Western Port
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Tuesday 27 March 2018
5973 6424 or email: team@mpnews.com.au www.mpnews.com.au A SMOKING ceremony at Somerville Primary School last week was “one piece of a much larger picture at the school”, acting principal Andrew Haley said. Adam Magennis, of the Bunurong Land Council, conducted the ceremony at a special assembly with pupils’ involvement, Friday 23 March. “As a school we are focusing on acknowledging the traditional land owners, both past and present,” Mr Haley said. “It is vital as a school that we continue to raise awareness within our school community and acknowledge the Aboriginal people. “It is powerful for our students to know the customs and traditions of our traditional land owners and to know that we are on Bunurong land and that Bunurong land is for all of us to share. “We now proudly fly the Aboriginal and the Torres Strait Islander flags alongside the Australian flag at the front of the school. “The smoking ceremony officially marked the beginning this journey.” As part of the process, Somerville pupils will read an Acknowledgment of Country at the beginning of Friday assemblies. A Bunjil nest will be installed next term and pupils’ paintings and other works will go on display around the school.
Smoky start to school’s search for awareness
Welcome to country: Adam Magennis conducted a Smoking Ceremony and played the didgeridoo, or Yidaka, at Somerville Primary School last week. Pupils Kato, Taj and Jed enjoyed the show. Picture: Gary Sissons
Seeing red over house heights Stephen Taylor steve@mpnews.com.au RED balloons floated on 11-metre-long strings above Capel Sound last week to show how high the state government allows houses to go on the Mornington Peninsula without a permit. Mornington Peninsula Shire says the contentious rules imposed last year “without consultation” already apply to 24,000 housing sites on the peninsula. The figure represents a quarter of the
peninsula’s housing stock. The shire says the rules will lead to the proliferation of “three storey McMansions”. The mayor Cr Bryan Payne said Thursday’s balloon demonstration aimed to “alert the Victorian community to the threats to coastal villages posed by future inappropriate development”. “We want to demonstrate what the effect of the state government’s planning rules will be, and we will persist with the campaign until we get what we want,” he said.
“Residents will have no say in the planning process – they are as-ofright.” Villages and townships under threat include Capel Sound, Rosebud, Dromana, Mt Martha, Mornington, Baxter, Somerville, Tyabb, Hastings and Bittern. The shire wants the government to reintroduce the local planning statement which it believes has protected the “unique” character of the peninsula from inappropriate development since the 1970s.
“This planning policy is the thin edge of the Green Wedge and is a clear and present danger to the long-term planning of the peninsula's residential environments because of the domino impact,” Cr Payne said. “This is being experienced in other Melbourne suburbs where existing houses are being demolished and replaced by vastly oversized homes.” The mayor said Thursday’s protest was “excellent”. “Capel Sound is a typical singlestorey location which will suffer the
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greatest impact from this type of overdevelopment,” he said. “We are concerned that the peninsula differs from normal suburbia. “For 30 years successive state governments have honoured that difference and kept it in a pristine way. “We feel that we are unique and don’t want to see our suburbs destroyed, like Camberwell, with over development. “We are complying with government ideals of growth but we want to be in control of that growth.”