LUXURY BUILDING DESIGN + INTERIORS
Pictures: Gary Sissons
Fire destroys newly opened restaurant AT least seven businesses affected by a fierce blaze in Main Street, Mornington have been forced to close temporarily after a building was severely damaged and deemed in danger of collapse. Emergency services evacuated patrons on Friday night as the fire took hold in the newly opened Colt Dining at 9a Main Street. The blaze could be seen from across the bay, as flames leapt from the building and smoke blanketed the beach and the end of Main Street. Fire Rescue Victoria, assisted by several CFA units, was called to the fire at 8.43pm, arriving to find the entire second storey of the building alight. Colt Dining owner Matti Fallon watched from
the street as his restaurant was engulfed by flames. The former Rare Hare, St Elmo Byron Bay, and Du Nord chef told the media it was “heartbreaking” to lose the restaurant after the effort put into getting it started. Fallon, who grew up in Dromana, and business partner Paul Goddard, have vowed to rebuild and reopen. No one was hurt in the fire, but neighbouring businesses Brass Razu, Afghan Marcopolo restaurant, Millers Bread Cantina, Schnitz, Madeline Kate Brow and Skin Boutique, and Store 15 have closed temporarily. Liz Bell
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Administrator for land council Continued from Page 1 Stroud said positions on the board of directors had been “vacated”. Financial risk management and governance expert in the financial services sector, Kevin Leighton, has been appointed interim CEO. "I'm looking forward to taking on this interim CEO role and getting to know the remarkable team at Bunurong Land Council," Leighton said. “Professionals” to be appointed next month (November) to a corporation advisory group will, at the end of the special administration, be invited to become non-executive directors on a new board. Applicants to the “not designated/identified Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander appointments” will be expected to have “professional backgrounds in finance, legal, business or other disciplines”. The Bunurong Land Council Aboriginal Corporation (BLCAC) is the Traditional Owner organisation and registered Aboriginal Party (RAP) representing the Bunurong people of the south-eastern Kulin Nation on the Mornington Peninsula, Western Port and part of south-west Gippsland. The latest intervention in the affairs of the Bunurong Land Council comes eight years after the Federal Court in Melbourne fined and disqualified from managing an Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander corporations for a set number of years four former directors of the Bunurong Land Council. The fines ranged from $25,000 to $5000 and the managing bans ranged from seven years to three.
The April 2015 case followed the appointment of a special administrator in January 2014 who, due to inadequate records, was unable to properly identify the source and destination of large sums of money. At the time of the administrator’s appointment the land council had not held an annual general meeting for 10 years and there had been one directors’ meeting in five years. A news release issued by the ORIC in July 2014 announcing the end of the special administration said there had been “woeful record keeping, financial irregularities, non-payment of tax and possible insolvency—a number of former members were in fierce denial of any governance problems at the corporation”. “If ever a corporation required external assistance to get back on track it was the Bunurong Land Council (Aboriginal Corporation),” Indigenous Corporations registrar Anthony Beven said. “It is disappointing that some people sought to undermine the special administrator, rather than working constructively with him for the betterment of the corporation.” The news release went on to state that from the outset of their appointment the special administrator and registrar “took the position that poor governance, accountability and transparency would no longer be tolerated at the Bunurong Land Council (Aboriginal Corporation)”. “The corporation is now strong again and well run. Bunurong people who have long been excluded from having a say in the running of their corporation have been warmly welcomed back to the corporation.” Southern Peninsula News
1 November 2023
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