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Tuesday 26 April 2022
5974 9000 or email: team@mpnews.com.au www.mpnews.com.au
Smoking allowed THE launch of the inaugural Drift festival in Rosebud on Thursday included a smoking ceremony, with ochre being applied to faces by Sonia Weston of the Bunurong Land Council. The festival is a celebration of everything art and performance and will be an annual event. Picture: Yanni “Drift goes across the peninsula” Page 9
Candidates unite against sign vandals Keith Platt keith@mpnews.com.au SOME of the many signs dotting the Mornington Peninsula urging a vote for Liberal Party candidate Zoe McKenzie are attracting attention for all the wrong reasons. Vandals have daubed signs with swear words and drawn black crosses across Ms McKenzie’s eyes, while Mornington Peninsula Shire has
ordered others to be removed for violating local laws. The vandalism also led to opposing candidates to agree on at least one issue: signs should be shown unhindered. McKenzie posted a message on her Facebook page saying she was not surprised at the vandalism: “Women in politics cop vile abuse all too often, especially Liberal women. I’ve watched it happen to many other friends.
“I look forward to my fellow female candidates in Flinders calling out this kind of abuse. It is not enough to hope that it was not one of their supporters. This was a politically hateful act.” Her spokesperson James Radford described the signs being daubed with “sexist, abusive and threatening language”. “This conduct is wrong and should be called out,” he said. “Women in politics should not have
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to be subjected to such appalling conduct. We strongly urge the shire to investigate.” Regarding the signs ordered removed by the shire, Radford blamed “third party” providers. He said some Liberal supporters believed they were entitled to display boards on their property but were unaware of the restrictions. Radford said action had been taken “immediately” to fix the problem
even where it was believed the local landholder “has been well within their rights”. Marg D’Arcy, campaign manager for McKenzie’s Labor opponent Surbhi Snowball, said defacing signs was “completely unacceptable and we condemn it”. “While people may feel strongly about one party or the other, this is not the way to express it,” she said. Continued Page 10
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