Author: Stephen Taylor

A DROMANA woman who has been volunteering as a family violence victim advocate for the past three years fears enforced isolation because of the COVID-19 pandemic may lead to an increase in abuse. Geraldine Bilston said isolated living, less contact with people outside their homes, financial pressures and unforeseen stresses could mean “we are now bracing for an increase in domestic violence on the Mornington Peninsula”. As a survivor of domestic violence who fled with her daughter from a “man we should have been able to trust and feel safe with”, Ms Bilston said she experienced many forms of family…

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CENTRELINK and Medicare services will continue in Mornington, but with a scaled down privately-run service. The new agency, to open 15 hours over three days a week, is designed to “complement” existing services run out of Rosebud and Frankston offices. Flinders MP Greg Hunt, although seemingly not given any warning of the closures by his Cabinet colleague Stuart Robert, has claimed credit for retaining the Centrelink and Medicare services in the town. “I’ve listened to the concerns of residents and advocated directly to the minister and his office. Following two weeks of advocacy, I am pleased to say a new…

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PENINSULA Aero Club members were in shock last week following the tragic deaths during a training flight of respected members Peter Phillips, 47, and Ido Segev, 30. The men died when their Beechcraft Travel Air collided with another plane over Mangalore airfield, 11.25am, Wednesday 19 February. Their plane had left Tyabb airfield at 10.55am and was descending over Mangalore at about 4000 feet when the other plane, a Piper Seminole with two people on board, was about three minutes into its ascent. Cloud banks may have prevented the pilots seeing each other before impact, with both planes plummeting to the…

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NAMES are rapidly being added to a petition aimed at stopping the closure of Mornington Centrelink and Medicare offices. By last Friday (14 February) the petition had in less than a week attracted 970 signatures and 291 “shares” on social media. The petition followed the federal government’s shock decision to close the Main Street offices on 27 March (“Centrelink shutdown” The News 11/2/20). Clients would be expected to access services at either Frankston, Rosebud or Hastings offices from then on. Mornington Community Information and Support Centre manager Stuart Davis-Meehan organised the petition to be presented to Health Minister and Flinders…

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THE federal government’s shock decision to close the Mornington Centrelink and Medicare offices next month was a “real kick in the guts”, Mornington Peninsula Shire mayor Cr Sam Hearn said last week. As from Monday 23 March Centrelink clients will have to travel 24 kilometres to the Rosebud office, 14km to Frankston or 18km to Hastings. “This will be a terrible outcome for the community in terms of the challenges it creates and will make it really hard on families who rely on those services,” Cr Hearn said. The shire estimates closing Centrelink Mornington will impact up to 3000 low-income…

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