August 4th 2011

Features inside:

Frankston

Now

REAL ESTATE PAGES 14–15

published

FOOD & ENTERTAINMENT PAGES 16–18

fortnightly

SPORTS DESK PAGE 19

Local news for local people

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4 August - 17 August 2011

MPNEWS (1300 676 397) or email: team@mpnews.com.au www.mpnews.com.au

It’s a top beach, and that’s official THE beach stretching from Seaford to Frankston is the city’s prized attraction, attracting thousands no matter what the season.

Any doubts about that claim have been washed away by the latest clutch of awards made to the beach and the people who volunteer their time to see it ranked as the best on Port Phillip. See Page 5.

Councils to court over tip

By Mike Hast FRANKSTON and Casey councils have donned boxing gloves and are set to fight in the Supreme Court over the Cranbourne tip methane gas debacle.

Frankston’s lawyers submitted documents to the court on 15 July rejecting Casey’s claim for compensation from Frankston, but the trial is unlikely to start until next April.

On 25 March, Casey and the Environment Protection Authority settled a class action out of court for $23.5 million, $13.5 million from Casey and $10

Frankston v. Casey in methane case million from EPA. The settlement was approved by the court on 23 May. The class action was brought by 771 residents of Brookland Greens estate, who were affected by methane gas

leaking from the tip in Stevensons Rd, Cranbourne, in August 2008.

Parts of the estate were evacuated in September 2008. One house was found to contain 60 per cent methane.

House values in the estate crashed and banks refused to lend money to people wanting to renegotiate loans.

The estate was developed in stages by Peet & Co from 1999.

Casey has spent millions of dollars lining the tip with clay to stop more gas escaping into Brookland Greens.

The class action was launched in November 2008 by law firm Slater and Gordon, which earned $6 million for its part in the case.

After Casey agreed to settle the class action, it then launched legal action

against 11 other defendants named in the action, including Frankston Council, which shared the tip with Casey.

Casey claimed consultants, managers and technical advisers that helped it operate the tip were also liable.

Rubbish from Frankston residents occupied 28 per cent of the former sand quarry turned landfill site, which closed in 2005 after it had been filled.

The case has become a gold mine for lawyers, with high-cost barristers retained by many of the defendants.

Continued on Page 4

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Regulation argumentation: Catherine Deveny, left, and Sue Pennicuik will debate whether Australians are over-governed.

To advertise in the next Frankston Times please contact Carolyn Wagener on 0407 030 761

Talk about a nanny state THE topic “Has Australia become a nanny state?” will be debated by six prominent Victorians at Frankston Arts Centre next Wednesday evening at the annual PVC’s Public Debate.

Australian society faces a defining issue: what is the appropriate level of government regulation? As the recent controversies over mandatory limits on pokie machines, plain packaging of cigarettes and the internet filter have highlighted, there are significant ideological differences about the role of

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Speakers for the affirmative are social commentator and former Age columnist Catherine Deveny, Tim Wilson of the right-wing Institute of Public Affairs, and Chris Bisset, 2011 Australian Debating Champion.

Speakers for the negative are Greens MP Sue Pennicuik, Problem Gambling Research and Treatment Centre director Professor Shane Thomas, and Victorian Drug and Alcohol Prevention Council chairman Professor Jon Currie.

The event is hosted by Professor Leon Piterman, the Pro Vice-Chancellor of Monash University Peninsula campus; the Monash Association of Debaters (MAD) and Frankston City Council.

The event starts at 6.30pm with refreshments with the debate at 7pm at the arts centre in Davey St, Frankston.

The debate is free but registrations are needed for catering purposes via email to rsvp.peninsula@monash.edu or call Julie Baxter, 9904 4015.

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PAGE 2 Frankston Times 4 August 2011

Find us on Facebook!

‘Like’ us at Bendigo Bank - Carrum Downs and join the campaign to Knit for our Troops in Afghanistan who need beanies and fingerless gloves before winter sets in.

So bank with us and make a real difference for your community.

Visit Carrum Downs Community Bank at Shop 3, Carrum Downs Shopping Centre or phone 9782 9788 to discuss all your banking needs.

Boral plant okay challenge in VCAT DEFENDERS of the South East Green Wedge has lodged its appeal against Boral’s asphalt plant in the green wedge zone in McClelland Dve, Langwarrin.

Frankston councillors approved the plant in late June after an earlier decision to refuse the application was overturned after three councillors changed their vote.

Barry Ross of the Defenders said the crux of the appeal to the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal was the asphalt plant should be located in an appropriately zoned industrial area and not in the green wedge zone.

He said the 20-metre high plant would supply 400,000 tonnes of asphalt for the Peninsula Link freeway and was likely to operated 24 hours a day for many months.

VCAT has not yet nominated a date for the hearing.

Have planning say FRANKSTON residents who want to find out about the review of Victoria’s planning system and make a submission can attend a free workshop at Frankston Library in Playne St from 6-8pm on Wednesday 17 August.

It is being run by the Environment Defenders Office, an independent, not for profit legal centre practising public interest environment law.

An EDO spokesman said many people have had frustrating experiences when objecting to a planning permit,

going to VCAT or trying to protect the environment.

“This is a chance to have a say about what the system should look like and how it should operate. It’s important to ensure that community voices and not just developers and industry are heard.”

Submissions are due 31 August.

Booking are essential. To register call 8341 3100 or email: edovic@edo. org.au.

Report pollution THE Environment Protection Authority’s Pollution Watch Line is for people with complaints about suspicious smoke or odours from businesses or contaminated water in creeks and waterways.

Early reporting of pollution incidents enables the EPA to act and limit potential damage to the environment, an authority spokesman said.

If reported quickly, a rapid response can help EPA identify the cause and source of the problem, enabling enforcement action against polluters.

Pollution Watch Line calls often result in either fines or prosecutions.

“We encourage people to report smoke or odours from an industry or business, spills or slicks in waterways, illegal dumping of wastes, and loud noise from a factory or industrial complex.

“All complaints must be made over the phone to 9695 2777.”

Here to help: Big Brothers Big Sisters activities and events coordinator Casey Welch with mentoring coordinator Luke Patton.

Siblings offer a helping hand on the street BIG brother and his sister have come to Frankston and the Mornington Peninsula to help “vulnerable and disadvantaged young people”.

However, their approach is much more personal than the surveillance cameras and private security guards that have previously epitomised “big brother” efforts at bringing law and order to the streets.

This latest initiative comes with friendly smiles and an invitation for young people to be mentored by the Big Brothers Big Sisters organisation.

With finance from the Attorney General’s Office and the Proceeds of Crime fund, Big Brothers Big Sisters have set

out to give youngsters “the truly priceless gift of a mentor”.

Activities and events coordinator Casey Welch said the organisation wanted to “establish ourselves within the region for the long haul”.

The not-for-profit organisation has been running in Melbourne for more than 30 years and has operated in south east suburbs for the past six years.

The program being run in Frankston and on the peninsula matches vulnerable and disadvantaged young people either one-on-one with adult volunteer mentors or in a group.

Big Brothers Big Sisters is asking business leaders and volunteers to join

its working group. “The group is set to help inspire local interest and financial input to the program to help secure its future in the region and locally celebrate the programs’ achievements that are sure to follow,” mentoring coordinator Luke Patton said.

“We are looking for people with a little spare time, who are passionate about helping young people less fortunate in the community and giving them the opportunity to reach their full potential.”

Big Brothers Big Sisters will hold information sessions 6.15-7.15pm and 7.30–8.30pm on Thursday 11 August at Frankston Library’s community room in Playne St, call 8795 7999.

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NEWS DESK

Father and son win for video hits TEN-year-old Leon Mavracic and his father Michael have shared first prize in the FrankstonTV YouTube Competition.

There were 25 entries in the competition, which was judged on the number of viewings each received after being posted on YouTube.

The Mavracics’ entry saw filmmaker Michael following Leon cycling alongside the Stony Point railway, Leon blowing out birthday candles, water shots along Kananook Creek and included a segment of Dunkley MP Bruce Billson explaining the competition to Kananook Creek Association president Robert Thurley.

Their entry was viewed 1920 times before the counting ended on 1 August, a result attributed to smart use of social media to encourage friends and relatives to visit YouTube.

The Mavracics have won an iPod, HD video camera, a contract to film for braaap and the opportunity to film motorcycle daredevil Blake ‘Bilko’ Williams for a day.

The video clip with the secondhighest viewings was Frankston Skatepark with Brett Jordan and third was ‘Why Frankston?’ by the Frankston Lifesaving Club.

To view the videos. go to www. frankstontv.com or www.youtube. com/frankstontv.

Building careers in the region for people of all ages WHILE the latest Australian Bureau of Statistics figures show a slowing of building works, Frankston and Mornington Peninsula councils believe the job outlook in the sector will improve.

ABS figures released this week show house prices declining nationally and a downturn in construction, although Victoria has a better than average figure of building approvals.

The potential for any downturn to hit the region hard was highlighted by the 2006 Census which showed about 30 per cent of the municipality’s workforce was involved in building and construction.

However, the two councils’ faith in the building and construction industry will see them hold their sixth careers night at the Frankston Arts Centre on Thursday 11 August, 4pm-6.30pm.

Exhibitors at the careers night include Chisholm Institute of TAFE, Fulton Hogan, Wise Employment, Australian Institute of Building Surveyors and other industry organisations.

Frankston mayor Cr Kris Bolam said more than 100 people had found a job or new employees “simply by meeting and talking to those who attend this event”.

He said the free event “gives people of all ages a warts and all insight into the industry, and the chance to speak to employers from a range of trades in building and construction”.

For details call Tim Haynes on 9784 1889.

Making music THE “People Place Music Club” meets at Mahogany Neighbourhood Centre in Mahogany Ave, Frankston, from 1-4pm on Sundays. Bring a musical instrument. Cost $5. Details: 9786 1445.

PAGE 4 Frankston Times 4 August 2011

Knit a row, purl a Rowe: Carrum Downs Community Bank chairman Gary Rowe has a quick knitting lesson from dedicated knitter Audrey Donehue of RSL Park in Frankston South who has joined a CWA project to knit beanies and gloves for Australian troops.

Beanie knitters cover Afghanistan troops KNITTERS in the Franjkston and southeast region are taking up knitting needles for a Country Women’s Association campaign to make beanies and fingerless gloves for Australian troops in Afghanistan.

Carrum Downs Community Bank in Hall Rd is among 300 community bank branches acting as a collection point for the project, started by Werribee’s CWA. The call to knitting needles is a re-

minder of how Australians supported their troops in wars past with big national clothing supply campaigns in the First and Second World Wars last century.

Carrum Downs bank chairman Gary Rowe said the Australian Defence Force did not supply beanies and gloves and they were needed for the coming northern winter.

“We hope every soldier will be supplied with at least one set, so we need lots of knitters,” he said.

Challenge for Tickles

By Mike Hast MORNINGTON Peninsula Shire’s refusal to allow an adult book and sex toys shop in a Somerville industrial estate will be challenged in the Victorian planning tribunal.

The application to open the shop, called “Tickles”, has caused controversy since Somerville businessman Wayne Milburn applied for a permit earlier this year.

Tickles would be next door to the Dance Lab studio in Industrial Dve, where there is a block of six factories.

By the end of June, the shire had received about 60 objections and a petition of 90 signatures against the proposal.

Shire documents show statutory planner Edward Wilkinson recommended against Tickles on 29 May, a month before all objections had been received by the shire.

Dance Lab teaches about 200 girls and boys aged from three to young adult. The school was started by Sharon Peters at Factory 6 and the shire issued her a permit to run a performing arts studio on 19 August 2003. It was sold to current owner Emily Grainger about three years ago.

