THOUSANDS of signatures have been added to an online petition calling for wastewater now being dumped into the ocean near Gunnamatta to be made suitable for human consumption. The “treated” water being discharged at the south-eastern outfall in 2019-2020 contained 3.5 million kilograms of nutrients, according to the National Outfall Database. Clean Ocean Foundation president Peter Smith said $60 million would enable the Eastern Treatment Plant (ETP) near Bangholme to produce purified recycled water. Smith says treating the water to a higher level would make it more useful and reduce the pollutants that were having a detrimental effect on sea…
Author: Keith Platt
FORMER Liberal party MP Geoff Shaw, while not accepting full responsibility, does admit to being “probably the straw that broke the camel’s back” when it came to the resignation of then Victorian Premier Ted Baillieu. But, nearly a decade later, Shaw would clearly like to be credited with the downfall of the current Premier Daniel Andrews. The MP for Frankston from 2010 to 2014, Shaw was elected a Liberal but ended his controversial time in parliament sitting on the crossbenches. Now, after years away from the public side of politics, he is about to make a comeback: firstly, as the…
A STATE election promise by the Liberal Party to spend $10 million on a “comprehensive erosion plan” for Port Phillip has been compared to “throwing envelopes of cash off Portsea pier”. Futurefish Foundation director David Kramer said the erosion plan – announced in two media events on the Mornington Peninsula by Liberal candidates for the Mornington and Nepean electorates – showed “ignorance” of existing work and studies by experts. “These studies have produced a range of options to restore Portsea beach and prevent the wave action that caused the sand movement in the first place,” Kramer said. He had an…
BOTH major political parties have visited Mornington Peninsula beaches in a bid to win hearts, minds and votes. With fewer than 90 days before the Saturday 26 November state election, candidates are beginning to make their presence felt among voters: putting up signs, shaking hands and offering photo opportunities. The Liberal candidate for Mornington Chris Crewther started off the week before last with Brighton MP James Newbury meeting supporters at Hawker Beach, Mount Martha. The pair jointly released a statement saying that “a Matt Guy Liberals and Nationals government” would commit $10 million on “a comprehensive erosion plan” for Port…
THE behaviour of whales in Port Phillip and Western Port appears to be changing. Data collected by the Hastings-based Dolphin Research Institute includes a blue whale being recorded in early June near Portland. The sighting was the on record as they usually leave those water in autumn. Questions are being asked about the effects of climate change on whale habits when the Portland sighting is competitive pods of male humpbacks appearing in Port Phillip and a humpback whale song recorded near Port Phillip Heads. DRI Executive director Jeff Weir says these “are things that would normally occur in the sub-tropics”,…