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Shire tracks state poll promises
Keith Platt keith@mpnews.com.au
Catch of the decade IT was a gourmet catch of the day on Sunday (7 August) for three friends aboard No Excuse when fishing off Phillip Island’s Woolamai beach. After leaving Westernport Marina, Hastings at about 8.30am the three, Christian Ellul, Sean Quinlivan and Ben Gargaro, hooked onto a south-
ern bluefin tuna about one kilometre offshore. It took about 40 minutes to bring the 106 kilogram fish onto the boat. Ellul said he had been trying for about 10 years to catch a tuna of that size. Although classified by the Inter-
peninsulakids.com.au mornpenkids
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national Union for Conservation of Nature as an endangered species, recreational and commercial catches are allowed throughout Australia. Popular cooked and raw (sashimi and sushi), the southern bluefin grows up to 2.5 metres long and can weigh 260kg. Keith Platt
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 actually 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”, 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 7