Factory 5, 19 Industrial Dve, was bought in 1998 by Mr Milburn, the owner and operator of W & G Mower Services in Frankston-Flinders Rd, Somerville. The shire granted him permission to use the factory to repair, service and store garden equipment such as lawn mowers and chainsaws in May 2007.

Mr Milburn has operated W & G Mower Services in Somerville since 1987 after moving from Mornington and watched his business crash in recent years due to the long drought and competition from giant retailers such as Bunnings, Harvey Norman and Retravision, “tin sheds” as he calls them.

Good rains of the last 12 months had brought his first profit for 16 years, but he wanted to start a new business.

“I did some research and decided that an adult bookshop was something the Bunnings and Harvey Normans of this world were never going to start.”

Mr Milburn says objections by Dance Lab and parents of its students are exaggerated.

He said many sales would be done online, as is the trend in many modern businesses.

Cost of the wool is expected to be about $81,000. “This must be pure wool not synthetic and a specific yarn size. Knitters are using different sized yarn for the beanie and the gloves,” Mr Rowe said.

“Colour is important. Black, brown, khaki and dark green are being used so as not to set soldiers up as targets.

Wangaratta Woollen Mills has donated 9000 balls and our branch is donating $6000 for more wool.”

He said the CWA was seeking knitters from all over Victoria.

Scarves are also acceptable for knitters who can’t do beanies or gloves.

Beanies will be made of 8 ply wool and gloves of four ply.

Knitters can contact the Carrum Downs bank for details about how to access the wool and knitting patterns.

Call 9782 9788 or email Fran Henke, community relations, at fhenke@bigpond.net.au

Methane wrangle heading to court Continued from Page 1 The Supreme Court action has become a mega-trial with claims of more than $125 million, and with Casey seeking compensation from Frankston City Council as well as Sita Australia, LMS Generation, Municipal Association of Victoria, Grosvenor Lodge, Metropolitan Waste Management Group, ENSR Australia, Stuart Hercules, Martin Aylward & Associates, Energex Ltd, and Peet & Co Casey Land Syndicate Ltd. A Casey Council source said the debacle had cost Casey hundreds of thousands of dollars a month for more than two years. “Legal fees will go close to matching compensation claims; it should have been sorted out a long time ago,” they said.

Frankston Council chief executive George Modrich has consistently stated Frankston had legal advice it was not liable for any remediation or compensation costs.

Frankston councillors have been

gagged from talking to the media about the case.

Frankston’s General Manager, Corporate, Mick Cummins, issued a statement to The Times on Wednesday: “On Monday 23 May the Supreme Court considered and approved the settlement of the class action brought by residents of the Brookland Greens estate against the City of Casey and the EPA. “The terms of settlement are in line with the Deed of Settlement previously signed by Council with a total amount to be paid of $23.5 million made up of $10 million from the EPA and $13.5 million from the City of Casey.

“Frankston is not required to make any contribution to the settlement and our current legal advice is that Frankston is not liable for the remediation or legal costs associated with the methane gas escape from the landfill.”

Casey Council refused to talk to The Times.

Clean sweep for beach

By Keith Platt FRANKSTON beach made a clean sweep at this year’s Keep Australia Beautiful Victoria Sustainable Cities and Clean Beaches Awards.

The beach took out the clean beach award, friendly beach award while Frankston Foreshore Advisory Committee won the community leadership award for its work at Seaford Lifesaving Club.

Kath Hassell won the 2011 Clean Beaches Dame Phyllis Frost Award for her environmental leadership and field work on Frankston’s beaches.

Ms Hassell, as a member of Frankston Beach Association, has long campaigned against a marina being built at the foot of Olivers Hill, warning that it could erode the beach, the city’s most visited attraction.

Efforts by the association and other groups to obtain information from council about the marina saw a government planning panel in 2003 accuse the council of having a culture of secrecy.

Council is now considering making the marina a fixture in its planning scheme.

The latest accolades for beach created a “photo opportunity” on Thursday 4 August with the Minister for Environment and Climate Change Ryan Smith, Frankston MP Geoff Shaw and

Frankston mayor Cr Kris Bolam ready to pose at Seaford Lifesaving Club Beachside.

The Friendly Beach Award was made for the accessible boardwalks and pier, visitor information centre, playground facilities, public artworks and major events.

As well as the beach awards Frankston High School won the 2011 Sustainable Cities – Young Leader – Groups award for its Regional Environment and Sustainability Conference.

Cr Bolam accept the awards on behalf of “the hardworking council team and our local community”.

“It was an honour to have been a finalist in 11 categories and win five of them at this year’s Keep Australia Beautiful Awards,” he said.

“Our wins are due to great local partnerships between the local community, local schools and council who all care for our beaches and help the community enjoy and appreciate our beautiful natural coastline.”

Cr Bolam said town’s competing for the cleanest beach award included Blairgowrie and Mallacoota.

He predicted Frankston’s win would “encourage locals and visitors to come and enjoy this wonderful natural asset”.

40th Frankston And South Eastern

Wine Show Sunday 28 August 2011 The Briars Historic Park 450 Nepean Highway, Mt. Martha (Melways 151 E1) Many grape varieties and country wines available for tasting from 9am till 3pm

Winemakers have a crush on wine FRANKSTON Amateur Winemakers wineshow is on again this year - Sunday 28 August, at The Briars Historic Park, Mt. Martha. There will be a wide selection of wines available for tasting and you can even take home your tasting glass! (which is included in the very reasonable $10 entry fee). Wines on show range from the ‘normal’ grape varieties to more exotic wines made from fruits, herbs, vegetables, leaves and flowers. About 500 entries are expected at this year’s show including still, sparkling and fortified wines and liqueurs.

Wines made from grapes like shiraz, cabernet sauvignon, chardonnay and other ingredients such as raspberries, plums, quinces, strawberries,

parsnips, oak leaves, etc., will be on show and available for tasting. You will be able to meet the winemakers and discuss the ‘secrets’ of their medal winning wines. In addition, the attractions at The Briars, such as the woodland walks, wetlands, bird hides and historic homestead (which has a link to Napoleon Bonaparte), offer an enjoyable day’s outing. You might even like to have a picnic lunch or a delicious meal at Josephine’s Restaurant, right next door to wineshow venue (The Barn).

More information is available at www.fawg. org.au or by contacting Noel Legg, wineshow coordinator on 5996 6620, or wineshow@fawg. org.au

Entry Fee $10 (includes complimentary wine tasting glass)

Further Information Noel Legg 5996 6620 wineshow@fawg.org.au David Hart 0419 981 927

Organised by Frankston Amateur Winemakers Guild Entry forms available at www.fawg.org.au The Guild also runs winemaker classes and new members are always welcome Frankston Times 4 August 2011

PAGE 5

LETTERS Boral asphalt YOUR story ‘Asphalt plant a sticky issue for govt’ (The Times, July 2011) contained an error regarding the councillors who voted for the application to allow the Boral asphalt plant in Langwarrin.

The councillors who voted for the application were Colin Hampton, Christine Richards, Kris Bolam, David Asker and Brian Cunial. Councillors Brad Hill, Alistair Wardle and Glenn Aitken voted against.

The vote for was led by Cr Hampton. Councillors representing East Ward (including Langwarrin) are Hampton, Asker and Sandra Mayer.

Cr Mayer excused herself from the debate and vote.

Crs Richards, Bolam and Cunial changed their minds after the initial vote on 6 June when they each spoke passionately and expertly against the proposal and Cr Hampton’s position.

For them to claim they changed their minds based on Cr Hampton’s research is perplexing. He did not introduce any new views or evidence at the second meeting that he had not already voiced at the first.

Further, for Cr Hampton to claim an additional 2000 truck movements if the plant was to be located elsewhere is without substance or independent assessment.

Of further interest is the manner in which the first meeting was conducted, the events that led to the second and the rescission motion the day after the first meeting (when there was no gallery or public scrutiny).

It is clear we have only three councillors who truly do as they were elected to do – serve the constituents and the community. They are Crs Hill, Wardle and Aitken and

Writer makes his final move

they are to be congratulated for their commonsense, caring and honesty.

Perhaps they should take over East Ward so that we can make some progress.

Greg Leonard Langwarrin

FRANKSTON and the Mornington Peninsula lost its most experienced journalist on Monday last week when Mike Morris died at age 68.

Mr Morris was a senior journalist with Fairfax Media’s suburban newspaper division, writing for The Weekly papers in Frankston and on the peninsula.

He was editor of the Dandenong Examiner in the early 1990s when it was bought by the Hastings-based Independent News Group, which in turn was bought by Fairfax in 2006.

Fairfax closed the Examiner and he was transferred to the Chelsea Independent and then Frankston Independent, which was renamed Frankston Weekly last August.

The veteran journalist, who served with the Australian Army, was born and educated in Melbourne, and worked on the ground-breaking Nation Review in the 1970s.

He moved to NSW and was editor of or senior reporter with a number of newspapers circulating in the southern suburbs of Sydney.

On Wednesday last week, former Independent News Group editorial director Tony Murrell said “Mike Morris was the best journalist I ever employed”.

“He was a foot-slogging reporter who ferreted out stories in pubs and clubs and in the bowels of government at all levels.

“He was a man of great sensitivity and possessed a highly developed sense of social justice. He despised those who sought advantage over the powerless and dispossessed and he worked diligently to expose them.

Editor’s note IN the Boral asphalt plant story in the July edition, Cr Alistair Wardle was listed as voting both for and against approving the plant in Langwarrin. Cr Wardle voted against the plant. Cr Colin Hampton’s name was omitted from the list of councillors who voted for the application.

Marina concerns FRANKSTON resident may be interested in hearing about the state government-appointed panel that reviewed the Mornington Boat Haven Ltd proposal to build a private marina in Mornington harbour, which made 17 recommendations.

Two were that the 12 swing moorings and the eight fore-and-aft moorings be removed from the proposal.

Removing economically affordable moorings would mean elite boat owners who can afford the expensive berths would occupy the harbour, while other boat owners will no longer be able to moor boats in Mornington.

The public will lose much of the beauty, ambience and amenity of the harbour, as well as at times the use of three beaches during construction, sand relocation and regular raking to try to control sand degradation.

Where is the social equity and community benefit in this?

Elizabeth Bjerkhamn Mornington Environment Association

Rest in peace: Mike Morris was equally at home analysing the complexities of chess and the human character.

“An extremely good columnist, Mike was always at the precipice when highlighting corruption, hypocrisy and plain bad form. Mike challenged authority every step of the way and I admired him for that.”

Mr Morris died after a short illness, although he was still working for Fairfax at its Mornington office, where he collapsed on Monday last week.

A service was held at Gateway/Grant Funerals in Wells Rd, Chelsea Heights, last Friday and later at Chelsea RSL, his home away from home.

Mr Morris is survived by brother Peter, sister Marita, nephews and nieces, his former wife Annette, step-daughter Aislinn and her daughters Keeley and Kara.

Mike Hast

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NEWS DESK

Having a ball to reach fund’s $400,000 target

Fund players: At the $100,000 handover were St Kilda footballer Lenny Hayes, Frankston mayor Cr Kris Bolam, Sandie Baskin of the Lord Mayor’s Charitable Foundation, Frankston MP Geoff Shaw and his federal Liberal colleague Dunkley MP Bruce Billson.

UP to 630 community groups and charities are in line to benefit from Frankston’s community fund.

The state government has given a $100,000 “challenge grant” to the fund which it will follow with a further $200,000 if the fund can raise its own $100,000.

If the $400,000 target is reached, the interest earned will begin to be distributed by mid-2012.

