Western Port
Western Port
realestate 16 September
Sail into spring
2014
> Page 3
Your guide to what’s on this weekend for peninsula families Harcourts SINCE 1888
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Tuesday 16 September 2014
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Here comes the train SELDOM has a train enjoyed a warmer welcome: flags fluttered, music played, memorabilia and period costumes set the scene and a town crier urged our attention. The 10:38 from Frankston to Hastings last Wednesday marked the 125th anniversary of the Stony Point line and the opening of the Western Port region to residential and industry development. See Page 10. Picture: Yanni
Alarm raised over rescue services Neil Walker neil@mpnews.com.au MARINE rescue services across Western Port could be set for an overhaul as a result of a report tabled in state parliament this month. The Inquiry into Marine Rescue Services in Victoria report found oversight of voluntary water rescue crews is “ad hoc”, under-funded and potentially not “fit for purpose”. A committee of cross-party MPs
chaired by Hastings Liberal MP Neale Burgess produced the 246-page report. The report took eight months to complete. While the report stated marine services and rescue (MSAR) is “essentially ungoverned”, volunteers’ were praised for their “dedication and commitment” despite a lack of oversight and funding. The committee found Victoria’s volunteer marine search and rescue is not subject to legislative or regulatory
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oversight at state level and “has been largely ignored and left to fend for itself”. Alarmingly, the Australian Volunteer Coast Guard Association noted in its submission to the inquiry that: “in the absence of accreditation, ‘anybody’ can commence operating as a marine rescue organisation anywhere in Victoria, irrespective of their capability… without being subject to minimum standards for the provision of marine rescue services”. Victoria Police often act as the
real level of comfort around what their capability is, so we do not really know and we only task them on previous experience, knowing that they can do the job,” Inspector Arneil said. “We do not have any sort of process in place to accredit them or audit them to be able to say their vessels are capable of doing whatever it is and that they have got sufficient training, sufficient equipment and knowledge to be able to do the rescues.”
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‘control agency’ during rescues and incidents at sea but also expressed concern about the capability and experience of volunteers. Inspector Mark Arneil, manager of the Water Police and Search and Rescue Squads based at Williamstown, told the committee that police do not have “total clarity” about volunteer resources. “One of the areas of concern for me at the moment is that, whilst my people coordinate all these agencies to go out and do the rescues, we have no
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