Author: Stephen Taylor

CONFUSION remains over parking and launching fees at boat ramps on the Mornington Peninsula. A boat owner was fined $81 last week for supposedly not paying a launching fee at Rye, prompting the Futurefish Foundation to label the Mornington Peninsula Shire’s management of its boat ramps a “debacle”. The Premier Daniel Andrews announced on Channel 31’s “Talking Fishing” show last November that, if re-elected, the state government would run boat ramps on the peninsula, abolish fees, and establish a Better Boating Fund for boat ramp upgrades. Six months later the shire is still waiting to have its role clarified. “The…

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THE new owners of the former Mt Eliza hospital site in Jacksons Road last week described it as a “blank canvas offering unique opportunities”. Melbourne-based property developer Hengyi Pacific bought the 3.4 hectare site for just over $17 million earlier this year and is “currently working closely with Mornington Peninsula Shire Council to determine the … best use for the site that respects the surrounding street character”. General manager Simon Manley said he was “very excited with our latest acquisition and are looking forward to transforming the unused parcel into something special”. The developer is “working with council to determine…

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JET-ski zones are likely to be in place on several Mornington Beaches next summer. The zones will confine jet skis to strict speed limits within a narrow corridor until they are 500 metres offshore. This tougher line on the noisy water craft follows discussions between Mornington Peninsula Shire, Maritime Safety Victoria, Water Police and the Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning. Shire local laws officers are being trained to enforce the tougher approach for the coming summer season after the inappropriate use of jet skis inflamed tensions at Safety Beach and especially Rye over summer. The mayor Cr David…

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A FORMER soldier who is devoted to promoting world peace says our real enemies are not guns or wars – but the physical and emotional harm we do to others simply because we have not been taught to eradicate it from our nature in childhood. Ninety-three-year-old Baxter man James Hearn says the research he conducted for his book World Peace identified the “harmful side of human nature” as mankind’s “one and only foe”. “I believe getting rid of the harm we do to others is our only solution to world peace,” he said. “It is the only enemy which mankind…

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A YOUNG Mornington woman who “always wanted to help people” is the first to enter a traineeship program at Mornington Peninsula CIU. Victoria Police launched the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander school-based traineeships in 2017 and the program is said to have “made great strides” since then. The program is designed for students completing years 10, 11 or 12 who are interested in a career with Victoria Police and is available at several police stations around the state. Ashcka Woods, 18, a Year 12 student at Mornington Secondary College, is completing the program as part of her Certificate III in…

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