The fund will be invested and managed by the Lord Mayor’s Charitable Foundation, which is a partner in the fund with Frankston Council.

The state’s money was handed over by Frankston MP Geoff Shaw.

Frankston mayor Cr Kris Bolam has urged residents and businesses to help raise the next $100,000.

He said the chance to increase the fund’s assets to $400,000 was “an opportunity not to be missed”.

Money from the Spring Fundraising Ball on Saturday 3 September at the Frankston Arts Centre will be added to the fund.

Donations will be acknowledged on the Frankston Community Fund website at www.frankston. vic.gov.au/frankstoncommunityfund.

Anyone who would like to donate to the fund or help sponsor the ball can call Fiona Cann on 9784 1764.

Loss of Frankston’s native fauna

By Dr Hans Brunner Original fauna H W Wheelwright and Edmund Hobson in the 1850s wrote: “… the Peninsula was thick with wildlife, with herds of kangaroos, wombats, wallabies, many echidnas and koalas and glorious birds, all unused to man and quite tame and inquisitive. [There were] wonderful trees and abundance of silver wattles which, when in blossom, made the whole country golden and the whole atmosphere filled deliciously with their sweetness.”

Henry Tuck and others also stated that kangaroos were like herds of sheep and could never be shot out, and bandicoots and possums were in hundreds and that the native cat was one of the commonest animals.

Mrs J Cavill, who lives next to the Moorooduc Quarry Reserve commented in her masters thesis: “In the 1930s we found bush around us, a whole wonderland of animals, wild flowers, birds, hollow trees, gullies and ground water ways.

“Koalas grunted all night, wombats, kangaroos, wallabies, possums, echidnas, bush rats and water rats, flying foxes and bandicoots were abundant and tame. At night the frogs roared in the darkness. In the evening, swarms of birds arrived in v-shaped formations and landed on the swamp. Black and tiger snakes were common around the huge “Moorooduc Swamp that lay below our property and brown snakes and copperhead were a nuisance around the house.

“Our delight in exploring the swamp with its sheets of water, covered with swans and ducks, and its spongy is-

lands of moss and tee-tree was always tempered by fear of these snakes.

“On our horse rides there was a never-failing source of interest in the discovering new wild flowers, gullies of maiden ferns, orchids, minute wild strawberries, egg and bacon bushes, and swathes of pink and white heath.”

There were several other similar reports made by Wheelwright and Hobson, mentioning many other species and all describing the Mornington Peninsula as teeming with wildlife.

Based on historical and recent re-

sums, was sent to Melbourne for food.

Animals were also destroyed because of competition with sheep and cattle.

Much of the land was then used for farming and for fruit orchards. The clearing of land caused massive soil erosion and megatonnes of good soil were washed into the sea especially along Balcombe Creek.

With the ever-increasing number of people arriving on the peninsula, the remaining natural bush was gradually destroyed and fragmented.

Chris Tzaros recently worked out

Koalas grunted all night, wombats, kangaroos, wallabies, possums, echidnas, bush rats and water rats, flying foxes and bandicoots were abundant and tame. cords, there were at least 40 native species of mammals on the peninsula in the early days.

Much the same could have also been said about the many species of birds, reptiles and amphibians. Hobson in 1837 observed the gigantic crane or brolga and the native turkey (Australian bustard). They are now listed as threatened fauna in Victoria.

Loss of native fauna With the arrival of pioneers and settlers, timber cutters removed nearly all the mature trees on the peninsula and shipped them to Melbourne or used them to build railway lines or as fuel to drive stone crushers, etc or to clear land for grazing.

Kangaroos were slaughtered in their thousands on single drives and some of the meat, together with koalas and pos-

that for every 100 hectares of woodland cleared, between 1000 and 2000 woodland-dependent birds are lost.

These figures could be even higher for mammals, reptiles and amphibians.

With this drastic decrease of suitable habitat for most native birds and mammals, many species have now become locally extinct.

Doug Robinson has estimated that about 50 per cent of birds that originally existed on the peninsula are now either locally extinct or are threatened.

Ground-nesting birds have suffered most, especially because of predation by foxes and cats.

A Mr Woolley and others used to shoot ducks in the 1880s for a living until they were almost shot out.

Later, larrikins delighted in the shooting of wildlife when the pubs

closed at 6 o’clock.

In the Moorooduc Quarry area, bandicoots and kangaroos lasted until about 1940 and wombats and the eastern quoll until about 1960.

By 1970 koalas, sugar gliders and antechinuses were still present but have since declined drastically and have become extremely rare. The antechinus is now close to extinction in the Frankston area.

There is also a growing concern over a serious decline of invertebrates. Subsequently, there are concerns for the future of many species of bird, mammals and amphibians that feed on them.

Habitat loss and habitat fragmentation as well as the overuse of pesticides have to be the main reason.

In summary, we have taken over all the prime land on the Mornington Peninsula and the Frankston area. The rest of nature is forced to make do with what is left, which amounts to less than 5 per cent of a much-reduced quality of habitat, especially because of weed invasion and too small and isolated bushland blocks.

Plainly, this is the major factor resulting in the ongoing, local species extinction and in an increase in ecosystem stress.

From 40 original native mammals on the peninsula, 25 or 63 per cent are locally extinct or endangered.

From 40 original native mammals in the Frankston area, 31 or 77 per cent are locally extinct or endangered.

Surveys of 80 bushland reserves on the Mornington Peninsula by Malcolm Legg showed that an average of 5.9 mammalian species were native and 5.6 were introduced (dog, cat, fox,

house mouse, black rat, brown rat and rabbit).

Surveys of 15 bushland reserves on the Mornington Peninsula by Malcolm Legg showed that an average of 4 mammalian species were native and 5 were introduced (dog, cat, fox, house mouse, black rat, brown rat and rabbit).

We now have, in a large number of reserves, more introduced mammals than native species. This does not include farm animals such as horses, cattle, sheep, goats, pigs, deer, etc that take up land originally used by native mammals.

Recently, two more species were listed as extinct, the wombat and the southern brown bandicoot.

The local loss of the bandicoot comes despite all the lobbying and bipartisan political support; insufficient efforts have been made to save this species.

The southern brown bandicoot was in great numbers all over the peninsula and its disappearance during the last 30 years has been well recognised and documented.

This is yet another frustrating, shameful, local extinction story of an iconic Australian species.  Dr Hans Brunner of Frankston is a renowned zoologist and animal forensic expert whose work is internationally recognised. He published the world’s first book on hair identification and is the author of many peer-reviewed scientific and technical papers.

He has trained forensic investigators and worked for international scientific organisations. A master of applied science, he has taught at Deakin University, Swinburne College and Chisholm Institute.

‘Shameful extinction’: Left, Hans Brunner with a specimen of a bent-wing bat. Above, a young bandicoot. Right, visitors to Moonlit Sanctuary in Pearcedale admire a common wombat. Both species are now technically extinct in the wild on the Mornington Peninsula. Pictures: Alison Kuiter and Moonlit Sanctuary Frankston Times 4 August 2011

PAGE 7

NEWS DESK

Great white’s comeback for fish Keeping tags on shark’s course

By Keith Platt THE Mornington Peninsula-based White Tag shark research group has electronically plotted the course of a great white shark as it travelled up the east coast from Gippsland.

White Tag’s research is focused on the Bass Strait corridor but intends at some stage to investigate other sites such as Western Port, Lady Julia and Percy islands, Port Fairy, Cape Bridgewater and Portland.

“We want to specifically concentrate on Corner Inlet, inside and out, as we know large sharks mix with smaller sharks here,” Kent Stannard, who established the White Tag trust, said.

“We are almost convinced this region is the point of origin for an east coast population of white sharks. We have the one juvenile shark tagged, that being the one before Christmas at Corner Inlet and its movements out of Bass Strait to the Port Stephens area and back to Bass Strait has cemented our beliefs this is the point of origin.”

Mr Stannard said White Tag was preparing for National Science Week and running a program series with the CSIRO at the Melbourne Aquarium, including a talk by scientist Barry Bruce, recognised as Australia’s foremost authority on great whites.

White Tag is now affiliated with commercial fishermen out of Corner Inlet, Surfing Victoria,shark fisherman and west coast South Australian tow-in surfer Jeff Schmuker.

Mr Stannard has contributed to an article with Jock Serong at Surfing World and recently spent a morning with “shark enthusiast” and filmmaker, George Greenough.

“By getting regular updates on shark activity in other areas around the Australian coast we are starting to gain a better understanding on the movement patterns and behaviour of white sharks on a seasonal basis.

“This gives us a network of reliable eyes and ears around the country of people who are constantly on the water.

“The satellite tag can only send signals when the shark breaks the surface and it needs to record three surface breaches to plot a point.

“The tag has a battery life of about 12 months if it doesn’t foul up, which is always possible.

“The Corner Inlet shark has a satellite tag fitted to its dorsal fin and an acoustic tag in its stomach lining. The acoustic tag sends off signals to un-

Tagged: A great white shark is fitted with a radio transmitter which, for a year, can be used to track its movements whenever it breaks the surface of the sea.

Expressions of Interest Membership of the Crib Point Stony Point Foreshore Reserve Committee of Management Inc Nominations are being sought from the community for membership of a Committee of Management that will manage the foreshore reserve in Crib Point/Stony Point.

The Committee is responsible for the day to day management, care and protection of the foreshore reserve on behalf of both the local community and the wider Victorian community.

This is a unique opportunity to become actively involved in management of a highly significant area of coastal reserve.

Key attributes being sought include interest and enthusiasm, a commitment to caring, protecting and managing the foreshore reserve of Crib Point/ Stony Point and an approach to the task that includes maximising community involvement and participation.

Specific interest or skills in one or more of the following areas would be highly regarded: • Knowledge of community diversity, interests, needs • Coastal ecology • Knowledge of local natural environment • Environmental management • Human resource management • Legal affairs • Sport and recreation

• Community liaison, education and/or training • Tourism and marketing • Committee and meeting procedures, and administration • Business management • Asset management • Financial management/accounting • Aboriginal and cultural heritage

Further information and nomination forms are available from Mr Brendan Kavanagh, Department of Sustainability and Environment on (03) 9296 4521.

All registrations of interest will be considered. www.dse.vic.gov.au Customer Service Centre 136 186 PAGE 8 Frankston Times 4 August 2011

mitch44009

Expressions of Interest close Friday 12 August 2011.

derwater listening stations moored to the ocean floor which record a shark’s behavior, such as when it arrives and leaves an area and how long it stays there.

“The satellite tag will drop off near to the 12 months while the shark will retain the internal tag forever.”

Mr Stannard said White Tag planned to position a series of listening stations in Corner Inlet to continuously record the behaviour of tagged sharks in the area.

“While it first appeared the shark was hugging the coast, these juveniles operate out to the 120 mile contour, which is from inner shore out to the edge of the continental slope.

“Ultimately, when the satellite tag drops off we will be able to record the temperature, light levels and depths the shark swam to.”

Mr Stannard said the main prey of juvenile sharks were coastal schooling fish such as salmon, snapper and mullet.

“As they move into sub-adulthood – about 2.8metres long - they begin to explore new areas and depths and incorporate larger prey into their diet.

“This shark has almost confirmed our thoughts that Victoria’s Corner Inlet may be the nursery and pupping ground of an east coast population of white sharks.

“For some reason, the juveniles don’t appear to want to go any further west than Wilsons Promontory, which seem to be the cut off line.”

Mr Stannard said these juvenile sharks “may well be genetically hard-wired to know this is home range … and this may have something to do with the land bridge that once ran from the mainland to Tasmania”.

“We have also found populations of sharks on the western side of Wilsons Promontory out and around to South Australia and Western Australia.”

