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Tuesday 9 August 2022
5974 9000 or email: team@mpnews.com.au www.mpnews.com.au THE Mornington Peninsula Toastmasters have been toasting new members but are still keen to welcome more. For nearly 100 years the organisation has encouraged and supported people from diverse backgrounds in becoming more confident speakers, communicators and leaders. Member Jacky Howgate said public speaking could be nerve wracking, but the support of Toastmasters made it a much less daunting activity that had boosted her confidence. Club president Sue Macdonald said being part of Toastmasters was also good for meeting new people from all walks of life. “It’s a great way to learn how to speak confidently in public, in a safe, supportive, positive and enjoyable learning environment and make new friends along the way,” she said. Anyone interested in public speaking can attend every second and fourth Thursday of the month, 7.15 for 7.30pm. at Mornington Community House, 3/91 Wilsons Road (corner Nepean Highway), Mornington Online attendance is an option for people who may not be able to make a meeting in person. Call club president Sue Macdonald on 0439 650 883 for information.
Speaking out with confidence
MORNINGTON Toastmasters’ vicepresident Rick Stuart presenting member badges to Chatty Cafe’s Jacky Howgate and Damion Andrews.
Shire tracks state poll promises Keith Platt keith@mpnews.com.au MORNINGTON Peninsula Shire Council is going to keep track of financial pledges made by candidates in the lead up to the November state election, similar to what it did before the May federal election. The pledge tracker will list the dollar amounts of promises made for specific projects in the shire but not broader issues such as climate change, social welfare, education or integrity.
Missing from the tracker will be election issues that do not attract a financial commitment, such as whether the shire should be classed as regional or metropolitan. The shire is pressing for a peri-urban classification, Liberal candidates say it should be regional and the government has given no indication it wants any change. Nepean MP Chris Brayne, who holds his seat with a margin of less than one per cent, said an election tracker “is simply for the things a politician says they’re going to do, not what they ac-
tually do” Brayne says he is willing to work with the council “to ensure the tracker actually meets the needs of informing the community of what we’re doing, not what we’re saying”. The federal tracker showed pre-election commitments made by Liberal candidates for Flinders and Dunkley ($26.75 million) easily surpassed those by their Labor opponents ($16.5m). The Liberal Party lost the election and as it is now in opposition the money promised by its candidates may not materialise.
However, the pressure will be on Labor’s Peta Murphy in Dunkley to make good her promise of $15m to upgrade the Emil Madsen Reserve, Mount Eliza and $1.5m for Mount Eliza Secondary College. The shire’s advocacy, communications and engagement manager Randal Mathieson said Murphy had been asked “about the timing of funding” for her election promises. Flinders MP, Liberal Zoe McKenzie had been asked to “support” the shire’s advocacy to the federal Labor government for “a range of local projects”,
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now including a more than $120m$150m performing arts centre (“Casting for performing arts centre” The News 26/7/22). Mathieson said both MPs had been “very positive” in their responses. The shire was criticised over its presentation of the federal election pledge tracker and for posting a photograph of Liberal candidates on Facebook. The picture, which included Cr Susan Bissinger, was quickly taken down after attracting online criticism (“Shire accused of political bias” The News 23/5/22). Continued Page 8