Western Port
Western Port
realestate 17 Novemb er
2015
Kinfauns classic Your guide to what’s on this weekend for peninsula families
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“The differen ce betwe en price and a great price a good is a great estate agent”
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Way over the top BELIEVE it or not, but UFOs are coming to Hastings. Right on cue, weird looking beings from a planet not so far away will appear this Friday on the stage at the Hastings Hall. The play “What’s Above” gives those in the audience a chance to either suspend belief or reinforce their views. “What’s Above” is designed to appeal to all the family and is being presented over the next couple of weekends by Pelican Theatre Company. See “The spoof is way out there”, Page 8. Alien invasion: Ben Schneider, left, Robbie Grant and Nathan Whitmore will star in an otherworldly tale at Hastings Hall. Picture: Gary Sissons
Farmers rally to fight rate ‘threat’ David Harrison david@mpnews.com.au MORNINGTON Peninsula farmers are gearing up to oppose any cut to the farm rate “discount” for agricultural land. They now pay 35 per cent of the general residential rate. A message originating from Dromana farmer Cr David Gibb appears to have begun the rural mobilisation. It was prompted by Mornington Penin-
sula Shire’s planned review of its rating structure. Cr Gibb emailed on 4 November: “The Farm rate for rural properties, many of whom are Landcare members, is under threat.” The message went to the Dunns Creek Landcare Group, with which Cr Gibb is associated, which sent it to its membership with a message from the group’s president, Roger StuartAndrews.
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council’s rating strategy”. The original deadline, 9 November, was extended until 13 November in what appears to be a hurried process for such a major matter. The shire document, Rating Strategy Discussion Paper 2016/17 says shire policy “supports the continuation of a farm rate differential” and notes that council’s strategic plan “has a strong commitment to agriculture”. Continued Page 8
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charges in every direction without a compensatory rise in income from the produce of our land”. Farm properties pay the standard residential rate for the land on which the house is built – the curtilage – and a separate rate that is 35 per cent of the general residential rate. The shire had a short community consultation on its rating review, inviting people to send “submissions for consideration in the development of
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His message read in part: “It appears the shire is seriously considering removing the rate rebate on farm properties which would mean that we would be rated as for the general non-rural properties… [Given] the size of some of our land holdings, this could potentially mean enormously increased rate bills for those of us on the land.” Mr Stuart-Andrews described the shire review as “an iniquitous attack on landholders already fighting rising
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