome to Country smoking ceremony by an elder from the Bunurong Land Council. Swinburne University students, along with Parks Victoria, EPA Victoria, Birdlife Mornington Peninsula, Friends of Coolart, and other organisations, will host science presentations, tours of the reserve and hands-on activities in the wetland environments. Keynote speakers will include urban wildlife conservationist Ian Temby and Dr Andrea Hinwood, Victoria’s first chief environmental scientist. Ecology tours will be taken by Gidga Walker. Details: facebook.com/ScienceintheParkCoolart/
Murder topic at talk
Jobs growth as steel exports surge BLUESCOPE is exporting tens of thousands of tonnes of steel to the United States from its Western Port base in a growth surge the company says has helped it create 150 jobs over the past year. Last week 10,000 tonnes of steel was shipped from Hastings to the West Coast port of Longbeach – later to be galvanised or pre-painted for various applications, such as building, general manufacturing or car making. BlueScope is able to sell to the US through its Steelscope joint venture because Australia
has, so far, escaped tariffs imposed on other countries’ steel exports by US President Donald Trump. Western Port plant manager Mike Hussey said BlueScope was exporting about 200,000 tonnes a year – a “significant increase” on previous years. “There’s been a concerted effort by the company to find overseas markets in the wake of the shutdown of the car making industry here,” he said. “We are always on the lookout for alternative
markets through our sales and marketing departments, although the domestic market is still our main focus.” Industry and employment minister Ben Carroll said the jobs’ increase highlighted the strength of the state’s steel manufacturing industry. He visited the Western Port plant which produces coated and painted steel products, including Colorbond steel. BlueScope said the state government was using Australian-made steel in major road and rail infrastructure projects.
Shire planners kept busy at their job MORNINGTON Peninsula Shire’s Planning Services department is patting itself on the back about being the busiest in the state. Data released by the shire shows the department processes about 2100 planning applications and receives more than 37,000 phone calls a year. Last financial year the department completed 77 per cent of the 2187 planning decisions within the statutory time frame. On top of this, the unit determined a total of 581 amendments to planning permits, 536 secondary consents and 408 extensions-of-time requests. “This is a total of 3712 statutory decisions made for a wide range of planning permit matters,” planning services executive manager David Bergin said. “Also, the team maintained a strong record at VCAT with more than 64 per cent of cases being decided in favour of the council.”
Mr Bergin said figures for the latest quarter showed strategic projects and Peninsula Wide teams “delivered a significant number of critical projects to ensure the shire is preparing for the long-term future land use planning pressures facing the peninsula”. Over the financial year, he said, the team completed several major strategic projects later adopted by council, including the Housing and Settlement Strategy, Activity Centres Strategy Review, Tootgarook Wetland Management Plan and Industrial Areas Strategy. Also, an extra 14 major planning scheme amendments were prepared and progressed to varying stages. These included the adoption of the Cresswell Street rezoning (Amendment C210), exhibition of the Mornington Peninsula Stage 2 Heritage Overlay (Amendment C214) and Western Port Land Subject to Inundation (Amendment C216).
“This equates to an enormous amount of work prepared by the team for the council’s consideration,” Mr Bergin said. The planning compliance team has also been “very busy” this past financial year taking on a record 1508 investigations and completing 1194. The team issued 58 infringement notices, and was involved in 19 VCAT proceedings and nine magistrates’ courts proceedings. The mayor Cr Bryan Payne said the “entire team does an outstanding amount of work that is reflected in the statistics across all of the planning services unit”. “This demonstrates how busy the team is working to ensure we protect and enhance the unique characteristics of the Mornington Peninsula,” he said. The shire has an area of 723 square kilometres and a population as recorded in the 2016 census of about 155,000. Stephen Taylor
TYABB residents Peter McCullough and Lance Hodgins will talk on “Who killed Jim Barclay” at the next meeting of the Hastings-Western Port Historical Society, Hastings Museum, corner Marine Parade and Skinner Street, Hastings, 10.15am12noon, Thursday 9 August. Investigations continue into the 100-yearold mystery in which a Hastings man died. The identity of his killer is still unknown and the case remains unsolved. The entrance fee is $5. There will be a small door prize and lucky dip. Refreshments will be supplied. Details: email hwphs@outlook.com or call 0490 132 011 or 9781 1141.
Win a telescope THE Mornington Peninsula Astronomical Society (MPAS) invites submissions from primary school pupils and secondary school students to enter an astronomy-themed photo competition as part of its National Science Week program. First prize is a $350 90mm refracting telescope plus a one year family membership to MPAS. Second prize are 15x70 binoculars valued at $170 and third prize is one entry to the annual MPAS Astrophotography Workshop to be held on 8 September. Photos can be of anything (day or night) provided they have a reference to the subject of space or the night sky. Entries, which will be judged on content, composition and creativity, close at midnight 12 August. Winners will be notified in advance and announced at MPAS’s National Science Week event on 17 August at the Briars Astronomy Centre, Mt Martha. Email entries with a description, personal details and age to photocomp@mpas.asn.au Terms and conditions at www.mpas.asn. au/events.html
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