Mornington
GET YOUR
FREE TV GUIDE INSIDE!
An independent voice for the community
Your weekly community newspaper covering Mornington, Mount Martha and Mount Eliza For all advertising and editorial needs, call 03 By Craig MacKenzie LANGWARRIN soccer club is still celebrating the Socceroos’ qualification for November’s World Cup finals and the pivotal defence role played by its former playewr Bailey Wright in the win over Peru on penalties last week in Qatar. The Socceroos’ defender was making his 25th national team appearance and is now vying for a spot in the 23-man squad for the finals. Langwarrin technical director Gus Macleod gave Wright his senior debut in 2009 when the teenager was 16 years old and has followed his career closely. “He’s come a long, long way from the wee fiveyear-old who started playing for Langy’s juniors,” Macleod said. “You could see at training that he was a man in a young person’s body and his level of commitment was obvious.” Wright spent the first half of the 2009 season playing for Langwarrin’s seniors before going to England to take up a scholarship with Preston North End. He eventually signed as a professional at Preston and made 179 appearances before switching to Bristol City in 2017. He signed a loan deal with Sunderland in 2020 eventually joining on a two-year deal later that year. “For any young kid on the peninsula with ambition this shows you what is possible,” Macleod added. “Bailey’s character and work ethic were faultless during his time here and he was just a dream to coach.”
FREE
Tuesday 28 June 2022
5974 9000 or email: team@mpnews.com.au www.mpnews.com.au
Langy’s favourite son key player in Qatar nail-biter Then and now: Bailey Wright in his Langwarrin kit (inset) and roaring his approval of the Socceroos successful World Cup qualifying campaign. Pictures: Supplied
Shire ‘no’ to Esso’s bid for power
Keith Platt keith@mpnews.com.au MORNINGTON Peninsula Shire has called on the state government to investigate health risks and environmental impacts of a plan by Esso Resources to use ethane gas to generate electricity. Esso has an oversupply of ethane, a by-product from natural gas used at its fractionation plant at Long Island, Hastings. The company says burning the gas - or flaring-off - is the alternative to
setting up an ethane-driven electricity power plant. It says the plant will produce enough electricity to power 35,000 household a year will increase the peninsula’s greenhouse gas emissions by six per cent a year. While the decision on Esso’s power generation plan rests with Planning Minister Richard Wynne the shire, relegated to being classed as “a stakeholder”, can make a submission. At the Monday 20 June planning services committee meeting councillors voted six to three to oppose the plan despite a 13-page officer’s report
which stated, “the proposal’s climate change impacts are acceptable”. “Further, it is considered that environmental and amenity impacts resulting from the proposal do not warrant objection,” the report by principal planner Lachlan Howard stated. “Here we go again, industry thinking it can pull the wool over our eyes,” Cr Lisa Dixon said, listing the plan along with past proposals at Crib Point for a bitumen plant and AGL’s failed bid for a gas import terminal. Dixon said the report “appears light on detail” and did not mention the need for an EES, quantative risk assessment,
possible atmospheric pollution, Western Port’s internationally-recognised Ramsar wetlands or the need for an exclusion zone for aircraft, with Tyabb Airfield being 2.5 kilometres away. “To me, that is disgusting, really disgraceful.” Dixon said Esso held a public information session “but no one there could answer the questions being asked, which I find very disappointing”. Cr Steve Holland said by opposing Esso’s electricity generation plan council was “quickly cementing its reputation as the anti-gas shire”. “No gas, no electricity, no jobs — it's
back to the dark ages,” he said. “My gut feeling is that the state government will probably approve this … you’re opposing an electricity generation project for the sake of it and against the recommendation of our officers. “All this does is signify that the council is happy to pump gas into the atmosphere, but not turn it into electricity. The mind boggles.” Cr David Gill likened Esso’s plan to Kawasaki Heavy Industries use of brown coal to produce hydrogen to be exported from the Port of Hastings to Japan. Continued Page 21