TWO groups operating on the Mornington Peninsula are part of a global movement seeking government action to counter climate change. XR Westernport and XR Mornington are part of the British-based Extinction Rebellion movement that has a “core strategy” of “mass disruption of city centres through nonviolent civil disobedience”. Along with XR Frankston, the two peninsula-based branches are among 66 similar groups throughout Australia. Murray Lindsell Turner said people who joined XR Westernport at a meeting in Balnarring Hall on Tuesday 14 January were “willing to be arrested” at future demonstrations. He said the inaugural meeting included school teachers, former politicians,…
Author: Keith Platt
MORNINGTON Peninsula Shire officers are “reviewing decisions” made over the past seven years involving three companies at the centre of investigations by the Independent Broad-based Anti-corruption Commission (IBAC). However, the review involving hundreds of files will be extended back decades, if necessary, according to the mayor Cr Sam Hearn. “We want to look at everything, not just back to an arbitrary date,” he said. “Three decades is quite a lot to look into and we want enough external involvement so it doesn’t just appear to be council looking at itself.” Cr Hearn said council “intends to make [the review findings]…
SWAMPS and low-lying areas were once seen as a blot on the landscape, fit only to be drained. But the ecological importance of wetlands is well documented and has been recognised for decades, so much so that there is an annual World Wetlands Day. The day has been held since 1977 and marks the date of the adoption of the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands on 2 February 1971. Activities based around the importance of wetlands are being held on Sunday 2 February at Boneo Park, on the Mornington Peninsula and the Edithvale-Seaford Wetlands. The activities at Boneo (312 Boneo Road)…
A GROUP that offers health care to the 6000 people in Frankston and on the Mornington Peninsula identifying as being Aboriginal or Torres Strait islander is in dispute over federal funding with Health Minister and Flinders MP, Greg Hunt. Mr Hunt says the First Peoples’ Health and Wellbeing organisation received $779,000 this year. However, First Peoples Health and Wellbeing’s medical director Dr Peter Walsh says no money has been allocated by either the state or federal government for the organisation’s recently opened clinic in Station Street, Frankston. Mr Hunt said organisations could apply early next year for help in expanding…
ALEX Dellaportas describes herself as “a living example of someone who doesn’t always fit in – someone who thinks differently, who experiences emotions uniquely”. She admits to having a “sometimes difficult relationship with mental health” but also as someone who has learned to embrace and see “differences as a superpower”. Dellaportas, of Capel Sound, started Spark Youth Dance Company (SYDC) in 2016 hoping it would enable 7-25 year olds “speak about mental illness and to normalise difference, to encourage it, to channel it into art that speaks to people, that tells stories that change the way our young people live…