Western Port
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PAGES 34–38
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Plans for our future
ZOE Mitchell was one of the few girls playing junior footy on Saturday, but her value to the Hastings team did not go unnoticed as she tackled Tyabb’s Kyall Goding. It’s not uncommon for girls to be on the footy field with the boys, but all that ends after the under14s, when the girls must play competitive footy in an all girls team. Mixed teams fielded by local leagues across Victoria are designed as a transition into AFL Victoria’s Youth Girls program, which caters for girls aged 13-18. The match on Saturday saw Tyabb 13.11-89 triumph over Hastings 8.2-50. Picture: Andrew Hurst
Hastings Newsagency 56 High Street
BOOK SALE Was $49.95 Now $16.95
19 June – 25 June 2012
By Mike Hast HOW the Mornington Peninsula changes over the next 30 years will be decided by residents, the shire council and the state government in the next 12 months. The process starts next week with the first of 15 “Plan Peninsula Conversations”, as named by Mornington Peninsula Shire. Residents will be asked their opinion about the future look and role of the peninsula for a shire report due to go to the state government before the end of September when the council goes into “caretaker” mode 32 days before the 27 October election. From this will come the government’s “Mornington Peninsula Planning Statement”, promised by the peninsula’s three state Liberal MPs – Neale Burgess (Hastings), Martin Dixon (Nepean) and David Morris (Mornington) – before the 2010 state election. The statement will separate the peninsula’s planning scheme from the metropolitan Melbourne planning scheme, a long-term ambition of many residents. The Bracks Labor government introduced Melbourne 2030 in the early 2000s to stop Melbourne’s urban sprawl and squeeze an extra million residents into its existing boundaries. (The urban growth boundary has been moved four times since 2002, three times by the previous Labor government and last week by the Baillieu government when it released 6000 hectares.) The concept of Melbourne planning rules applying to the peninsula has always met with stiff resistance. Planning Minister Rob Hulls, a peninsula boy, was strongly criticised in 2006 when he told a meeting in Mornington that the peninsula was the same as Melbourne and its planning decision would be made under Melbourne 2030. Prior to 1987, the Mornington Peninsula, Yarra Ranges and Macedon Ranges were protected by “statements of planning policy” supported by legislation. This was undone when the Planning and Environment Act replaced the Town and Country Planning Act. For a decade, in many suburbs as well as on the peninsula, residents have complained about the impact of Melbourne 2030 and the role of the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal in approving developments after they had been rejected by councils. Continued on Page 6
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