Tagging in the future will help find out if there is any mixing of these populations.

“All points on the compass suggest Bass Strait may hold the key to the reproductive and birth cycle of the white shark,” Mr Stannard said.

CSIRO scientist, Barry Bruce, will share the latest research on the movement of great whites and their behaviour in Australian waters at Melbourne Aquarium’s Ocean Theatre 5.30pm-7.30pm Sunday 14 August and midday-2pm on Tuesday 16 August, $15 on presentation of the National Science Week Program Booklet at ticketing.

Ahoy below: Underwater Explorer II co-owner Stephen Blond on the bow of the unusual craft that allows people to see below the waves. Top right, the view from inside through thick glass windows that reveal what lies beneath the waves. Right, the vessel during its Rottnest Island heyday. Pictures: Andrew Mackinnon, www.aquamanships.com

Now all can see what lies beneath Port Phillip through looking glass

By Mike Hast TOURISTS will see what lies beneath the surface of southern Port Phillip when the renovated semi-submersible vessel Underwater Explorer II is launched in spring.

The unusual, 22-metre long former Rottnest Island vessel has been bought

by Stephen Blond and Troy Ashley, Ballarat boys who have teamed up to bring a unique experience to residents of the Mornington and Bellarine peninsulas and Melburnians.

About 50 people can sit below the waterline and watch the world beneath the waves with a further 20 on deck.

The aluminium vessel will be based at the new Queenscliff Harbour for eco tours led by marine biologists, in conjunction with Queenscliff’s Marine Discovery Centre.

It will visit reefs off Point Nepean and Point Lonsdale, the human-made artificial reef called Pope’s Eye off

Sorrento, seals at Chinamans Hat and other underwater attractions in Port Phillip. Tours of Western Port are also being planned.

“Imagine a boatload of kids going through a salmon boil or bottle-nosed dolphins coming up to the windows,” Mr Blond said. “It will be fantastic to show people what’s below the surface.”

Underwater Explorer spent 17 summers at famous Rottnest Island off the coast near Perth, but was put on the market after the company operating it and ferries between Perth and Fremantle failed.

Mr Blond said the people of Perth were furious when Explorer was taken off the Rottnest run. “It was a tourism icon. They were even unhappier after hearing it was going east.”

The 66-tonne vessel was built in 1993 at a cost of about $1.4 million

by Fast Craft Marine in WA. It was designed by Gavin Mair of Global Ma-

rine Design. Its replacement cost today would be more than $2 million, Mr Blond said.

The vessel was advertised on a boating website for $250,000 earlier this year.

“About 12 weeks ago I was relaxing at home on a Sunday, minding my own business, when my mate Troy Ashley called,” Mr Blond said.

“Troy said, ‘Look on the internet at a boat called Underwater Explorer, Blondy’; we could do this in Port Phillip.

“We flew to Perth the next day, inspected it, had a chat to the boat broker and bought it.”

The broker asked the duo how they were going to get it to Port Phillip.

Mr Blond said: “We’re going to cart it across the Nullarbor.”

Just like in Monster Moves, The News asked? “The blokes who do those moves are my heroes,” Mr Blond said.

“My days as a house mover came in

DSE plans to increase burns across region DESPITE recent rains, the Department of Sustainability and Environment is planning to increase burns and fire prevention works.

Land and fire manager for Port Phillip region Nick Ryan said planning for burning over the next three years has been done and the maps of proposed burns and other fuel reduction works were available for viewing and comment.

“These plans are created by looking at areas that haven’t been burnt in recent years, deciding which areas will best provide protection from future bushfires and incorporating local input from the many conversations we have had around the community about burning,” Mr Ryan said.

New fire management zones for public land had been released that “will help decide where, when and how often to burn to give the best protection from bushfires”.

Mr Ryan said DSE would this month hold sessions at Frankston South and Rosebud to discuss the plans and zones across Port Phillip while

maps of the proposed burns and works could be seen on the DSE website.

“We really value local knowledge and expertise from residents when we’re doing our fire planning so we can get the burns done in the places that will give the best protection from fires and will help the bush too,” he said.

“We are particularly interested in comments or feedback on specific burns or specific locations – is there an area of public land near you that you would like to discuss with DSE in relation to planned burning?”

The DSE has burnt more than 447 hectares in planned burns across the Port Phillip region in 2010-11.

The draft Port Phillip Fire Operations Plan for 2011-12 to 2013-14 can be seen at DSE and Parks Victoria offices or online at www.dse.vic.gov.au/ fires until Friday 26 August.

Details are also available from DSE’s customer service centre on 136 186.

handy. We cut the top off and put it on a truck, put the hull on another truck, brought it across in five days and then welded it back together again.”

It is currently being sandblasted and repainted at Yaringa Boat Harbour in Somerville. Upholstery and carpets are being replaced by Westernport Trimming.

“Most of the work required is cosmetic,” Mr Blond said.

A 300-horsepower diesel engine pushes Underwater Explorer at 11 knots with a cruising speed of 7 knots.

It has a bow thruster for manoeuvring in tight places.

Mr Blond, 43, is supervising the refit. Born in New Jersey in the United States, his father is a former US Navy lieutenant who served in the Second World War including at the Battle of the Coral Sea. After the war he was a marine engineer with US Lines. His mother, an Australian, and father met

overseas, married and lived in the US. The family of six moved to Australia when Mr Blond was nine.

In Ballarat, he acquired his first power boat at age 17 and bought a yacht in his early 20s, a 47-foot yawl, which he moored at Portsea and once sailed up the east coast to Cairns.

Mr Blond owned antique shops in Ballarat and Melbourne for 20 years before becoming a house mover and restorer of heritage homes.

Business partner Troy Ashley owns the Esplanade Hotel at Queenscliff and the two have known each other since childhood.

They’ll relaunch the Captain Nemoinspired vessel in September, offering 45-, 90-minute and three-hour tours.

Underwater Explorer is bound to attract massive interest as the colourful world below the waves has previously been the domain of only the fit and trained diving fraternity.

Macca’s bid for 24 hours McDONALD’S in Somerville has applied to Mornington Peninsula Shire to open 24 hours a day.

The outlet in Eramosa Rd West, which opened in late 2009, currently closes at midnight and opens at 6am. The next closest outlet at Hastings has similar operating hours.

Macca’s outlets in Frankston and Karingal open 24 hours.

Somerville traders are calling for security guards if the outlet is given permission to operate the extra hours.

When Hastings MP Neale Burgess officially opened McDonald’s on 30 November 2009, he said: “McDonald’s Somerville already employs 67 predominantly local staff and there will be an additional 15 crew members when the restaurant eventually goes to 24 hour trading.”

The town has been plagued by littering,

vandalism, anti-social behaviour and petty crime in recent years.

Last May, Mr Burgess and his federal Liberal colleague Greg Hunt held a community meeting in response to these concerns.

Mr Hunt said Somerville was a wonderful town with a remarkable history, but faced a number of challenges.

“Anti-social behaviour and petty crime were top of the list of concerns expressed at the meeting, along with the need to develop a better overall vision for the future development of the town,” he said.

“Firstly, we will wage a war on graffiti in Somerville. We will also continue our campaign to get a 24-hour police station for Somerville, one manned by extra personnel, not officers stolen from Hastings.”

Frankston Times 4 August 2011

PAGE 9

NEWS DESK

This form guide’s on the move

By Keith Platt IN racing circles, Peter Ellis would be classed as a stayer, not a sprinter. He’s clocked up commendable times in three Melbourne marathons and power walks up to 15 kilometres a day, or night. But my assessment would have Ellis shaking his head. I’m not using enough data - history, form, fitness, weather, or condition of the track on the day.

Ellis is a racing tipster. A race form analyst, as he puts it. He’s a horseracing expert. His assessment of a horse’s form, as opposed to my naive assessment of him, is more mathematical and considered.

I’m the type of person he’d class as a mug punter.

To the outsider, Ellis has a glamorous life. He is feted by racing clubs who subsidise flights and accommodation overseas so he can attend race meetings. He’s a one-man business in the Sport of Kings.

He sends dispatches to various outlets from wherever he is in the world (including his On the Track column for The News), buying and then throwing away printers – which at $40 are cheaper to buy and throw away than carry as luggage – after running off copies of the statistics that form the basis of his predictions.

The destinations and the big races roll off his tongue like days of the week: Dubai, Hong Kong (15 majors), Singapore, England (Royal Ascot, Goodwood, York, Epsom), Ireland (Leopardstown), Italy (San Siro), France (Longchamp, Chantilly, Deauville) the United States (Kentucky Derby, Saratoga, Santa Anita, Arlington Park). Places and races still to be ticked off include Russia, Japan, South Africa and Argentina. On one trip he attended 28 meetings in 30 days in England and Europe. On yet another he was in Hong Kong on a Sunday, New York by Monday, then on to Cincinnati from where he drove to Louisville to attend races Tuesday to Saturday before arriving back in Australia on the Sunday. Sitting in one of his favourite coffee shops in Hastings, Ellis recalls thinking about the strangeness of it all as he pulled his car up alongside a cornfield outside Toledo in Ohio to email his tips for the next Moonee Valley races. “I couldn’t do it without the internet. On these hit and run trips you need access to information because you can’t afford to be in the dark for too long a time.” Ellis estimates he works up to 80 hours a week studying form, keeping his records, drawing ‘speed maps’, filing

Inspired: Peter Ellis goes trackside for this year’s Kentucky Derby at Louisville in the United States.

Pier reveiw: Peter Ellis poften ends his daily walk deliberating over upcoming races with a coffee at the Pelican Pantry near Hastings pier.

copy for publications, speaking on the radio and attending race meetings. Up to 30 of those hours are spent watching DVDs or videos of horse races, noting where each horse was placed during a race as well as at the finish.

His pay TV subscription is made solely to watch overseas races. The history, the running and the track all are added into his calculations, which end up as predictions.” I don’t know anyone in the industry who watches more races,” he says. “Few people do what I do because it’s so hard.”

When he goes the track – which can be up to three times a week – he checks the turf after the meeting is over, looking for soft spots or any other physical aspect of the turf that might have

affected the run of the horses. Everything will be carefully noted and added to his store of information to be factored into the next outing of the horses that ran on the day.

In one 20-year patch he only missed going to a meeting for one week. His details on tracks span 40 years, although works like the new drainage system at Mornington can make them redundant almost overnight. Ellis has been around the tracks a long time.

After tiring of football and cricket on the Mornington Peninsula in the early 1970s, he and a few friends began driving to Frankston to catch the train to Flemington. He worked up to the status of “form man” and found work with a friend who ran a tipping com-

pany. Writing a column for the Hastings-based Independent News Group later led to work with The Age – which still likes to label him The Pro when he covers the Spring Racing Carnival – and one of his staples, RadioTAB, which he broadcasts his show every Saturday morning to listeners in South Australia, Queensland and the Northern Territory.

Bet-Busters, the Gulf News and the Mornington Peninsula News Group also publish his tips and opinions. He also does consulting work with trainers and jockeys. Ellis says he has developed “a good following because my strike rate is good. What I say is down the line. I’m not copying anyone else’s tips.”

Although his predictions can have an effect on the odds Ellis says no one has ever asked him to “play up or down a horse”.

However, “with money attached, there’s bound to be skullduggery sometimes” and from his observations and knowledge he knows if a horse “hasn’t run to form when it should have won”.

These “inexplicable rides” will be noted in Ellis’s records and factored into the horse’s form.

“I would know more than the steward’s because I see these horses at different tracks and know their form.”

Just as he doesn’t follow other tipsters, Ellis keeps a friendly distance from other racing insiders such as trainers, breeders and jockeys.

