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Tuesday Tuesday 1717 December March 2020 2019
5974 9000 or email: team@mpnews.com.au www.mpnews.com.au Safety First: Mount Martha Primary School students follow White Bike Foundation’s Chris Savage, centre, Leading Senior Constable Neil Prosser, left, and Mornington Peninsula mayor Cr Sam Hearn, right, on Bicycle Network National Ride2School Day. Picture: Yanni
Riders practice safety on the road MORNINGTON Peninsula mayor Cr Sam Hearn launched the White Bike Foundation Ride for Joel 2020 last week, cycling from Mount Martha House to Mount Martha Primary School with students and police on Bicycle Network National Ride2School Day. Chris Savage, co-founder of road safety charity, The White Bike Foundation, led the way with Mornington Police Senior Sergeants Paul Edwards and Kirby Tonkin ensuring the safety of the group, Friday 13 March. Mr Savage is set to carry The White Bike Foundation’s #think2 message on a 1700km cycle from Dromana to Wentworth NSW over the next 10 days, visiting six schools in Victoria and NSW. He said: “We launched our Schools Program late last year and we’re hoping to roll it out across more Mornington Peninsula schools this year. We believe these pupils hold the keys to the future of Australia’s road culture so we are working with them to encourage respect for all road users.” Continued page 9
State urged to buy quarry OPPONENTS of Hillview Quarries’ plan to open a new quarry on the Arthurs Seat escarpment at Dromana want the state government to buy the land and make it part of the state park. Hillview, owned by R E Ross Trust, wants to clear up to 38 hectares (93 acres) of bushland in a block that borders two sides of the old Pioneer quarry. The 69 hectare block at 115 Boundary Road, Dromana, is between two sections of Arthurs Seat State Park. If Hillview wins permission to quarry there it will extract rock right up to the old Pioneer pit, which can then be
reopened and dug deeper. The final pit would be 190 metres deep (the height of 2.5 MCG light towers) and yield 70 million tonnes of rock over 70 years. More than 9000 people have signed an online petition calling on the state government to reject the entire proposal. More than 300 attended a meeting organised by Peninsula Preservation Group on Saturday 7 March at Dromana Community Hall. Mark Fancett, president of PPG, said Hillview’s plans had bypassed Mornington Peninsula Shire, removing
community appeal options, and were before state planning minister Richard Wynne. Once the crucial environmental effects statement (EES) had been prepared by Hillview’s consultants and submitted to the government, people would have 25 days to comment and there would be no right of appeal after Mr Wynne’s decision. Dr Fancett said the proposed quarry would be up to four times larger than Hillview’s existing quarry. “The will of R E Ross stated that he wanted funds to be used for the preservation and maintenance of national
or public parks. How is destroying one of the state’s and region’s best remnant natural environments conserving and protecting Victoria’s biodiversity, particularly when there are alternative and well-located sources of quarry products?” He said 82 per cent of the shire had been cleared and that Arthurs Seat, with one the biggest remaining bushland areas should be retained as it “provides a biolink across the peninsula”. The 28 threatened species likely to occur on the site included the powerful owl, swift parrot and koala.
The meeting was attended by Liberal state MPs David Morris and Ryan Smith as well as shire councillors Simon Brooks and David Gill. Flinders MP Greg Hunt sent a message. Cr Gill later told The News he had been told the quarry EES was being undertaken “in record time” and could be finished in May. MP for Nepean Chris Brayne sent a message saying taken peoples’ concerns to Mr Wynne. He said a decision “is a long way off” and looked “forward to working with this group going forward”. Keith Platt and Mike Hast
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