Clean Ocean pitches in for cricketers Keith Platt keith@mpnews.com.au ALTHOUGH its influence and interests are national and International, Clean Ocean Foundation remains a part of the Flinders community, where it started more than 20 years. “The Flinders community supported us in our first 10 years of campaigning and now we’re giving back,” president Pete Smith said when announcing the foundation would sponsor Flinders Cricket Club’s women’s team.” The foundation is also hoping the wider community of the Mornington Peninsula will get behind its continuing efforts to finally clean up the sewage outfall at Gunnamatta (“Taxpayers’ cash ‘pours into the ocean’” The News 29/8/22). Successful in its early campaign to have the water from the South Eastern Treatment Plant treated to a Class A level, the foundation says the effluent daily flowing into Bass Strait is contaminated with microplastics, forever chemicals (PFAS), and nitrogen. The latest warnings of the ongoing pollution come almost one year since Gunnamatta beach was closed and Melbourne Water advised people not to engage in any recreational activities including swimming and surfing at or near the beach which is within Mornington Peninsula National Park. At that stage Clean Ocean issued a news release headed: Cup Weekend: Closed and Polluted Beaches – Is this Victoria’s future? “This Sunday, Cup weekend [2022],
Flinders women’s cricket team: Back row, from left, Steph Hill, Narelle Field, Fran Wagner, Tanya White, Mia Scotland, Morgan Maher. Front: Sage Jones, Grace Field, Luella Field, Bianca Field, Leila Boggs, Sandra Field. Team members not in the picture are captain Abbie King, Maddie Bold, Liz Clancy, Rebecca Kleeberg and Millicent Blake. Picture: Supplied
beachgoers on the Mornington Peninsula were confronted with what may well become increasingly regular events – beaches so polluted, they are unsafe to use. “Poorly treated waste has been
dumped near the popular surfing beach, making the coastline and its waters unsafe for the last two weeks. Heavy rains that have caused flooding in Melbourne also caused the Eastern Treatment Plant to fail.”
Smith last week said nothing has changed since last year’s closure, with discharges continuing at the Gunnamatta outfall. “We hope that the community will once again support the foundation and
pressure Mornington Peninsula Shire Council and the state government about this unconscionable shoreline dumping of 400 million litres of semitreated sewerage at Gunnamatta,” he said. Clean Ocean Foundation says the treatment plant needs a further upgrade to make the peninsula’s coastline safe for future generations. “We owe this to our children and to our marine environment,” Smith said. “The ocean is not a dump. This is a real issue and a real problem and there is a real solution.” The foundation wants wastewater from 189 outfalls around Australia to be recycled. Smith said this would minimise the environmental effects of wastewater on the marine environment “while also ensuring a vital source of water on a dry continent is not wasted”. The foundation counts among its successes the lobbying the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) for Australia's recreational water guidelines to be raised to match criteria adopted by the World Health Organisation.
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 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.”
Clothes to help in all situations ROSEBUD based charity Clothes4U is taking the stress out of looking professional on a budget, providing students and people looking for work with quality clothes at low or no cost. Charity president Tina Donahue said buying new clothes that were suitable for employment situations was sometimes out of reach for students or people looking to join the workforce. Donahue said clients who come to Clothes4U
were given a one-on-one consultation, taking into account their body shape, likes and dislikes and the reason for needing clothing. The not-for-profit relies on donations and holds monthly clothing sales open to the public to help raise money to cover its overheads, including rent. Clothes4U is at shops 5 and 6, 35 Wanneaue Place, Rosebud. Phone 0490 058 596.
PFAS Independent Review Call for submissions
Public submissions for the Australian Government’s Independent Review of land uses around key Defence bases impacted by per- and poly-fluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) contamination will open from 9am AEDT Monday 23 October 2023 until 9pm AEDT Sunday 3 December 2023. The Review will focus on communities around RAAF Base Williamtown (NSW), Swartz Barracks (formerly known as the Army Aviation Centre Oakey) (QLD) and RAAF Base Tindal (NT). However, other communities affected by Defence’s historic use of PFAS are also able to make submissions. In addition to calling for submissions, public hearings for the three sites will be held on the following dates. Times are in local time zones. The Independent Reviewer will also be available for one-on-one conversations between the public hearing sessions. RAAF Base Williamtown Murrook Cultural Centre 2163 Nelson Bay Road, Williamtown NSW 2318 Thursday 9 November 2023 Public hearings: • Session 1: 10am – 1pm • Session 2: 5:30pm – 8pm Swartz Barracks Oakey Community Centre 64 Campbell Street, Oakey QLD 4401 Thursday 16 November 2023 Public hearings: • Session 1: 10am – 1pm • Session 2: 5:30pm – 8pm RAAF Base Tindal Katherine Town Council Civic Centre Lot 1865 Stuart Highway, Katherine NT 0850 Wednesday 22 November 2023 Public hearings: • Session 1: 10am – 12:30pm • Session 2: 5:30pm – 8pm (virtual only) Separate virtual hearings will be conducted to provide an opportunity for other interested parties to appear. Virtual hearings Wednesday 29 November 2023 • Session 1: 10am – 1pm • Session 2: 5:30pm – 8pm
Scan the QR code or visit the website below to learn more about the Review, including how to make a submission. Scanning the code will also provide details to register to speak at a public hearing or attend as an observer. www.pfasindependentreview.com.au Contact 1800 879 142 (9am – 5pm, Mon-Fri) pfas.submissions@defence.gov.au PO Box Q1084 Queen Victoria Building NSW 1230
Western Port News
1 November 2023
PAGE 5