“I talk to trainers, but it’s just conversation. I’m not interested in where they think a horse will come because they only know how their horse is doing.” When it comes to breeding, “eve-

ry horse is an individual. I try to find their strengths and weaknesses – if you find that key, you’re firing”.

“Jockeys can be that far off that it’s unbelievable. They think they can analyse a horse, but what can they see?

I’m standing back and can see all three dimensions and that’s why I prefer to see races live, because I can watch what’s happening at the back, middle and front of the field, not just where the cameras are pointed.

“My perfect scenario is watching the horses in the mounting yard, watching them race, go to scale and then recover. If I’ve got the video as well, I’ve had the whole package.”

Ellis reckons a 30 per cent strike rate is the “absolute best” a jockey can achieve “and if you follow a jockey you’re 99 per cent sure of losing in the long run”.

“It’s all about mathematics and not the strike rate on the day.

Ellis has ridden a horse ... once: “as a kid and the ground seemed a long way off”. He admits to punting in a small way, but says “being a professional would mean giving up what I do”.

He knows of pro punters with a $1 million monthly turnover who aim for a five per cent profit “who hire people like me”.

“I’ve never been a pro punter. I possibly might be one day, but I’d have to drop everything. I like what I do and to be a punter you need to do it properly.

You would need to work just as hard as I do. There are no short cuts, you get reward for effort.”

Courtsey BusinessTimes www.businesstimes.net.au

Time to start stopping shopping for snogging

By Fran Henke IN the post office the other day as I waited in the queue, a child of about seven or eight was emulating adults – shopping.

While her parent stood in front of me, the youngster in her primary school uniform browsed the shelves of DVDs, coming back to report on prices of films she thought attractive.

Naturally, there was one she wanted and started nagging, telling her father that she knew some of the stars of the film on the DVD cover.

Many years ago I had the often excruciating experience of being a member of the Commonwealth Film

PAGE 10 Frankston Times 4 August 2011

Censorship Board.

I learned only too well about classifications of films and videos.

The film this child had chosen was clearly labelled ‘M’ – recommended for mature audiences. The title had something to do with “snogging”, beyond the need to know of a primary school child.

When I searched for a similar film title, one came up that read: “Story centres on a 14-year-old girl who keeps a diary about the ups and downs of being a teenager, including things she learns about kissing.”

As he was close to the counter, the father glanced briefly at the DVD and

said it was OK; she could have it.

Adding as he produced a credit card, “I wish I could spend money the way you do”.

Having won the battle the child went back to shopping. The DVD wasn’t really that important, shopping was.

There are two issues here. First is allowing a child to watch M-rated films.

No doubt they see even stronger material at home. Monitoring television programs for parents must be extremely hard.

It is important, however. Most children do not have the discretion to

separate fiction from real life. Some try to act out what they’ve seen without understanding the consequences.

The second issue is shopping. I’ve watched children pester parents in shops and supermarkets without getting an explanation about the amount of money available for purchases.

Children seem to think they can pick objects within reach – objects that are designed by marketers to make people reach for them – and not appreciate the cost or impact on tight budgets.

I would be thrilled to hear a parent explain this, over and over until their children understand.

Having pocket money helps.

Encouraging older children to work part-time and contribute to the household also instills a different attitude.

It is rewarding to watch the children of friends and neighbours grow up with a strong work ethic.

The result is a powerful group of people contributing to society – too busy to watch films about “snogging”.

So, please mums and dads out there, say no to “unguided shopping” and consider ratings of films seen by the family.

There’s plenty of time to grow up and learn about the gritty side of life.

Hastings port shock

By Mike Hast MELBOURNE’S Webb Dock should be a higher priority than developing the Port of Hastings, says one of Australia’s key port executives.

David Anderson, chief executive of Ports Australia, the peak body representing ports and marine authorities in Australia, told a regional ports conference in Tasmania two weeks ago the infrastructure for accessing Hastings was “pretty diabolical” and it would take 30 years to fully develop the port.

Webb Dock was far more important than plans to build docks in Western Port, he said.

Webb Dock is at the entrance to the Yarra River and faces Hobsons Bay at the head of Port Phillip.

Port of Melbourne’s other key docks – Swanson, Appleton and Victoria – which are fast running out of land, are upstream of West Gate Bridge, which restricts the height of vessels.

Mr Anderson’s comments come at a time when the push to develop the Port of Hastings intensifies and opposition mounts.

Legislation is before the upper house of Parliament that will decouple the Port of Hastings from the Port of Melbourne Corporation, which the Brumby Labor government joined together late last year just before losing office to the Ted Baillieu-led Coalition of Liberals and Nationals.

The legislation would create a new body, Port of Hastings Development Authority. It is expected to be approved when Parliament reconvenes for the spring session on 16 August.

The legislation, which has the support of all political parties, was listed for voting before the Parliament rose for its winter break, but time ran out.

The new government has been under pressure to fast-track the expansion of Hastings, which the previous government planned to do over 20 years in three stages.

An expanded Hastings port would need a duplicated Western Port Hwy and a rail line to take goods to and from southeast Melbourne and from Gippsland, including timber and coal.

A coal slurry pipeline has also been proposed.

Western Port Hwy is currently one lane in each direction – little more than a country road – between North Rd, Pearcedale, and Hasting.

Expert’s call to develop Webb over Western Port As supporters of the ports of Melbourne and Hastings argue over scarce resources and timelines, environment and community groups are organising opposition.

A citizen lobby group formed to oppose Hastings port expansion when it was first mooted in 2006, Westernport Action Group, has joined Blue Wedges Coalition, an umbrella group of 65 organisations formed to oppose the dredging of Port Phillip in 2008-09.

They in turn have aligned with Victorian National Parks Association and Westernport and Peninsula Protection Council.

The latter was formed in the 1960s when the Bolte Liberal government opened the Western Port region to de-

velopment, in particular Hastings and Crib Point, where steelworks, jetties, gas and oil refineries, tank farms and infrastructure were built along with engineering and marine firms to service the enterprises (see ‘Back to the future’).

Hastings retains this industrial infrastructure, but at Crib Point only a gas and oil jetty remains operational.

VNPA marine and coastal project officer Simon Branigan says an expanded Hastings port would transform the area into a highly urbanised industrial zone that would become busier than the Port of Melbourne.

“We fear that expanding Hastings into a container port will be done with little consideration of protecting and

Back to the future IT was dubbed “The Battle for Western Port” and grabbed national media headlines in the early 1970s.

Industrialists and conservationists fought a bitter battle over development after the Liberal state government, led by premier Henry Bolte, marked the region as a site for heavy industry in the 1960s.

One plan called for a nuclear reactor on French Island and the now-defunct State Electricity Commission bought up large tracts of land on the island, displacing farming families and reducing the island’s population by about 80 per cent.

Allied to the nuclear plan was one to build a causeway across the shallow waters north of the island, which would have interrupted tidal flows. Neither plan came to fruition.

The government bowed to concerns of conservationists and commissioned the “Westernport Bay Environmental Study”, which became the basis for the Shapiro Report, a major study led by US

scientist Maurice Shapiro.

The report stands as an important environmental document as Professor Shapiro studied the entire Western Port catchment and the results shaped government policy toward the region for many years.

In the end, Bolte’s vision for Western Port to become the “Ruhr of Victoria”, named after the heavily industrialised city in Germany, fell well short of ambitions.

BP built a refinery at Crib Point that is now abandoned.

John Lysaght Pty Ltd built a steel mill near Hastings, now owned by BlueScope Steel, and Esso built a gas refractionation plant near the steel mill, both of which still operate.

Conservationists have called on the government to undertake a “Shapiro Mark II” before expanding the Port of Hastings.

The battles of 40 years ago will be fought again.

Mike Hast

enhancing Western Port’s immense environmental and recreational values,” he said.

“The development authority should have the protection of the bay’s environmental values as its core operating goal, not just fast-tracking development based on a projected growth in container shipping traffic.”

Blue Wedges president Jenny Warfe said once the development proceeds to the environmental effects statement (EES) phase, “proponents control the process, with economics being the focus, not the environment”.

“EES assessments of major projects – with dredging of Port Phillip a prime recent example – invariably rely on economic analyses and ignore environmental values lost. They do not objectively assess the real economic benefits,” she said.

Port of Hastings’ own figures show the port will move 3.7 million containers a year by 2035, she said. “It will be even busier and congested than

Melbourne, which handles 2.2 million containers a year.”

Karri Giles of Westernport and Peninsula Protection Council said the bay had fragile marine environments, including internationally significant Ramsar-listed wetlands for migrating birds from the northern hemisphere.

“It’s unbelievable that in the 40th anniversary year of the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands, the government wants a massive industrial container port that could result in the death of the bay as a healthy, functioning ecosystem and place for recreation.”

Internationally respected bird scientist Clive Minton said in an interview on the peninsula’s community radio station 3RPP last month that Western scientists and governments had criticised the draining of wetlands and building of industries in Ramsar sites in East Asia.

An expanded port at Hastings will cost Victorian taxpayers $9.4 billion, according to figures prepared last year for the previous government.

The Victorian Freight Logistics Council is pushing the government to start infrastructure planning now, especially the rail link to Hastings.

Executive officer Rose Elphick reportedly said the opportunities to get rail in were being threatened by further development in the corridor.

Dockside: The existing wharf at BlueScope, Hastings.

Did you know... you can now view our papers online at: www.mpnews.com.au Frankston Times 4 August 2011

PAGE 11

NEWS DESK

No penalties for runaway rig

By Keith Platt NO action is being taken against any person or company involved in an incident that saw a 1700-tonne oil rig break free from towlines in Western Port last January.

A preliminary investigation by Transport Safety Victoria (TSV) has ruled out any infringement of regulations or work practices.

There was no written report and the investigation appears to have consisted of little more than phone calls and a follow-up letter to the Western Port harbourmaster.

The Victorian National Parks Association said the incident underlines dangers to shipping in the bay and called on TSV to release details of what caused it.

Western Port harbourmaster Shane Vedamuttu told The News that correct procedures had been followed when the Kan Tan IV oil rig broke free as it was being loaded aboard the semisubmerged carrier vessel MV Transporter.

He said the TSV had told him in a letter to “make another risk assessment before another one [oil rig] comes, but that always happens anyway”.

Mr Vedamuttu said a rope being used by tugs to hold the rig in position above the semi-submerged Transporter had broken because “the wind and tide was too strong for this particular vessel”.

“It was a brand new rope and the other ropes then had to be let go.

“Theoretically I’m in charge of the operation and the port, but there was

Secured: The Kan Tan IV oil rig finally aboard the semi-submersible MV Transporter after breaking loose in Western Port.

Picture: Andrew Mackinnon of aquamanships.com.au

a pilot and the rig operator on board.

“There have been some problems previously, but nothing major. Sometimes you can’t turn a rig around in the Cowes anchorage.”

Mr Vedamuttu said once the rig had been secured by tugs he instructed that it and the 53,800-tonne MV Transporter – which had dragged its anchor – be taken to Port Phillip, where tidal cur-

rents were not as strong, for the transfer operation to be completed.

“The Transporter was supposed to be able to hold off against the maximum [Western Port] tide – that’s what I was told – but it couldn’t.”

Lisa Faldon, TSV’s acting director maritime safety, said the preliminary investigation had been conducted by her predecessor who saw no reason for

any further action. She was unable to release details of what had gone wrong because of privacy provisions in the Marine Act 1988.

“This places an obligation on us to treat, with utmost confidentiality, sensitive information provided to us, including information provided by commercial operators.”

Ms Faldon said TSV is “satisfied

with the operational improvements proposed to be taken by the operator to prevent a recurrence of this type of incident, and will not be taking any further action”.

