26 July 2016

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Western Port

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Warnie baled up for festival Man of straw: Shawne Rubinstein, daughter Emily, family pet, Gus, and their yet-to-be-finished “Warnie” scarecrow. Picture: Yanni

AFTER a year’s break, the Mornington Peninsula Hinterland Scarecrow Festival and Trail is about to return with Shawne Rubinstein already having someone in mind for his scarecrow. Mr Rubinstein and wife Lisa Panuccio, of Red Hill, are busy building a scarecrow of cricketer Shane Warne. “He’s Australia’s most popular cricketer, favourite larrikin and the best bowler this country has seen,” Mr Rubinstein said. The couple is hoping to do justice to Warnie with a double-sided scarecrow. They plan to inject some humour by immortalising a few infamous off-the-pitch moments – including his love of baked beans. “They say imitation is the greatest form of flattery, so you’ll just have to wait and see how it turns out, but it will be family friendly,” Mr Rubinstein said. Up to 40 families, businesses, artists and schools will be supporting the scarecrow event which runs 16 September to 3 October. Participants are welcome to join in the fun by building a scarecrow to add to the touring trail and win prizes, whether they live in the region or not. The organisers will match up hosts and scarecrow makers. The first prizes of $300 will go to this year’s Best Aussie Icon Scarecrow and Best Traditional Scarecrow. For the first time an Artist’s Permanent Sculpture Competition will have a $1500 first prize, with other competitions and prizes. The scarecrows have evolved into a community art form and can be seen in front of gardens, shop fronts, mazes and vineyards around Red Hill, Main Ridge, Arthurs Seat, Balnarring, Merricks, Merricks North and the back areas of Dromana. They come in all shapes, sizes and colours and can be traditionally built or made from hay bales, farmyard relics or be an art installation made from papier mache. Their appearance and personality is only limited by imagination. Go to scarecrowfestival.org.au for competition details and to register.

Extra time sought for expenses policy Keith Platt keith@mpnews.com.au FOLLOWING months of accusations and claims of accounting inaccuracies and overspending, Mornington Peninsula Shire councillors are struggling to agree on the definition of expenses. The expenses are separate to councillors’ $28,000 yearly remuneration; $85,000 for the mayor. Shire officers last Monday asked for an extra month to prepare a draft of the

councillor expenses policy by 31 August. Legal advice in March cast doubt on the validity of a previous policy which limited each councillor to spending up to $4000 a year on such things as conferences, seminars and courses, giving a total $16,000 over a four-year term. Included in the issues the new policy is attempting to clarify are the definition of “delegate expenditure”, “professional development” and “entertainment” (with no alcohol); setting “allowable expenditure”; and setting mileage payments (at the moment councillors can

claim $1.07 a kilometre for a six-cylinder vehicle but the Australian Taxation Office limit is 66 cents). Maddocks Lawyers advised that expenses approved by council were lawful, even if they exceeded $4000 in a year and $16,000 within four years and council could not force repayment. The shire has repeatedly refused requests by The News for up to date figures on spending by individual councillors, saying only that they will be available in the next annual report. Controversy around councillor ex-

penses came to a head earlier this year when councillors were given a table outlining their individual expenses up to the end of January. According to a table included in a councillor briefing, two councillors were over the $16,000 expenses entitlement: Cr Antonella Celi by $14,810 and Cr David Gibb, $3147 over. Chief financial officer Matt Hubbard said the extra expenses incurred by Crs Celi and Gibb had been approved by “council resolution” for them to attend “additional professional education pro-

grams governed by examinations”. He said this type of spending was available to all councillors. However, some councillors disputed the accuracy of the figures. On 26 April Cr Hugh Fraser successfully moved a motion that “[shire] management requires Cr Celi to pay to council by 10 September 2016 any sum in excess of the sum of $19,500 on Cr Celi’s conferences and seminars account in the books of the council incurred over the current term of the council”. Continued Page 6 Turn to Page 3 for

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26 July 2016 by Mornington Peninsula News Group - Issuu