She said a formal investigation was not seen as being necessary.

Ms Faldon said she was unable to disclose what had actually gone wrong but said there had been no breaches of marine safety or any other laws.

“I am unable to disclose the specifics of the changes in operational procedures that have been put in place, however TSV is satisfied that they are sufficient to prevent a recurrence.

As a formal investigation did not take place, a report has not been prepared.”

National parks association marine and coastal project officer Simon Branigan said the failure of the loading operation “further busts the myth that Western Port is a natural deep water harbour – it has fast-moving tidal currents not only exposing over 40 per cent of the bay at low tide, but also complicating large equipment transfers”.

“Any findings from investigations that Transport Safety Victoria conducted in regards to this incident should not be a closed shop – the public needs to be made aware of what operational changes have been implemented to safeguard the bay’s marine environment from shipping accidents.”

FEATURE

Addicted to economic growth This is the fourth of an occasional series of articles by Andrew Raff and Peter North covering a range of environmental topics including the CO2 debate, use of resources, future energy and the nuclear power debate. Both are members of SHIPPS, St Andrew’s Habitat Improvement, Preservation and Protection Society, on the southern peninsula.

FROM the beginning to the end of the 20th century, economic output – measured by global GDP – rose by about 20 times, equivalent to an average of 3 per cent per year – increasing over the last decade of the century to about 4 per cent a year.

At 4 per cent growth the economy doubles every 18 years. If average 4 per cent growth is maintained for the next 100 years, the economy in the year 2110 will be 50 times its present size.

For a couple of hundred years since the start of the Industrial Revolution, the world has accommodated this manic expansion of growth. But given the size of the present global economy, conservationists consider such future exponential growth now seems absurdly unachievable for a small planet presently struggling to feed and house its burgeoning population.

However, despite the degrading environment, mounting resource shortages and expanding population, the

idea that “growth is good” remains almost unquestioned in the minds of the planet’s powerbrokers.

Economic growth has become the cornerstone of economic policy – way ahead of long-term survival.

The downside of the growth obsession is barely considered by the collective voice of business, media, economists, politicians and the wider community.

Even failure to grow at an acceptable rate is lamented by community powerbrokers. Negative growth – recession or depression – spawns outright panic in the financial media, along with advice that people should abandon their good sense and spend their savings to head off a momentary downturn in consumption.

Thus it was in 2001 when the United States economy dipped after 9/11.

US President George W Bush urged his constituents to “sing patriotic songs, think patriotic thoughts and go shopping”.

During the 2007 global financial crisis – with widespread approval of the media, business and the Opposition (which later deplored the commensurate increase in government debt) – the federal government gifted $900 a head to most of the working population to head off the prospect of a recession.

Recipients were advised it was their patriotic duty to spend the money and quickly!

Australia also found an additional “solution” to the GFC by propelling rates of migration through the roof during 2008-09.

PAGE 12 Frankston Times 4 August 2011

Since the majority of immigrants are admitted only if they have adequate means (paupers drifting to our shores are accommodated on Christmas Island), the country’s GDP will increase simply by expanding the population with cashed-up migrants.

By dint of more than 300,000 new arrivals, and without actually doing anything, the PM could claim that Australia had weathered the GFC better than any other OECD (developed) country.

Of course that didn’t mean the existing population had become any richer. In fact, per capita, they had

become about 2 per cent poorer due to the 2 per cent population increase in that year.

In the longer term, increasing the population rendered meeting the country’s greenhouse targets very less likely, exacerbated water shortages,

worsened the trade deficit and required expensive infrastructure ($653,000 per new outer-suburban dwelling according to a Curtin University study endorsed by the Victoria government) to add to government debt or to the burden of existing taxpayers.

Such are the magical powers claimed for economic growth that the economic

and environmental downsides scarcely impact on community consciousness – and are almost entirely ignored by the media.

Only a small band of sceptics of mainstream economics disagree. To them, the ever-expanding economy is like a parasite sucking the life out of the host that sustains it – the natural world.

On occasions that this monster fails to grow at an acceptable rate, its minders – economists, politicians and business worthies – gather around the patient to administer booster shots such as the first home owners grant, the baby bonus and the $900 gift voucher to nurse the ailing parasite back to health.

Regrettably, the custodians of this fledgling cuckoo, motivated by their own short-term interests, remain oblivious to the condition of the nest.  Andrew Raff has lived on the Mornington Peninsula for 50 years, was in the Royal Australian Navy for 20 years, served in Vietnam, and has studied the nuclear industry and climate change. He is a member of Sustainable Population Australia and founded SHIPPS last year.  Peter North has degrees in engineering and commerce, and has worked in the petrochemical, mining, manufacturing and construction industries in Australia and overseas. He has published nine books on business, travel, environment and economics, has written for the environmental magazine Pacific Ecologist and is also a member of Sustainable Population Australia.

Healthy Living

Weight loss improves your health and well being EVEN moderate weight loss will improve your health and wellbeing. Obesity is a disease and has become a global problem. This problem has more than doubled in Australia over the past 20 years. Morbid Obesity greatly increases the chances of developing life threatening conditions such as Diabetes, Sleep Apnoea, Heart Disease, High Blood Pressure and some Cancers and can also have a significant impact on social and physical well being. Long term weight loss improves health and quality of life.

LAPSurgery Australia is a

of activity, every day without a second thought. We even tend to neglect them when they are sore but this shouldn’t be the case. Getting your feet checked by a sports podiatrist can help pick up early warning signs of health issues, prevent and treat aching and painful feet, ankles, knees, hips and backs and assist and prevent serious injury.

Foot + Leg Pain Clinics, founded by one of Australia’s most experienced sports podiatrists, Paul Dowie, specifically focus’s on preventing and assisting Foot & Leg pain.

Paul has been the chosen Podiatrist for many of the world’s best athletes including seven of the world’s ‘Number 1’ tennis

players, many of the world’s best golfers, Olympic champions and Australian cricket team players. Now Paul uses his extensive knowledge and experience to assist families and individuals of all ages with aches, pains, work and sports related injuries, bunions, arthritis, diabetes, balance & posture issues and even growing pains.

Foot + Leg Pain Clinics have 17 locations across Melbourne including Mt Eliza and currently offer 50% off initial consultations Foot & Leg Pain Clinics, 135 Mt Eliza Way, Mt Eliza. Phone: 9708-8866 or 1300 328 300.

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Your feet may hold the answers DID you know your feet could be the cause of all sorts of physical pains and problems including; ankle, knee, hip and back issues? Our feet are our foundation, they support our whole body and are used in all sorts of ways throughout every day. So if there are problems with the feet it’s logical it can set off a chain reaction in the rest of the body.

Your feet can also be one of the parts of your body to show signs of more serious underlying issues such as diabetes.

Yet we tend to neglect our feet. We squeeze them into ill fitting, unsupportive and inappropriate footwear; we ask them to perform a whole host

comprehensive weight loss clinic offering Dietary advice, Non Surgical and Surgical weight loss solutions. We can help YOU improve your health and lifestyle. With five clinic locations across Melbourne and the Mornington Peninsula we can better serve your needs.

The Adjustable Gastric Band The role of the Gastric Band in achieving weight loss is proven to be safe and effective.

In many cases people who successfully lose weight with the adjustable gastric band have been able to rid themselves of symptoms of diabetes and high blood pressure.

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(PSRZHU \RXUVHOI WR FKDQJH \RXU OLIH Frankston Times 4 August 2011

PAGE 13

Frankston

realestate

Bittern

$890,000

Colonial beauty in Kinfauns Estate ALL a buyer could hope for in a rural lifestyle retreat awaits in Kinfauns Estate. This is a lovely, big family home with approximately 35 squares of quality living space inside and great family extras such as an inground pool outside. The living areas consist of a formal living and family room, meals area, separate rumpus and enclosed atrium sunroom. There are five big bedrooms with the master bedroom having a huge ensuite.

Internal comforts include beautiful polished floors, ducted vacuum system, and ducted heating and cooling. The kitchen is a real standout with an island bench and dishwasher.

The landscaped gardens will always look their best with an abundant water supply from the combined 46,000 litres in water tanks that service the property.

Agency: BTRE, 1/34 High Street, Hastings.

Phone: 5979 8003.

Agent: Chris Jonker, 0404 299 854.

REAL ESTATE SALES PERSON Wanting regular time off and long weekends?

An exciting opportunity exists for experienced Agents Rep to start with a prominent new Company coming to Somerville.

The right person must have a sound knowledge of the area and will enjoy a very friendly working environment, together with an excellent retainer and commision package. If you are an honest person who has a passion for service and to achieve the clients goals and needs, I want to meet with you! I also understand that we work hard and need time off to spend with family

Sound Interesting?

Call Milton Brown for a chat in strictest confidence: 0418 326 044

Mornington Peninsula News Group would like to welcome Jason Richardson as the Account Manager for Real Estate. For all your real estate advertising needs please contact Jason on 0421 190 318 or jason@mpnews.com.au PAGE 14 Frankston Times 4 August 2011

REAL ESTATE SOMERVILLE Est 1989

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PAGE 15

F

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& ENTERTAINMENT

Confucius says: Recipes are from The Australian Women’s Weekly, Classics. ACP Books. RRP $12.95, available from selected newsagents, supermarkets and online from www.acpbooks.com.au

Newscaster who reports hurricanes, knows how to talk up a storm.

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Riddle: What starts with an E ends with an E and has 1 letter in it? Answer page 18

September brings something new to the air Spring turn: Wendy Grace uses her art to trace the change in the season.

New art heralds season’s change

By James Clark-Kennedy IN the exhibition Hint of Spring, there is a sense of the warmer months approaching, emerging growth, and potential energy all around us set to explode into bloom and life.

Wendy Grace’s Manyung at Mt Eliza August exhibition is well timed; having passed midwinter many of us have an eye to the sky or the garden for hints of spring.

“Victoria is a very four seasons state and those seasons are so distinct – it’s something I love about this state, you always carry that sense of the season that’s here and awareness of the season that’s coming.”

Wendy’s awareness as an artist has much to do with her affinity with nature and the cycles of nature: “I’m drawn to the patterns of the seasons, and their colours.”

In the works that make up Hint of Spring, warm colours pool and disperse into organic forms and echo the rhythms of the season.

Born in 1961, Wendy completed a

PAGE 16 Frankston Times 4 August 2011

Diploma of Visual Arts, and a Bachelor of Fine Art and Honours at RMIT University.

She is a photographer and painter who exhibits regularly in Melbourne.

In 2010, she was a finalist in the Albany Art prize and the Broken Hill Open Art Prize and her work is represented in public and private collections in Australia and the United States.

She sees her exhibition as being about “the warmth that we gravitate to in the depths of winter ... I saw some spring blossoms coming”.

Yet the works are not simply flora and fauna.

In the forms and colours “there are lot of analogies in the work to my own life at the moment,” Grace says. An awakening energy that anybody who has embraced spring after winter will share.

Wendy Grace’s ‘Hint of Spring’ exhibition runs 4–28 August, Manyung at Mt Eliza, 1408 Nepean Hwy, Mt Eliza. Details: 9787 2953.

By Mike Hast THE renovation of a former classroom block at the old Mornington Secondary College is almost complete and community radio station 3RPP will start broadcasting from there in September.

The radio station will move from its long-time home at Moorooduc Coolstores and occupy half of the block.

The studio is next to Peninsula Community Theatre and performing arts centre Studio@PCT in the school’s former Findlay Hall and library on land at the corner of Wilsons Rd and the Nepean Hwy. The renovation of the second half of the block will start this year after Mornington Peninsula Shire allocated $350,000.

It will be used by various community groups and provide a second meeting area in Mornington to support the meeting room at the library in Vancouver St behind the shire office.

The classroom renovation is being done by several Rotary clubs including Somerville-Tyabb, Hastings Western Port, Mornington, Mt Martha, Dromana, Rosebud, Rye and Sorrento.

Managing the project is SomervilleTyabb Rotarian Dick Cox, a former harbourmaster of Western Port, in conjunction with a registered builder, Point Leo-based Staff Building & Contracting.

The project has radically transformed the classroom block, which for years had been home to pigeons and had fallen into disrepair.

“These new cupboards and shelves came from a bank,” said Mr Cox as

during an inspection with Cr Leigh Eustace and The News.

“We’ve pulled in many favours to renovate and equip the station.

“The toilets and hand basins were donated by Swan Hardware and the kitchen came from Sandown Constructions in Braeside.”

Workmen on the roof were installing steel sheets donated by BlueScope Western Port. The extraordinary 14 by seven metre performance studio will bear the company’s name.

The studio, based on the design of a mainstream station’s performance studio, can accommodate a brass band with players sitting on a 75-millimetre thick stone floor. Walls are 250mm thick (2.5 inches). Other big supporters include CSR, which donated insulation batts, and Bendigo Bank community branches on the peninsula, which donated $80,000 for new equipment and relocation costs.

Studio 1 will be the CSR Studio and number 2 the Bendigo Bank Studio.

The studios are five metres by five metres with room for two presenters and four guests, a far cry from the tiny studios at Moorooduc.

They have double-glazed windows overlooking the former school grounds, now owned by the shire.

Other features include a large voice-over and production room, control room for the BlueScope Studio, boardroom, presenters’ room, offices, storage areas and toilets.

Cr Eustace said the next stage of preparing the meeting rooms would include renovating the former girls’ toilets, to be used by patrons of Pe-

ninsula Community Theatre and the meeting rooms. The boys’ toilets and an adjacent plant room would become a storage area for community groups.

“This is a fantastic community project that shows what can be done when the shire council and motivated community groups work together,” Cr Eustace said.

He said the project had been inspected by councillors from neighbouring municipalities as well as members of service club, and all had been deeply impressed with the facility.

“The innovative project could be a model for other shire building projects,” he said.

Radio Port Phillip station manager Brendon Telfer, formerly of Radio Australia, said the station would use the move to Mornington to relaunch 3RPP. “We’re upgrading antennas on our towers on Arthurs Seat and Mt Eliza, buying new studio equipment, revamping all our administrative and operating systems, changing parts of our programming and even redesigning our logo,” he said.

“3RPP has been part of the peninsula community for almost 30 years and this is a fantastic opportunity to reinvigorate our connection to everyone interested in broadcasting and local radio.”

Mr Telfer said the performance studio would by offered to musicians young and old from all walks of life.

Details: Radio Port Phillip, phone 5978 8200 or email Brendon Telfer at manager@3rpp.com.au.

The confessions of a non-participant

By Stuart McCullough LAST week I saw the final installment of the Harry Potter series. To say that the movies have been something of a big deal is like saying the Titanic had some teething problems.

I enjoyed it immensely, although my nephew Brodie was keen to identify the differences between the movie and the book that underpins it. Apparently there are heaps. Certainly enough to occupy the time it takes to drive from Knox shopping centre to Narre Warren. It’s fair to say the movie may disappoint die-hard fans, not least for the conspicuous absence of Bruce Willis. That said, Alan Rickman is all over it, so perhaps this is some consolation.

At the time of the original movie, my nephews were small enough to sit on my lap. This time around, they drove to the cinema. Well, not quite, but they’re well past sitting on anyone’s lap by now. I’ve seen the occasional Potter film and, so far as I can tell, they all lead to a battle between good and evil. This, I feel, falls under the heading of ‘give the people what they want’ rather than, say, a Crying Gamestyle twist that will make you fall from your chair. (Although, to be honest, that would be amazing.)

I confess that I am yet to read a word of the boy wizard’s adventures.

This, I am sure, makes me one of only three people in all of Western civilisation who remain immune to the literary charms of the juggernaut that is J K Rowling. It’s not by design – I have absolutely nothing against her – I simply haven’t read any of

her books. This means I am uniquely unqualified in an area of prime cultural importance. A complete social dunce, if you will. An absolute certified pariah in our great global village. In metaphorical terms, I am a castaway on a lonely island, totally cut off from the continents of humanity. For all intents and purposes, I might as well reside on another planet. It is for this reason that small talk with me can be like pulling teeth. Indeed, this

general sense of cluelessness has been directly responsible for the death of more dinner party conversations than is polite to mention. For, in truth, my ignorance of Harry Potter is far from the only example of this self-imposed social exile.

I suppose I could characterise my failure to read Potter’s adventures as being the result of a refined literary palate and that I would never lower myself to slum it with the Hogwarts

crew, but that would be a big, fat, dirty lie. Indeed, were I to assert that my lack of familiarity with Harry Potter and friends is a result of being up to my armpits in Foucault, Balzac and whichever other French malcontent ever put pen to paper in between sparking up a Gitane and necking a bottle of exotic plonk, my nose would most certainly be pressed up against the computer screen by now. The fact is that absolutely nothing (and really mean nothing) is beneath me.

Put simply, anyone who watched the first three series of Big Brother cannot sit astride the cultural high horse and look down on anyone.

It’s not just Potter either. I am yet to read a book by Dan Brown, listen to an album by Lady Gaga, create a Facebook page or watch an episode of Glee. I’m not sure what the current criteria for being Amish is right now, but I am reasonably certain that I tick a lot of the boxes. In fact, I’m pretty much on the cusp of rejecting zippers and Velcro. Only the fact I am completely and utterly useless at barn-raising prevents me from having to nominate “other” in the religion question on the coming Census.

There can be no reasonable excuse for being quite so disconnected. All I can say for myself is that I simply never got around to doing all the things I ought. Frankly, I’m the first to admit that I can never really consider myself to be a well-rounded individual if I don’t first gorge myself on every cultural treat that’s available.

It’s time to make amends. From now on, I’ll speak of the Twitterverse

as though it was something real and important and not just something that under-employed comedians do. I will treat the idea of an “everyday rewards card” with the respect it deserves and even give it a top up amount to compensate for the fact that they suck like a nuclear powered Hoover.

Finally, I will start sending text messages on a regular basis, ending all of them with “OMG”.

But to make my bid to be a better, more modern (less Amish) human being complete, I should begin with a simple apology. To Harry Potter, I am sorry. From this point on, I shall devote all my energy to ensuring quidditch is finally recognised as an Olympic sport. I’ll overlook the fact that the love story sub-plot between Hermione Granger and Ron Weasley is the most improbable love affair since Mr Snuffalufagus sent Big Bird a Valentine’s Day card. I’ll keep my thoughts to myself about whether the entire battle between good and evil might have been wrapped up a lot quicker had Potter put down that crooked-looking wand and traded it in for an AK47 assault rifle. What a different film it might have been if Lord Voldemort – with his strange 1970s rock star missing nose – had been summoning up the forces of evil, only to find Harry Potter coming over the horizon in a Black Hawk helicopter. Had that been the case, though, there’s every chance I would have shown some interest a lot sooner. www.stuartmccullough.com

Krakouer brothers make their marks on stage THE amount of admiration and publicity surrounding the skill of indigenous footballers has always been shadowed by racism and social inequalities surrounding Aboriginal communities.

Brothers Phil and Jim Krakouer fascinated Australian rules fans in the 1980s, as did their subsequent tangles with the law and society.

Their style of football was dubbed “black magic”, reflecting skill, daring and resilience that was also needed off the sporting field.

The play Krakouer! documents their trials on and off the field.

Told by a cast of three and Illustrated with historic video footage Krakouer! shows how the brothers reached new heights after leaving Western Australia with the Kangaroos until injury and personal dramas undid their careers. Jim Krakouer finished his career at St Kilda Football Club.

Krakouer! will be performed at Frankston Arts

Centre next week with Phillip Krakouer and possibly some present-day St Kilda players staying for a Q&A after the show.

The play shows how the brothers fought with and for each other against racial vilification, gambling addiction, the legal system and personal tragedy.

Krakouer! is showing at the Frankston Arts Centre at 8pm on Tuesday 9 August at (captioned performance) and 1pm on Wednesday 10 August.

Tickets are available from the Box Office on 9784 1060.

The performance is also part of the arts centre’s education program, with discounted tickets for secondary students and Splash Card holders.

For more information or to book go to www. artscentre.frankston.vic.gov.au or call 9784 1060.

Come and enjoy purchasing our handmade goat and cows milk cheeses and yoghurts.

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Freerange Eggs (tray of 30 eggs) for $5.00 - very popular Frankston Times 4 August 2011

PAGE 17

FOOD & ENTERTAINMENT

Entertainment JOHNNY Chester has travelled down two roads in his colourful music career – traditional rock ’n’ roll and country.

The Mornington Peninsula-based entertainer was born on Boxing Day 1941.

“Dad had a garage and one of his customers serviced jukeboxes and used to give Dad a box of used 78s of classic artists including Bill Haley, Eddie Fisher and Patti Page, which I listened to,” Johnny recalls.

Johnny played drums in school bands before becoming a rock star with his first band, Johnny and The Jaywoods, who played at dances in a small hall in Preston. They later changed the name to Johnny Chester and The Chessman.

By 1961 Johnny had released his first single, The Hokey Pokey, the first of 12 singles that included Can Can Ladies, Summertime Blues, Come On Everybody and Nick-Nack Paddy Whack.

In his late 20s, Johnny took a step that many other rockers had taken and moved into country music. He recorded a swag of singles including Highway 31, Heaven Help the Man, and Irene Goodnight before signing with Ron Tudor’s Fable Label and releasing Kawliga, Glory, Glory and my favourite, Gwen (1971).

Then came the novelty song Shame

and Scandal, which gave Johnny a silver disc. Other hits followed: Midnight Bus, Ready Mix Revenge, The World’s Greatest Mum, She’s My Kind of Woman, China Doll, I Love You So, Rebecca and others.

Johnny won a Golden Guitar for best male vocalist at Tamworth in 1975 for the bestselling track She’s My Kind of Woman.

He was 1981 male vocalist of the year for I Love You So Rebecca, 1982

vocalist of the year for Rough Around the Edges and 1983 vocalist of the year for Ad in the Weekly Times.

In June 1983 at the International Country and Western Awards in Fort Worth, Texas, Johnny was voted Australia’s international entertainer of the year.

He has supported Roy Orbison, Connie Francis, the Everly Brothers, The Beatles, Kenny Rogers, Johnny Cash, Freddy Fender and other stars.

of brainwashing/propaganda. They surely have a higher connection and responsibility with babies, but aside from that why are these other boundaries set in place; why not share? I’m told it all changed in the ’60s and ’70s.

Yeah? A male can go into a pub alone and strike up a conversation; have an aura of being a “nice bloke” with “tea on the table” when he arrives home.

A female does likewise and we all know the answer. If men have a choice why not women? Darling wants to do a computer course? Why? Darling wants to grow? What? “Darling is off with the fairies. I’m off to the pub. I’ll think about it. Can we afford it?” Most of these males are blameless to some extent due to the same social training. If you’re lucky enough to strike a partner where selflessness is on either side and freedom of individuality is encouraged, you’re home safe. Me? Read on. *** THE first two years after my wife’s death were a blur of grief and self-pity.

It was only then that I began to see the many forms of my ignorance over the years. The number of pluses I enjoyed, taking things for granted. So now I’m

sensible? I wish. I’ve picked up things along the journey but the overriding stupidity factor remains intact, ever a danger. Men generally, according to my instinct/experience, are solitary forever, alone. Females have deeper connections with other females, family, children. Seemingly, so do we men, but unless it’s just me, I think men walk alone. *** WE all know about the five senses, as in sight, hearing, taste, touch and smell, but it’s the sixth sense that’s more interesting. The modern thinking is with extrasensory perception (ESP) along the lines of those types who insist they can see parts of the future or see dead people, or both. I haven’t got it, but if we go way, way back to Joseph Justus Scaliger, a French scholar, we find that he regarded titillation as the sixth sense. That’s a sixth sense I have got. Ahh, but common sense? *** I’M on Skype; something to amuse me other than writing, Facebook and Zoosk. I didn’t set my preferences; what are preferences? So suddenly I had half a dozen females (?) from Ghana calling. We chat. In all cases

The highlight of his career was perhaps supporting The Beatles’ Australian and New Zealand tour in 1964.

The same year he became compere of the ABC pop music show Teen Scene.

Johnny recalls working with Roy Orbison: “Roy was a wonderful bloke, very humble. It was a great tour, but very disappointing from a crowd point of view.

“That first Orbison tour in 1961 was badly promoted in a venue in Sydney that held about 11,000 people. There were less than 1000 there to see Roy Orbison, Dion, Ray Peterson and my group The Thunderbirds. I can tell you Roy never played to an empty stadium again.”

Johnny has released a new album, What You Hear is What You Get (on Homespun), featuring Vegemite Kisses, Cute Bootscooter, Under Western Skies and the song he co-wrote with Brian Cadd, The Rock ’n’ Roll Years.

The album was recorded in Pakenham at the Cardinia Cultural Centre.

Johnny enjoys listening to George Strait, Lee Kernaghan, Bing Crosby, John Williamson and Al Jolson.

“George Strait is close to traditional country music but I also like Alan Jackson and Randy Travis. I admire songwriters like Garth Porter, Lee Kernaghan and John Williamson,” he said.

with Gary Turner “Eric Bogle is one of the best songwriters for his style. He has a sense of the ridiculous and is clever at putting a story into a song. It’s one thing to write a song about your feelings, but it’s another thing to put it into a time frame; Eric can do this.”

Johnny next project is a compilation of all his rock ’n’ roll songs recorded between 1961 and 1966.

He would also like to write songs for other artists. www.johnnychester.com Top 10 albums 1 What You Hear is What You Get – Johnny Chester 2 Cloudland – John Waters 3 Red Army – The Red Eyes 4 Snow – Brendan Radford 5 Far Away Places – Jetty Road 6 Rumours – Fleetwood Mac 7 101 60s Hits – various 8 The Harrow & The Harvest – Gillian Welsh 9 Wasting Light – Foo Fighters 10 Falling into Place – Adam Harvey

A Grain of Salt AFL Geronimo Andrew Demetriou gets six million and the players want more. Bugger them. They’re well looked after as it is. We saw by their classy dress sense at the players’ meeting that they all run expensive clothing accounts. As for where would we be without the players: where would the players be without the AFL, apart from having to suffer the dictatorial Adrian Anderson? There’s something quite bizarre about the money the AFL takes, and the players, and the clubs, and yet we read of the plight of the poorer clubs while we are asked to pay more and more. And now Heath Shaw, who cops eight weeks for a stupid $10 bet, while they make a fortune encouraging us to gamble every which way.

There’s something sick about it all. *** ONE of my enjoyments is getting stuck into males who strut like cockatoos for no good reason, as you may have noticed. Many females lead a life of self-suppression but are sadly unaware of it, generally by way of social training over many years, as in a wife’s place (cooking, cleaning, budgeting, kids and the cot), as in no individual identity, as in a form

The most ridiculous and strange, fresh for you...

their parents had apparently carked it.

They’re all in their 20s, all looking for love, all sending sensual pictures and all in terrible situations desperately needing cash, via Western Union, to a box number. I now know how to block them and remove them from my contact list, after lots of chatting back and forth. Stupid. Heath Shaw has nothing on me. Once bitten 50 times shy? I’m 69, but age is just a number? And Port Adelaide will be premiers. A dram of pleasure, a pound of pain. *** MY dentist Dr Stanley Cheung at McCrae Plaza is the best. As he was about to plunge the needle in for 20 minutes of torture (after I successfully dodged it for five years) he asked “Do you vote Labor?” I froze in the seat. It instantly flashed through my mini-brain “what if he votes Liberal and barracks for Carlton?” I declined to answer.

You never can tell with nice people. *** QUITE amusing if it wasn’t so serious.

The phone hacking saga with Rupert Murdoch’s News of the World. Front page splash in The Age and almost an aside in Rupert’s Herald Sun. Did someone mention journalistic ethics?

Joke!!!

A man’s car stalled on a country road one morning. When the man got out to fix it, a cow came along and stopped beside him. “Your trouble is probably in the carburetor,” said the cow.

Startled, the man jumped back and ran down the road until he met a farmer. The amazed man told the farmer his story.

“Was it a large red cow with a brown spot over the right eye?” asked the farmer. “Yes, yes,” the man replied.

“Oh! I wouldn’t listen to Bessie,” said the farmer. “She doesn’t know a thing about cars.”

PAGE 18 Frankston Times 4 August 2011

with Cliff Ellen God help me if he hacked my Skype or Zoosk. Time wounds all heels? *** “WHAT concerns me is the harm you are doing to yourselves. I mean, by perpetuating this talk of guilt and punishment, of banning and proscribing, of whitewashing and blackballing, of closing your eyes when convenient, of making scapegoats when there is no other way out, I ask you pointblank – does the pursuance of your limited role enable you to get the most out of life?” (Henry Miller).

Centrelink magazine: “Make your money work for you”. Hilarious.

Adios amigos. cliffie9@bigpond.com

RIddle Solution

ANSWER: An envelope.

Sudoku Solution

Peninsula gallopers continue to shine MORNINGTON trainer Tony Noonan could have unearthed another star performer in Massoni.

He has raced only three times for a win at Cranbourne and a convincing victory over 1400m at Caulfield on Saturday.

On that basis Massoni – a 4yo by Bianconi – may well prove a valuable replacement for the classy mare Ortensia.

Importantly Massoni has proven his adaptability having coped with heavy going at Cranbourne and then being equally comfortable on a dead track at Caulfield.

The way he is going the gelding may well win a group or listed race in the early part of the spring.

Two other spring hopefuls from the Mornington Peninsula – Cedarberg and Rekindled Interest – are coming along nicely in their spring preparations.

Rekindled Interest, who showed his ability when beating Derby winner Lion Tamer in the AAMI Vase (2040m) at Moonee Valley last October, is be-

ing aimed at the feature staying race by trainer Jim Conlan.

The son of premier sire Redoute’s Choice galloped pleasingly at Sale on Sunday 31 July and is expected to resume in the next few weeks.

According to Mornington-based trainer Pat Carey (right), Cedarberg is being prepared for both the Caulfield and Melbourne cups.

It is very much in the 5yo’s favour that he qualified for those races by the winning the Group 1 BMW at Rosehill (2400m) in April.

Carey has not made a final decision, but has indicated Cedarberg will take a weight-for-age path to the rich handicaps. *** Michael Kent, who is priming AJC Oaks winner Absolutely for the coming feature races, appears to have a respectable understudy in Good Value.

A sparingly raced 6yo had conditions against him when an unlucky second to another Cranbourne-trained galloper, Diggersanddealers, at Caulfield on Saturday.

With natural improvement he can be expected to soon atone for the defeat in the near future and could develop into a Cranbourne Cup contender.

A Cranbourne trainer who deserves the highest of praise for his work with the marvellous old sprinter Stanzout is Colin Davies.

A Group 2 winner, the grey has been competitive against some of Australia’s best sprinters and continues to perform with distinction as his fast-finishing third to Peter Moody’s Mid Summer Music in the Group 3 Bletchingly Stakes (1200m) at Caulfield on Satur-

day indicated.

Judging on that performance, the 9yo is one to keep in mind when playing exotics in the coming weeks.

Horses to follow: First starter Snitzem created a good impression when third to race-fit Hot Spin over 1000m at Caulfield on Saturday.

A $160,000 purchase, Snitzem showed blistering speed to lead from an outside barrier and was only gathered over the final 50 metres.

John McArdle’s Kid Kobe and Doug Harrison’s Havelock Express will also be hard to beat over the next few weeks.

Another to catch the eye over the 1000 metres at Caulfield was Forever The Chill who finished powerfully when runner-up behind Canberra-trained Jackpot Queen ($3.80 favourite).

A beautifully bred daughter of Choisir out of classy sprinter The Big Chill, the Russell Cameron-trained debutant has black type written all over her. Fourthplaced Peronne Lady also hit the line with intent and will be well suited when she steps up to 1200 metres or further.

Cranbourne-trained The Red Emperor is now ready to win following five starts from a spell. Carrying the familiar Harrison family colours, The

Red Emperor (50/1) did all the bullocking work in front and only conceded in the latter stages.

Makeadreamcometrue (15s to 9s) showed his first glimpse of form this year and is also worth backing when he drops back a grade.

Lopov has continued to improve this campaign and may have found his niche. Stepping to 2400 metres for the first time, the Savabeel 4yo produced a career-best performance when towelling 15 opponents at Caulfield.

Cranbourne-trained Minne Mah should be a good bet in a mares’ event over the next few weeks. Having her second run after a spell, she was forced to do an enormous amount of work from an outside barrier and was only gunned down late by long-shot Procida.

Sixth-placed Bondarenko was also disadvantaged in running, charging home from near last on straightening.

Others worthy of respect are Lakedro, Anabaa’s Legacy, Motorised, State Grade and Carnero.

Best: Bondarenko Doing well: Mornington trainer Pat Carey. Picture: Slickpix

Mastering the mud: The 1999 Subaru Impreza makes easy work of a muddy corner. Sibling smiles: Brother and sister Steve Kenway and Lauren Palmer make a great team.

Rallying is a family affair

BROTHER and sister Steve Kenway and Lauren Palmer are leading the 2011 Exedy Victorian Rally Championship.

Steve, 26, is a mechanic at Roberts Automotive in Frankston and Lauren, 28, is a teacher at Woodlands Primary School in Langwarrin.

The siblings grew up in Pearcedale, attended Mount Erin Secondary College and live separately in Hastings.

They have competed as a team for

eight years as members of Pakenham Auto Club and had a background in motorkhana and autocross before taking to the forests when Steve obtained his road licence.

This year started perfectly with an outright win in round one, the East Gippsland stages in the wet and slippery forests north of Bairnsdale.

Round two, the Bega Valley Rally again on wet tracks in the forests around Eden, was less successful and

they finished seventh after electrical and computer problems.

However 16 July saw them back on the podium with another outright win at round three, the George Derrick Memorial Rally held in the challenging forests around the old goldfields of Avoca.

“This year is our most successful yet and with a big gap till round four in October, the car will be getting a

mid-season rebuild to give us the best chance in the last two rallies,” Steve said.

Their car is a much-modified 1999 Subaru Impreza WRX STI. Steve does his preparation at Roberts Automotive, of course, Tyrepower Frankston look after wheel alignment and fit the special Dunlop rally tyres, and Critical Damping maintain the shock absorbers. The pair is also spon-

sored by Bayport Group, Eastern Plant Hire, Newco traffic management and Subaru Parts.

“Darren and Craig Roberts, Gerald Mammi, Bryce Palmer and our mum and dad have been fabulous supporters,” Lauren said.

Their next events are the Akademos Rally (in the Alexandra region) on 15 October and Rally Victoria (Drouin) on 12 November.

Frankston Times 4 August 2011

PAGE 19

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